Feeding Hay - Help!

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Dyllymoo

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Because I jumped on someone elses' thread earlier, I thought I would ask here:

I have a 15.2hh 5 year old cob. He is on the round side and not in a lot of work (mostly hacking a couple of times a week).

I currently give around 6-7kg of hay for overnight (6pm - 6am) in a small holed haynet and it is always gone and he is hungry. So I know I need to give him more but I am concerned about his weight.

I am tempted to soak the hay so that he can have more, or possibly adding straw (but unsure which straw and how much to add).

I also would like to feed from the ground if possible as I hate the action with haynets, but I'm worried he will just eat it far too quickly.

Any suggestions?

I have been looking at these

https://www.haycube.co.uk/shop/Black-Haycube-SPECIAL-OFFER-p145770623

https://www.eazigrazer.co.uk/shop/

The Eazigrazer at least has something to slow him down but is it worth the money?

So my questions I guess are:

1) How much hay (dry) should I be giving him roughly (is it 2% of bodyweight)?

2) What straw should I mix in if any?

3) Feeding from the floor - suggestions?

Determined to do right by this little man :)
 
meleeka

meleeka

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When you say small holed, how big are the holes? I use 25mm and that definitely slows mine down

ETA just seen your other reply. A blue/black net is 35mm so not that small really. I feed two because the 25mm is more for grazing than satisfying hunger
 
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Dyllymoo

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meleeka said:
When you say small holed, how big are the holes? I use 25mm and that definitely slows mine down

ETA just seen your other reply. A blue/black net is 35mm so not that small really. I feed two because the 25mm is more for grazing than satisfying hunger
Click to expand...

The problem is I don't really want to use a net anymore if at all possible. I'm all for calorie control but at the same time I don't want to cause any issues :)
 
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