Drastically need to slow down hay consumption (big round bales)

[RunRunReindeer]

My three (large) ponies will get through a big round bale in less than a week, even when it's netted and placed in a ring feeder This is much more hay than they need. As winter approaches I'm wracking my brains to come up with something to slow down their consumption rate. I want them to have 24 hour access, but just not scoff it all so quickly ;/ I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks in advance

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I think the only thing you can do, is not put the bale in the field, or restrict their access to it by fencing it off for part of the day.

 

[Cortez]

Some horses are just greedy. In which case you will have to apportion the appropriate amounts and abandon the concept of an all-you-can-eat buffet. Mine get weighed haynets, four times a day.

 

[RunRunReindeer]

Thanks for your replies, maybe they will just have to be rationed :/

 

[Pinkvboots]

I would have the same problem if I stuck the whole bale out there my 2 would eat it in a week easily.

 

[AdorableAlice]

I fed big bale haylage netted and in a ring feeder and in a free access barn, all was fine when the horses were under 5. They didn't particularly pig out and a bale would last 7 days with no waste. ( they are big horses). I think being youngsters they put the calories into growth and they were not overly fat. One of them seemed to think it was fun to eat a hole in the bale an get hay seeds in her eye which resulted in vet bills.

Last year they hit 6 and started to gorge on it and demolished a bale in 3 to 4 days, two of the 3 were the size of a house coming out of a hard winter. They have taken all summer to drop the weight and my hay bill was massive. Savings were made in hard feed as they didn't have any.

This year I am abandoning the big net and will use the red/black huge nets, are they Shires brand ?, they will have a big net each hanging in the barn with a spare to take care of any arguing. When its gone its gone and they will have to search the paddocks for morsels.. Maturity has brought weight issues for them and adlib is now not possible.

I tried shutting them out of the barn in the day but if anything that actually caused worse gorging when they came back in.

 

[Nudibranch]

I'd ration it. Ponies in particular are often greedy - my Fell can shovel down a slice of hay in about 5 minutes. If I put a bale in the field she would just stand and stuff herself all day and be the size of a house. Pig doesn't come close!

 

[Hack4fun]

Rather than rationing feed, could you try a grazing muzzle to slow consumption?

 

[FFAQ]

My guys get rationed hay and ad lib oat/barley straw. You have to introduce the straw slowly (as with any feed) to avoid the risk of impaction colic. They definitely prefer oat straw over barley, but they will eat both and I'm happier knowing that they have the opportunity to graze all the time.

 

[Gift Horse]

I do similar, mine have access to ad-lib netted oat straw and I vary their hay ration according to their weight, workload etc.

 

[nikkimariet]

Some are just greedy. Ponies usually are!

Having gone from 2 ponies and 3 horses to just 3 horses... We've gone from getting through 1 large round a week approx to under half a large round a week. Fig barely counts as nibbles and prefers to pick at a bucket of hard feed or readigrass. But yes, some can eat a LOT. And still not be full!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I have found with horses (rather than ponies) that if allowed ad-lib access to forage will learn to self-regulate but in order to do that they sometimes need some of the forage to be in the form of straw. In order to avoid the risk of colic, I prefer to give that straw in the form of chaff, so it has to be inside.

 

[texel]

I have fed large round bales for a few years, not out of choice as the farmer decided to produce them. I had 4 mouths to feed at the time, two horses and two small ponies. Initially I had no idea what to expect as I had no experience of them. They are encased in a net of sorts but this was quickly demolished and torn into by sets of teeth and as you can imagine there was much wastage and trampling of hay into a pulp into the mud.

After much trial and error I purchased 4 metal sheep pen sections, a pond safety net and several metal clips (the sort used for moutaineering).

The hay bale would arrive and the farmer would place it on a wooden pallet in a location in the field. I then placed the 4 sheep pen sections around the bale and secured the corners with baler twine. I then cut away some of the bale netting off the top and then would throw the pond net over the top and clip it in place on the inside of the sheep pen sections, pulling it tight. The pond net covered the top and sides of the bale.

I found this worked well, the equines could access the hay ad-lib and all I have to do was re-position the net within the sheep pen sections as they ate it down - it lasted for a week and kept them satisfied. There was minimal wastage.