Steorra
Well-Known Member
I'm limiting him, not starving him.
Feeding Forage
- Thread starter fidleyspromise
- Start date
christi
Well-Known Member
Hi Walrus ,
yeah i make my own from Paddock Pillows from garden trellis been using them for 3 years now. .
also in the last year ive been using a tiny holed haynet on the ground , with the rope secured very tightly inside.
JenHunt
Well-Known Member
I have two horses, sharing a 9 acre field. They are out a minimum of 12 hours in the winter and 18 in the summer. I feed forage ad lib, but although both are quite good doers we don't seem to have problems with their weight. One if working quite hard and the other is more or less roughed off.
its personal choice at the end of the day - what we do works for ours, but might not work for someone else's horse.
its personal choice at the end of the day - what we do works for ours, but might not work for someone else's horse.
AMW
Well-Known Member
why do we have no grass at the beginning of December?
a few weeks ago we did have (pic taken 1st week in October)
now we dont
before the snow, the 2 older ones living out 24/7 got no hay in the field and only a small fibre based feed with suregrow twice a day, the foals are in at night. Now they have a round bale of hay which they have access to 24/7 and have only eaten about half in a week. The foals get haylage at night, if I put a large bale of that out I reckon the 2yo would park herself at it as its the highlight of her day when she gets a handful when Im filling the little ones nets. They cant get at the grass but dont pig out on the hay, they also like to browse in and under the hedge.
a few weeks ago we did have (pic taken 1st week in October)
now we dont
before the snow, the 2 older ones living out 24/7 got no hay in the field and only a small fibre based feed with suregrow twice a day, the foals are in at night. Now they have a round bale of hay which they have access to 24/7 and have only eaten about half in a week. The foals get haylage at night, if I put a large bale of that out I reckon the 2yo would park herself at it as its the highlight of her day when she gets a handful when Im filling the little ones nets. They cant get at the grass but dont pig out on the hay, they also like to browse in and under the hedge.
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fidleyspromise
Well-Known Member
Surely it can't simply be as black and white as this though?
My ponies are out 24*7 and are in field. I am unable to take them from the field even for grooming - due to ice being dangerous.
I have a young horse and no where safe to tie up haynets so triple haynet/ soaking etc is not possible. Again, exercise is a definite no-no due to the icy conditions.
There have been some excellent points from everyone and I appreciate hearing how others are managing their horses.
When everyone is saying horses left without forage, are you talking about stabled horses or do you believe that this goes for the field kept ponies as well?
I'd be interested to know if anyone feels they have a better solution for my horses other than what I am doing?
AMW
Well-Known Member
if a pony is out, it shouldnt be without forage as obviously it has grass.
I personally dont like to leave a pony with nothing to eat, their gut is not designed to be starved.
In the pic I posted the bay pony had a muzzle on during the day and was in at night with hay all summer though she hardly touched it. She is now out 24/7 and has trimmed up a little.
I personally dont like to leave a pony with nothing to eat, their gut is not designed to be starved.
In the pic I posted the bay pony had a muzzle on during the day and was in at night with hay all summer though she hardly touched it. She is now out 24/7 and has trimmed up a little.
Dubsie
Well-Known Member
You wanted someone to pay you over a grand a year for land and fence it themselves
I assume you are in the south of England as you don't seem to get the same snow we have in Scotland (digging up 2 foot of snow to find grass - the ponies would create avalanches), so maybe that seems a reasonable price to you, but it certainly isn't round my neck of the woods.
Round here, £20 a week for 3 acres is VERY cheap, near neighbour pays £70 a month, and does all own fencing (just under 2 acres) - but it's all in proportion to land costs - 3 acres of poorly fenced ragwort (minimal grass mostly weed) locally on the market for £75K, 4 acres for £100K and with an uplift for 30 years if planning gained. Talk about greedy!
sueeltringham
Well-Known Member
AMW -mine are living out and happy with similar amounts of snow on the ground 
.
Well, I was always in the forage 24/7 ad-lib camp, but we now have a 12hh native with Equine Metabolic Syndrome. She's the greediest pony I've ever come across and there was no wonder she ended up with laminitis before her diagnosis. So, now I have to weigh and soak each haynet and measure carerully her forage based 'safe' feeds, all spread throughout the day with the last hay at 10pm. She can eat a large haynet in an hour that would last my horse all night.
I dread to think what she'd be like on ad-lib management -huge that's a cert.
My other horse is an extremely good do-er and at the moment has access to a large round bale, and is living out. He's doing far too well and they are going through far too much hay, so I'm going to have to resort to restricting it once the snow has gone.
Good doers are really hard work and I now firmly believe, that whilst some horses need ad-lib, others, particularly greedy, good doer, native types it's not a good way to manage them.
.Well, I was always in the forage 24/7 ad-lib camp, but we now have a 12hh native with Equine Metabolic Syndrome. She's the greediest pony I've ever come across and there was no wonder she ended up with laminitis before her diagnosis. So, now I have to weigh and soak each haynet and measure carerully her forage based 'safe' feeds, all spread throughout the day with the last hay at 10pm. She can eat a large haynet in an hour that would last my horse all night.
I dread to think what she'd be like on ad-lib management -huge that's a cert.My other horse is an extremely good do-er and at the moment has access to a large round bale, and is living out. He's doing far too well and they are going through far too much hay, so I'm going to have to resort to restricting it once the snow has gone.
Good doers are really hard work and I now firmly believe, that whilst some horses need ad-lib, others, particularly greedy, good doer, native types it's not a good way to manage them.
AngieandBen
Well-Known Member
You wanted someone to pay you over a grand a year for land and fence it themselves
I assume you are in the south of England as you don't seem to get the same snow we have in Scotland (digging up 2 foot of snow to find grass - the ponies would create avalanches
Like I said, well aware of snow and that people have to feed hay.........So has all the grass underneath disapeared then?!
I'm in the midlands, my grass is fantastic, and I would be quite happy to put up about 200 metres of electric fencing if I had to ( only down one side, all other sides newly post and rail )
3 acres could easily support three horses, and you think £20 a week is a lot :O Why on earth would I want to rent out my field and have people using my facilities for anything less? Just not worth the hassle, I was trying to do someone a favour tbh, someone who hasn't got any grazing left!!! This is the thing, a lot of liveries just don't think about the extra costs ie fencing, muck clearance, grass management.
Cazza525
Well-Known Member
Here here!!
I'm probably going to nark ppl now, but a lot of people just don't have any idea of the value of land/stabling......ppl want something for nothing.
One of my liveries I heard moaning about livery price......I quickly interjected and said that I had spent more on fencing alone that week than her livery had cost a month!!
Land here is £25K an acre...I have 7 acres which I got planning for 6 stables, tack room and feedroom.......the total figure is probably more than some ppl's houses and we are still ploughing money in!
I rent a 3 1/2 acre field to a young girl for £120 pcm......it has mains water. She does all fencing and maintainance!
She's got it really cheap!!!!
Tinypony
Well-Known Member
Falling about laughing here, my fields are under snow as well. Also, of course, not everyone is feeding natives, and that may mean that they need to put hay out. It's also sometimes a good idea in very cold weather for equines that are living out 24/7, as the extra fibre through the gut helps them to keep warm. Of course, grass doesn't grow below certain temperatures, and if there are very wet conditions (or a lot of snow thawing) all that carefully planned grazing can turn to mud. A lot depends on the type of land you are dealing with.
Tinypony
Well-Known Member
Oh £20 per week is cheap, in the South East where I am you would expect to be charged £15 or £20 for DIY grass livery per horse.
Arabelle
Well-Known Member
£20 a week seems more reasonable if you are offering to fence and manage the land for them (including muck clearance) and share your 'facilities' - I thought you wanted that for the land alone, with no other services
However, your price must be too high if you have had no takers - in the end,the market dictates price 
AngieandBen
Well-Known Member
£20 a week seems more reasonable if you are offering to fence and manage the land for them (including muck clearance) and share your 'facilities' - I thought you wanted that for the land alone, with no other services
Oh I have takers, thats the point, Everyone wants something for doing bu**er all, £20 a week for 3 horses as much grass as they can eat? I fill up the water and they would have use of the yard/tack room/feed room etc but no school; You think thats expensive, you are kidding right?!
My friend down the road charges £90 a month diy with stable/turn out/hay and straw, and people are still turning their nose up saying "I don't really want to pay that much
" If you can't afford it don't have them
AngieandBen
Well-Known Member
arghhhhhh I know the fields are under snow, thats not what its about! I'm saying people should manage their grazing better, if you have enough land per horse then there should be no need to feed hay in the field AFTER the snow has melted!!!
SmartieBean09
Well-Known Member
Oh I have takers, thats the point, Everyone wants something for doing bu**er all, £20 a week for 3 horses as much grass as they can eat? I fill up the water and they would have use of the yard/tack room/feed room etc but no school; You think thats expensive, you are kidding right?!
My friend down the road charges £90 a month diy with stable/turn out/hay and straw, and people are still turning their nose up saying "I don't really want to pay that much
Very reasonable offer! Around here Grass Livery ranges from £20-35 per horse. £20 with no tackroom just field (no shelter) and £35 inc tackroom as use of facilities. These prices are PER horse! £20 pw is good for 1 let alone 3!
AngieandBen
Well-Known Member
Thank You!!!!! 
horsegirl
Well-Known Member
It is natural for horses to have access to forage all the time so they can graze on and off. I ensure my horse always has a variety of forage available. Hay/hifi/alfa. Horses who have a tendency to be overweight would get unlimited hay but in small hole haynets, inside 2 or even 3 to slow down the rate of eating, and no hard feed at all.
Arabelle
Well-Known Member
Oh I have takers, thats the point, Everyone wants something for doing bu**er all, £20 a week for 3 horses as much grass as they can eat? I fill up the water and they would have use of the yard/tack room/feed room etc but no school; You think thats expensive, you are kidding right?!
My friend down the road charges £90 a month diy with stable/turn out/hay and straw, and people are still turning their nose up saying "I don't really want to pay that much
No, I said £20 was expensive for land you had to fence and manage yourself - it seems more reasonable if you are providing services and storage.
It is frustrating to rent land because you are reluctant to invest in, for example, quality fencing for land you may not have in the future. Indeed, paying to have it harrowed and rolled can be a punt, if you do not have the security that you will still be able to rent the land to see the benefit of the outlay in the future.
Land management is a no brainer for your own land, but there may be good reasons for people not to wish to invest their time and resources in rented land, if they do not have security of tenure.
Having said all that, just to really put the cat among the pigeons I think quality grazing is often over rated for horses
When I had 2 natives they were at their healthiest on a heather moorland hill with no 'pasture' as such touchstone
Well-Known Member
Having said all that, just to really put the cat among the pigeons I think quality grazing is often over rated for horses
Ditto this 100% - unlimited access to grass would quite literally kill many ems/laminitics, which is why I have to restrict grazing and feed hay year round for my good doer, regardless of the quantity or quality of the grass.
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Cazza525
Well-Known Member
No, I said £20 was expensive for land you had to fence and manage yourself - it seems more reasonable if you are providing services and storage.
It is frustrating to rent land because you are reluctant to invest in, for example, quality fencing for land you may not have in the future. Indeed, paying to have it harrowed and rolled can be a punt, if you do not have the security that you will still be able to rent the land to see the benefit of the outlay in the future.
Land management is a no brainer for your own land, but there may be good reasons for people not to wish to invest their time and resources in rented land, if they do not have security of tenure.
Having said all that, just to really put the cat among the pigeons I think quality grazing is often over rated for horses
You are joking aren't you?
Arabelle
Well-Known Member
galaxy
Well-Known Member
I have always fed all my horses ad lib.
However my new Irish girl is an incredibly good doer and positively inhales her feed!! So I have to calculate how much she can have. She would literally eat everything in front of her.
I have double netted her teeny holed hay net, but I know some nights she'll be standing there for a while without anything.... But there's nothing more I can do about it. Oh and she is in proper work by the way!!
I work out her allowance on her weight, and I'm generous with it. She doesn't need to loose weight, but I don't want any more on her.
But she is in a field with grass. We moved onto it 3 weeks ago. If your on a yard with properly managed fields, there is no reason why you should be have no grass in the winter. Your winter fields should have been rested over the summer. In fact when our fields were under 8 inches of snow, they didn't eat the hay we put out, they dug through the snow to the grass!
However my new Irish girl is an incredibly good doer and positively inhales her feed!! So I have to calculate how much she can have. She would literally eat everything in front of her.
I have double netted her teeny holed hay net, but I know some nights she'll be standing there for a while without anything.... But there's nothing more I can do about it. Oh and she is in proper work by the way!!
I work out her allowance on her weight, and I'm generous with it. She doesn't need to loose weight, but I don't want any more on her.
But she is in a field with grass. We moved onto it 3 weeks ago. If your on a yard with properly managed fields, there is no reason why you should be have no grass in the winter. Your winter fields should have been rested over the summer. In fact when our fields were under 8 inches of snow, they didn't eat the hay we put out, they dug through the snow to the grass!
AngieandBen
Well-Known Member
Agree entirely re the quality of grazing, I wish I had access to much rougher ground, unfortunately living in the middle of Welland Valley produces very rich pasture!
Although I don't do anything to it,no fertilizing/harrowing, The 3 acres is cut once a year for hay which my neighbour pays for and uses, then its left to grow as very long fibre for winter. I actually used most of it up last year as the winter was so bad, so I might need it yet for my ponies.
I do restrict mine from April to November but I don't feed hay as well, they get plenty of excersise to burn off the calories
Although I don't do anything to it,no fertilizing/harrowing, The 3 acres is cut once a year for hay which my neighbour pays for and uses, then its left to grow as very long fibre for winter. I actually used most of it up last year as the winter was so bad, so I might need it yet for my ponies.
I do restrict mine from April to November but I don't feed hay as well, they get plenty of excersise to burn off the calories