Discussion-is forage still the most cost effective way of feeding?

[scarymare]

I know all that - I spent 2 years treating a horse with ulcers, who'd always had a fibre only diet, who lived out 24/7 for six months of the year and who always had ad lib haylage. Correlation (your first two sentences) is not the same as causality, and there are other factors at play with racehorses - the type of work, the infrequent turnout, the possibility of bacterial infection. Lack of forage alone, on a horse stood in a stable, is not what causes ulcers, it is in combination with the workload a racehorse has to do that it becomes a problem.

Yep, my ex-racer now broodmare is 16 and fed forage only (hard feed when lactating as now). As far as I can make out she's always had ulcers, cribs for scotland and is a total stress bucket. Does breed exceedingly calm and good foals though...... When in foal barely cribs/rolls at all so I think stress is really important here

 

[Wagtail]

I always find it frustrating when we talk about big bale haylage because we may not be comparing the same size bales. There are large round bales and REALLY large round bales and there are large square bales and REALLY large square bales. I pay £37 per large square bale (225kg approx) and they last 7 horses two days during the winter. I do not feed ad lib as the horses get too fat. But they get an average of 16 kg each per day. When I fed ad lib they were eating around 20 kg each per day which is twice what feed companies recommend.