Can my miniature Shetland eat haylage?

[michelle01]

Hi, I bought my niece a 14 year old miniature Shetland yesterday
, after having horses all my life I thought she was also ready to jump into the saddle but someone told me that they had read somewhere on the internet that you shouldn't feed shetlands haylage as it can upset there guts? I have never Hurd of this and as she is 14 years old im guessing she has had haylage before in her diet. She is showing no signs of tummy upset but never having owned a Shetland before I just wanted to ask everyone else's opinion to be on the safe side, thanks.

 

[joeanne]

TBH Stiggy was getting haylage last winter because hay was so hard to come by. It was that or nothing.
Hasn't done him any harm (although we did keep close eyes on the waistline!)

 

[claireandnadia]

When we first got out shetland he lost a lot of weight through the stress of moving to us, the vet advised haylage for about 10 days or so.

 

[debsflo]

my minature has the high fibre haylage and is fine,prob less protein than new hay...

 

[mulledwhine]

I don't see why they can't eat it, we give our sec a the high fibre haylege

 

[POLLDARK]

Just keep an eye on the waistline.

 

[Miss L Toe]

Soak it, to remove sugars.

 

[michelle01]

It's this years haylage too? I will of corse keep an eye on her waight, thanks to everyone who's replyed so far

 

[amandap]

I tried to introduce haylage to my mini Shetlands last year and precipitated laminitis in one. Be very careful is my advice and stick to hay. Haylage varies very much as does hay but it does tend to have higher protein etc. and can be too much for minis and natives in general.

 

[DuckToller]

I buy the marksway horsehage blue, which is guaranteed low sugar (second cut, high fibre etc) and it iw worth every penny as you know what you are getting.

You should not soak haylage, as it contains bacteria which will multiply over time in water and become toxic.

 

[cshw]

I feed Silvermoor Recreation haylage to my Shetland as he has dust allergy problems. He's been fed it for 3 winters and has been absolutely fine. Silvermoor Recreation is supposed to be OK for laminitics. I do however weigh what he gets, as it's very easy to significantly overfeed small ponies. As said above, don't soak haylage.

 

[laura7981]

My Shetlands on the high fibre horsehage.... I soak it for 12 hours prior to feeding to leach out the sugars..... As advised by my vet