Do you weigh you hay nets?????

i do weigh mine as of recently. partly because i share field with friend and we have our own individual hay supplies so good to know we're both using the right amounts and also because it's nice to know what they're getting. they cant have adlib as they're greedy pigs and would stuff themselves till they couldn't move. They're getting around 10kg a day each at the moment with the weather and still wanting more!
 
My mare is at home, so she gets what she needs in the winter. Smaller fill of the Hay Bar at 4.00 pm'ish and then a big top-up when she gets fed and skipped out again at around 10.30 pm'ish.

Don't weigh - do it by "feel" and the temperatures and how she is generally. She's nearly 25 and looks very (too?) well.
 
Yep - always weigh my hay out (not in a net though, fed from the floor!). I give just more than he'll eat but weigh it so I can keep an eye on how much he's eating and on how much I owe on my livery bill!

Getting through 15 kg a day at the mo.
 
No, as all of mine have ad lib. I really hate how some people will give one small haynet for 12+ hours plus and they finish it by 9pm, grrrr! Unless the horse is obese there is just no need for it and it's just plain cruel.
 
I tend to weigh mine at the start of the winter, with the new crop of haylage, just so I get an idea of how much they are getting. Once I've done it a couple of times, I tend to find I'm pretty consistant with how much a put in.

They are getting about 15kg haylage a night in 2 nets at moment.
 
Britestar said:
I tend to weigh mine at the start of the winter, with the new crop of haylage, just so I get an idea of how much they are getting. Once I've done it a couple of times, I tend to find I'm pretty consistant with how much a put in.

They are getting about 15kg haylage a night in 2 nets at moment.
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I do this too. Once you get a feel of how much they weigh, you can pretty much guess it.

I gave my horses ad-lib last week as they were in so much with the drifts, and now I can't believe how fat they have got in a week. If you can feed ad-lib you must have something that is not a good doer! I've never worked on any professional yards that didn't weigh...
 
I weigh mine..but only because I want to know they are heavy & don't just look full because the hay is puffed out.. I have 2 tb's so it's important to keep the weight on & have bignets to keep them munching as much as poss..especially as they've been snowed in this week..can't afford weight loss!!
 
I weigh mine because my old horse can't manage that much hay/haylage and it ends up all around the stable, so I weigh it to find out how much he is eating then I can avoid too much waste.
 
I don't weigh mine each day but I split my bales into three equal piles so he only has 1 third of a bale each night. I have previously checked from a weight point of view and know he is getting enough in weight even if it does not last him the night. There is no way I could feed my lad ad-lib as he would eat half a bale or more if you put it down for him and get hugely fat.
Sometimes there has to be a compromise between knowing your horse does not have enough to last him the night (but enough to keep his gut working most of the night) and ensuring he does not pile on weight and get laminitis.
My lad has had more hay because of the snow recently and I have not been able to ride for 2 weeks due to the snow and he has managed to put weight on...so I have to be careful...it is a fine line!
Weighing is good for good doers, even once a week to guage the volume they are getting.
 
Every net is weighed as they have set amounts as on very good quality Ryegrass- otherwise if I didn't weigh they would be fat with a hay belly and difficult to keep fit!. If they look like they are getting a bit porky I decrease the feed and haylage and if they are losing a bit of weight I up the haylage. My youngster though has hay fed loose and I tend to judge that by eye.
 
I weigh everyone, he has haylage (Golden Grass (rye)) and turnout, on poor spanish grass, so I need to keep an eye on him and make sure he eats sufficient volumes.
 
I weigh mine, one horse is such a pig he would eat two bales a night and the other is a fatty. I also weigh my hard feed. People are always saying "I give mine two scoops"
but what does it actually weigh, scoops are different sizes. I weighed a full scoop and was horrified to find it was only 1lb!
 
Not in winter but I do in summer. I have a cob and a native pony who both do rather too well in summer so I restrict to a degree.
 
Only weight nets in winter usually an average 15 hands plus can have upto 30lbs of haylage a day £12.00 per week and if they are in get an extra 10lbs free, but in summer just pay for an individual net £1.25 as they dont need as much as they have been out to grass all day and usually stay out 24 x 7 anyway but I always use lab tested hay.
 
I work at a Riding School and all our horses have a weighed net depending on their size. I weigh the first net I do of that weight and then find I get the rest spot on by guessing.

Both my horses get ab-lib haylage. My mare gets her haynet stuffed as full as it will go, it probably works out about 20kg. She is young and I want to fill her up with as much fibre as she can possibly eat, but if she's fed off the floor she tramples it and wastes a lot. My gelding lives out 24/7 now so is fed haylage in the field, but when he was in he was always fed as much haylage as he could eat, off the floor.
 
My gelding gets as much as he will eat as he can drop weight. My 2 girls who live out have a big round bale in with all the other horses and it gets replaced when they finish it.
If my horses were fat etc. I would weigh them.
 
Two of mine get totally adlib hay (both in field and stable) - one is ancient and one works hard so need the calories.

The other is a very good doer so gets a set amount - I weighed it out at the beginning of the winter but now just feed her by eye.
 
yep because last winter I didnt and she came out of it ridiculously overweight and I had a job to shift it before the spring. This year I weigh it everyday - started off with 6kg hay during the week and 8 kg at the weekend so I could have an hour lie in but since the weather has turned she is now munching 9-10KG a night which is just about enough to stop her eating too much bed.

I have got through a large bale in just under 3 weeks whereas it would last me a month at the start. I would love to go ad-lib again but she will get too fat and I would be very skint!
 
Yep, we weigh ours before putting them out in the field. The ponies all have weighed nets again now that the 'freeze' is over and the horses have had too this week until we can get a haylage delivery. The horses are getting 16 - 18k a day plus feeds and the ponies range from 3 - 6k each day with no additional feed. The ponies are all still too heavy which is why we have stopped the ad lib hay they were getting over the really cold period. They all live out so nobody ends up without a net and no chance to find something to pick at.
 
I used to give my mare ad-lib but she put on too much weight. I now weigh and soak her nets and she's looking good.
 
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