Anyone who uses 'branded' haylage - Horsehage, Silvermoor etc Please help!

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I have a pony who has problems with her jaw and I am struggling to find a suitable haylage for her that she can eat happily.

I have run out of the lovely second cut stuff from a brilliant local supplier, which is what I have been using for most of the winter, and after going back to try and get more of the same I found out it is from a different batch so is drier and coarser which isn't suitable for my pony. Now kicking myself extremely hard for not buying as much as I could of the first batch as it was perfect!

This supplier has a few other different grass types of first cut haylage but again none are suitable and neither is hay. Currently steaming the drier second cut stuff i've just bought which helps but isn't perfect and not really a good enough solution but all I can do for now, apart from worry!

Only other suppliers near me other than feed shops only do large bales and even if they were perfect I wouldn't use it fast enough so it would be a huge waste. I'm also thinking into more long term and really want to find something that will be a consistant quality so I don't have to worry with every bale I open, which I am thinking will be more likely with the branded types?

Went to local feed store today to see what they have and they sell the Silvermoor and Horsehage ranges. I have no experience of either of these and can't really afford to buy one of each range if some are obviously going to be completely inappropriate, hence I am after a bit of advice.

What I am after is something soft, sweet, quite 'wet' and as short as possible. Protein, sugar, etc in a pefect world would be as low as possible but this is not really a priority at this moment in time. Does anybody that feeds silvermoor/horshage or anything similar think that one of them might match this description?

I am very very grateful for any help. Many thanks for reading
 
Have used silvermoor and while it's quite wet the pieces are quite coarse and long. Have also used Wrightpack and have found it to be very good quality and consistent. It's pretty wet, finer than the other ones I've used but 'normal' hayage length.
 
Thanks for your reply. Can I ask which of the Silvermoor range you used? I'm just wondering if there will be much difference between the different types they make if they are made of slightly different grasses. It is really the wetness that seems to help her chew it, the drier it is the harder and more painful she finds it, so it might still be worth a go. I will also look into Wrightpack but not sure i've ever seen that stocked near me. Thanks again
 
Not exactly answering your question but have you thought about using the blox from Halleys and soaking them into a soft hay/haylage replacer?
 
Yes we've tried soaking hay bricks, and they basically turn into a chop/chaff and my mare wasn't particularly interested in them either soacked or unsoaked. She also has diastemas within the teeth so chop and similar feeds get stuck in the gaps if I feed it in large quantities, hence why i'm really looking for an appropriate haylage. Thank you for the suggestion though.
 
Both the silvermoors were the same really (have used normal and low sugar). I don't know where the wrightpack's come from, it's what our local feed store have
 
I'm not sure what's happening with the HorseHage this year but it seems noone is really eating it. Mine have never touched it, they look at me with disgust whether I try the blue high fibre (low cal, suitable for laminitics etc ) the green ryegrass or the purple timothy.

2 friends on the yard use it intermittently though, one the blue & her horse loved it last year & won't eat it this year and one the green and she has just bought some in and her horse won't eat it. A 3rd friend has been feeding blue most of the winter & she has now brought her supply over to our yard to get rid of as hers have stopped eating it.

If you have a fussy eater then it might be worth trying something else before this.

All of ours eat Devon Haylage, it's very palatable & sounds like what you are looking for but that's possibly no use to you depending on where you are.
 
mynutmeg said:
Both the silvermoors were the same really (have used normal and low sugar). I don't know where the wrightpack's come from, it's what our local feed store have
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I pretty sure the difference between the two is in when they cut it .the lite is dearer as its more difficult to make.
 
the branded haylage products are "seed" i.e new sown grass cut for haylage, so will always be course.
I believe they sow then cut the new seeds, maybe for 2 years, then plough and reseed again. So the product is always seed haylage as opposed to meadow, meadow being older than 3 years old.

you may be better off sourcing someone local who makes their own haylage from meadow grass, this is more likely to be soft and feathery, makes it easier to chew. I know the older horses on our yard are given the soft haylage from the big bales as they find it easier to eat :)
this is made from a field last resown around 20 years ago ;)
 
Agree that meadow haylage is a good option, I have bought it for my sheep and it's shorter and softer

I recently bought some horsehage and it was really coarse and dry, Fine obviously for most horses of course but very different to meadow haylage
 
Another "thumbs up" for Devon Haylage from me, and the horses.
Mine eat their products really well, after refusing to eat the Silvermoor product.
Currectly using both the Timothy, and High Fibre Ryegrass, products from Devon Haylage, as horse and pony both love it.
 
If you can get Top Score haylage, they do three types, one is basically wrapped hay, the next is equivalent to blue Horsehage, my cob loves this one more than Horsehage!
It is in sections like Horsehage too but cheaper. I pay £5.70 a bale, it was £5.50 a bale until a couple of weeks ago.
 
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