Feeding Hay/Haylage (amount + your routine)

[spotty_pony]

A few questions:

Approx how much haylage per day (weight) should horses which are in light work and living in nearly 24/7 be receiving - baring in mind they are receiving very little hard feed so it is approx 90% of their diet.

Does it vary between hay and haylage (the amount fed)? And does it vary depending on the quality of the forage (as obviously every bale is different)

Please give me as many facts about feeding hay/haylage as possible, does it vary in energy levels? Can feeding too much make a horse stressed?

I have a valued reason for asking all of this (which I will not be mentioning on here) so any information about what the routine for feeding hay/hayage is on your yard is, the amount fed per day (either in weight or slices) how many times per day they are fed this (or are they fed ad-lib?) Basically everything you have experienced about feeding hay/haylage. I know this probably looks a bit odd, but I just want to do some comparisions.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Holly Hocks]

My horses have ad lib haylage - they are currently only going out for a couple of hours per day due to crap fields and grazing and not in work either. Neither are nutty as a result!

 

[MrsElle]

My two are out 24/7 and have a small bale and a half between them. It is put in an old trailer once a day. There is never any left but they don't come rushing to eat when the new lot is put out so they aren't hungry and are putting on weight.

 

[xRobyn]

15.1hh good weight Welsh Cob stabled from approx 4pm-7.30am gets 4 slices/approx 8kg overnight. He's turned out during the day in a field with not much grass, but enough that he wants to go out. He's not in work at the moment.

He stayed at the vets for a few nights and they were amazed at how much his idea of ad lib was. I'd love to give him ad lib, but unfortunately he eats astonishing amounts and it's the ideal situation for him. Whilst at the vets he ate double what a 16.3hh ISH ate

 

[maxapple]

My two have ad lib hay. My tb also has a hay net of horse hage and pony has about half a net. Both are a good weight.

I've always fwd ad lib - I like mine to have lots left in the morning so I know they are grazing all night. I've also found that when they have ad lib they actually eat less!

 

[tasteofchristmaschaos]

This year, they have nothing so far. When they need it they will have a round bale of hay put in, so will be ad lib. Last year, at another yard where he had to be stabled overnight, he had nothing in the field during the day and one bale of haylage per night.

 

[becca1305]

aside from my laminitic prone cushings pony all have adlib haylage and hay mix for the night and are out grazing in the day. They are all quite big horses 16hh-17hh and are either in light work or no work. Would hazard a guess they have about 18kg total and have usually eaten all their haylage and munched at their hay a bit though its never all gone I like them to have access to continually graze. My haylage is made off my fields and seems to be good quality but not rich if that makes any sense?! Mine barely have any hard feed the ones in work and my baby are having lo calorie balancer and 2 handfuls of chaff and the one not in work has 1/2 scoop chaff and a multi-vit supplement so their haylage/hay and grass intake accounts for a very large majority of their diet. .

 

[be positive]

The horses that are in at night and in work get adlib haylage, two fairly big nets at night so there is some left in the morning. If they do not get turned out for some reason they continually have access to it. They are sensible it does not heat them up and they do regulate intake to some extent.
Just to add these are at livery with me.
My ponies are more restricted as they would eat too much.

 

[samlf]

Mine has about 20kg haylage a night, then whatevers left is put out in her field as theres barely any grass - she gets two massive nets at night probably about 15kg each, then the leftover is out in the field. she is slowly putting on weight but was very poor when i got her, she also has a reasonable amount of hard feed.

 

[starbar]

Out on currently rather muddy grazing during the day from about 8am and bought in at around 4pm. Everyone who is in gets ad lib hay, usually a big haynet and a pile on the floor. I have never weighed haynets and never will, in fact I find it a bit over the top if I'm honest. Horses need to munch for a good part of the day to keep the gut moving. As long as their weight is Ok, I like to go down to see them in the morning and see there is still some left. They tend to be pretty good at self regulating what they need.
In summer I would restrict grazing for the fatties

 

[soloequestrian]

Mine have ad lib haylage - access to a big bale all the time. They are all in very light work and get virtually no hard feed.

 

[HarlequinSeren]

My boy is in the majority of the time due to crappy field and awful weather! Weight wise I'm not sure exactly how much I give but I top it up morning and night, a big hay rack crammed full. There's always some left when I get back again so I know I'm giving him enough and he's not hungry. He's maintaining his weight well with this routine. He gets a minimal amount of hard feed, just enough for any supplements etc.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

I dont go on weights but if there is any left in the nets

My mare - 15.2hh poor doer TBxWB on box rest was gettign 6 x large haynets a day of good hay. Now not eating as much (but has put on good weight ) so down to four 2 in the Am and 2 in the PM

My gelding 14.3hh 20 yrs old on 24/7 turnout is getting 2 x large haynets plus what ever he is finding in the field. Hes a good weight and getting 1 in the am and one in the PM

They are also getting feeds as well. Mre wont be back in work until late summer next year and gelding is having his Xmas break as per normal so no work being done but I dont mind him a bit portly as he loses easily once in work

 

[NicoleS_007]

My mare gets feed haylage 3 times a day, a bucket for breaky, 1 for lunch and a large haynet for tea. She would roughly get about 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 large bale slices of haylage a day + hard feed. She is currently getting fittened up so would be in light-med work.

 

[MochaDun]

We don't have much grazing in the winter on the yard so while horses are out 10am to 3pm ish there is little out there. Mine gets about 1kg of haylage first thing before he goes out in the morning, I leave a small net for when he first comes in - about 2kg - and then when I sort him for the night later he gets currently about a 4-5kg net depending on how late or early that is, but we're on very rich haylage at the moment that they've just moved onto and so I'm being a bit cautious as markedly different from the haylage we used to have on the yard and the horses were inhaling it far too fast. My pony is 14.1hh and weighs c.420kg. I've taken him off any chaff, carrots etc until he settles on this new haylage. Behaviour wise he is fine on this haylage, just laminitis I'm worried about as he's a bit greedy.

 

[Mancha]

For a horse that was stood in for long periods of time/all the time i personally would want them to have near enough ad lib, depending on how greedy they are i'd probably double net it so it's always there but they cant wolf it down so quickly. For mine i think ad lib would probably only be one large net over night and another through the day but he's only 14.2 and alot of horses could easily get through 2 large nets overnight or through the day if in all day.

 

[Enfys]

...deleted. Sorry.

 

[Rose Folly]

Three horses (a TB, a Welsh Section D and a Welsh Section C) all out 24/7. They get 3 haynets worth each a day - at 9am, 4pm and midnight.

I reckon each one is getting minimum of 8lb (3.5kg) per day, but I separate the big horse for an hour or so at breakfast and tea and he shovels in everything he can manage then, on top of his three nets. They also have small feeds (a couple of handfuls non-molassed Alfa, a couple of handfuls cool mix and a half pint container each of unmolassed sugar beet. They also have cooked linseed turned in with the sugar beet.

I have to be careful as the Section D had haylage-related laminitis last winter, while the big ex-'chaser needs everything he can get. But they're all looking well at the moment. He has put on a bit of weight, and both Welshies have lost a bit.

 

[kazg07]

Mine are out during day and in from around 4pm till 8.30am at night. They have a hay bar full which is around half a small bale of haylage(4 sections). There is always some left as would rather they had plenty than not enough !

 

[L&M]

If you know the weight of your horse the easiest way to work it out is to feed between 2% - 2.5% of it's bodyweight in forage.

At this time of year, unless on very good grass (I wish!!) this allowance should be mainly made up of hay/haylage and hard feed.

My cob weighs approx 450kg and is in full work and hunts weekly, but is also a good doer. I feed him 12 kg a day - allow for 1 kg grazing, 2kg hard feed and 9kg haylage, totalling 12kg which is just over his 2.5% allowance.

He has a feed at breakfast, then turned out for approx 6 hrs, then comes in for a net of hayalge weighing 3kg. At night he has another hard feed plus 6kg of haylage. His weight is good and he looks well, so hope I have the blance right.

I use a spring balance to weigh his nets, and a slice of small bale hay weighs approx 2kg.

Hope that helps!