Are you feeding hay in the field?

[Birker2020]

My paddock is now totally bare like most peoples. I know that grass grows but my horse has started to a bit of weight and he was never very fat to start with, I've tried very hard to maintain his weight.

He's out at night and in during the day, I fill his hay bar up to the top with hay for when he comes in, in the morning but someday's he will eat it all, others he will drag most of it across the stable floor and I go up at 4pm only to find it wasted. I also leave a tub of hay which goes in at lunch time, again somedays this will be eaten, other days only partly eaten.

I am tying up a net for him to eat before turnout at 4.30pm to get more hay.

OH has long range forecast and says next Monday/Tuesday is set to rain with thunderstorms which will be very welcome.

Would an extra feed at lunch time be beneficial do you think?

 

[GreyDot]

Mine are in through the day and out at night. I really want them to be out 24/7 but there just isn't enough grass and we aren't allowed hay in the field. Up until the last week or so they were leaving hay, but now they are ravenous when they come in and are grabbing at it straight away and it's all polished off by 4pm when they go back out again.
I do give them a feed now when they come in (balancer, chaff and sugarbeet) making it extra sloppy as they need the hydration.
We don't have proper rain on the forecast at all, maybe some light showers tomorrow but our fields are yellow and barren.

 

[Birker2020]

Mine are in through the day and out at night. I really want them to be out 24/7 but there just isn't enough grass and we aren't allowed hay in the field. Up until the last week or so they were leaving hay, but now they are ravenous when they come in and are grabbing at it straight away and it's all polished off by 4pm when they go back out again.
I do give them a feed now when they come in (balancer, chaff and sugarbeet) making it extra sloppy as they need the hydration.
We don't have proper rain on the forecast at all, maybe some light showers tomorrow but our fields are yellow and barren.

Maybe the extra feed will help then. He's only on pony nuts and Healthy Hooves which is an all in one, I suppose I could give some nuts in his snackaball too, anything to keep weight on.

 

[Mustard]

Mine are out in the day and in at night - I've never stopped putting hay in the field. I'm on very sandy soil, which never grows a huge amount of grass anyway, and between excess rain churning the land to mud and now no rain, I've got nothing

 

[Fieldlife]

I don’t think putting a big horse out over night on a fairly bare dry ground is okay. I think they need hay / Haylage if there isn’t any grass to eat. Else risking ulcers.

I’d do whatever it takes to get him a consistent source of fibre over night.

 

[meleeka]

Mine live out but on fairly bare ground and they are still having hay twice a day. There’s usually some left, but they are definitely more hungry than usual because everything is just brown and dead.

 

[milliepops]

at the yard, mine are in during the day and out at night. I'm on small bales now (hurrah) and they are eating 4 or 5 sections during the day and then i give them another 2 or 3 overnight as the grass is so poor. I haven't stopped haying all year.

the ones who live out still have enough grass to go at but another few weeks like this and I'll have to get a big bale put out

 

[ester]

Here yes he’s out 24/7 and we’ve not stopped feeding hay he’s not a particularly good doer and the grass is frankly terrible, even the paddocks that have had nothing on for 6 weeks

somerset - just put them back on hay paddock after it was baled at the weekend and they’ve got loads more grass than here already.

 

[spacefaer]

I've got more grass than I know what to do with up here ....
I advertised a three acre field for a nominal amount, just to get it grazed and had no interest. It hasn't been grazed since last year.

If my horse was losing weight, I'd definitely be feeding him more.

 

[Patterdale]

Nope. Out 24/7 and hungry. It’ll rebalance itself in a week after the rain.

 

[Birker2020]

Thanks. I was in doubt because someone expressed surprise that I would leave hay out at this time of year so I didn't know if I was over reacting as one of the local vets put something on their FB page a few weeks ago about people panicking that their horses weren't eating enough grass which sounded quite reasonable when I read it, but that was when the grass was green and plentiful.

 

[MyBoyChe]

Mine are out 24/7, small bare paddocks with shade in the day and they get a bucket feed of chaff plus a small haynet hung in the hedge. The day fields are really bare now but there is a hedge so they can nibble on that plus the really rough grass and weeds around it. Their night time fields still have a little grass left as I am gradually strip grazing each one. All 3 are getting 2 small feeds a day now plus the 1 haynet each. To my mind, as all 3 are natives, they are doing what natives are meant to do although I have to say they are not looking very thrilled about it, they would have me believe they are dying As they are in individual paddocks Im counting poo, still getting 10-12 per pony per day so Im not too worried that they really are about to expire""

 

[Birker2020]

Nope. Out 24/7 and hungry. It’ll rebalance itself in a week after the rain.

Oh

 

[Peglo]

We have 2 ponies on the summer paddock and they just aren’t getting it eaten down so the fatter 2 can get on it. We have so much grass! ETA we are up north.

I would also be feeding hay and/or increasing feeds if they were losing weight but I don’t have that problem!

 

[ponynutz]

Yes, we do it every year.

 

[SEL]

I always hay because mine are on restricted grass but I'm having to put a lot more out than normal. Usually I'd allow the big lad and baby cob to get stuck into a grassy paddock for a few hours, but there's nothing in it any more. I'm strip grazing part of the track but that's just a tasty mouthful and although I'm fencing off the bit they've eaten through it isn't growing back.

I have huge cracks in the ground all round my fields :-(

On the plus side I think I can feel ribs on the Appy.

 

[dorsetladette]

Nope. Out 24/7 and hungry. It’ll rebalance itself in a week after the rain.

Mine too. They are eating the hedge rows and grass in the wetter/shaded spots. rain forecast for early next week so will be closing winter fields again then and resting until autumn.

 

[Annagain]

We seemingly have very little grass but even the oldies are keeping their weight really well and never seem hungry so it's obviously growing. They spend all day sleeping under the trees and then eat at night. Oscar is in during the day as he gets very weepy eyes with the the flies but won't keep a mask on. He's barely eating any hay while he's in.

 

[Nasicus]

I'm strip grazing part of the track but that's just a tasty mouthful and although I'm fencing off the bit they've eaten through it isn't growing back.

Yup same here, absolutely minimal regrowth in the half of the track that's been sectioned off, and half of that has been sectioned off for about 5 weeks.
I give them about 6ft worth of stripgrazing and a mollichaff bags worth of stalky hay a day. The hay is mostly because the youngster isn't shy on electric fence crashing if she's sufficiently motivated by hunger.

 

[Birker2020]

I don't feel too guilty about putting some hay out now. I might try leaving an extra feed mixed in his lunch time hay tub too.
Thanks for the replies

 

[Burnttoast]

Ours are on a grass track and there is just brown crunchy stuff on it. They're getting a soaked section each three times a day and the (newly) poor doer gets three fibre feeds a day. My boy is fatter than I'd like but I want him to have something in his gut and I don't want them fighting because they're hangry.

 

[Xmasha]

Our 2 IDs are on a bare paddock, so yes they get additional haylage . My youngsters have access to plenty of grass but are still asking for haylage when i put it out for the grown ups.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

We have no grass. Since I've been at the current yard, 4 years, I've had to feed ad lib hay 24/7. They are currently out 24/7. I only used to feed hay in the snow and ice in the field!

 

[Widgeon]

Nope. Out 24/7 and hungry. It’ll rebalance itself in a week after the rain.

Same here, but mine's a podge. If he was losing weight I'd be doing a celebration dance!

 

[windswoo]

I've got completely the other problem. I've got too much grass, but it isn't dense enough for it to be worth my while cutting it. I've got two fatties and a thinny that has the run of the shorter greener shoots while the other two are eating the longer, tougher grass. We never feed any hay until December.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I have started yes, I’ve crammed a hay cube and then split it into piles. There’s currently always some left to rake up so they are picking at it but can’t be too hungry.
I can’t see mine growing now at all. I usually take them off the field they are in and it’s grows between now and December a lot. It’s not going to this year and the one I’ll be swapping them too looks no better.

 

[Sossigpoker]

My cob is out over night with very little grass but during the day he gets two soaked hay nets and two Allen and Page feeds with a balancer- he's not thin and there's plenty of poo in the paddock in the morning. The sportier models are getting hay in their paddocks though and if it doesn't rain soon, he will be having a section of a small bale over night .

 

[scats]

Muzzled here when out! They come in during the day out of the heat and flies and get a handful of hay.
Rye grass- even when bald it’s lethal.

 

[Lamehorses]

Got loads of grass, they are strip grazing into standing hay & the bits they strip grazed in April are almost standing hay again. Shame I've got porky natives that don't need it.

 

[Horseysheepy]

I was saying to my partner earlier, I've never hayed this much ever, this time of year. I'm so lucky we make our own, I'd be bankrupt!.
They horses get a rack full am and pm.

I really hope we get that few hours of light rain we're expecting next Wednesday. Though the forecast will probably be changed by then!