Feeding hay off the field.

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poiuytrewq

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I think these days it's pretty much ch accepted that it's ok to feed hay that's well made straight away. I certainly had too one summer with a horse on box rest and no old stuff around and he was fine!
Just pondering though! My absolutely lovely hay came in last night (such a massive relief!) after mentioning to OH that I wasn't really worried about them eating it straight away he's put some seperate and asked me to use it first as it was the first bit round the edges and they "pulled some green in" it's moisture reading was 14.5. (Higher than the rest of it)
Will this be ok?! If he'd just not told me I'm sure it would be fine ;)
 
I suspect the old adage about not feeding before October was aimed at horses stabled the whole time with no access to grass. If your horses are used to grass, the dried version won't harm them and any green stuff, so long as it hasn't fermented, won't hurt. I have fed current years hay in August with no adverse effects, although that has allowed it to "cook" i.e. once the slight aniseed smell has been and gone.
 
I would agree with Jill. Although the generally accepted advice is not to feed straight away, I remember feeding mine new hay about a week after it was made, as I was going away to a clinic for a few days and had virtually run out, so they had to get used to it. As always, mix some of the older with the new over a few days.
 
Mm, I've just been and opened a bale and it looks and smells fine. I can't really see any fresh green looking bits. Soaked though it's reverted back to very green looking.
 
Last year I fed some the day after it was baled - because we didn't have any and I'd had to pull the metabolic one off grass. For her it needed soaking, but her boyfriend had it straight and he was fine
 
We used to have Pony Club camp here and all 50 odd ponies were put straight on our fresh hay, never any problems.
 
poiuytrewq said:
I think these days it's pretty much ch accepted that it's ok to feed hay that's well made straight away. I certainly had too one summer with a horse on box rest and no old stuff around and he was fine!
Just pondering though! My absolutely lovely hay came in last night (such a massive relief!) after mentioning to OH that I wasn't really worried about them eating it straight away he's put some seperate and asked me to use it first as it was the first bit round the edges and they "pulled some green in" it's moisture reading was 14.5. (Higher than the rest of it)
Will this be ok?! If he'd just not told me I'm sure it would be fine ;)
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I would never use hay of the field unless it is 3 months old, I have seen many colic cases and chokes.
 
We have fed hay straight away too for over 20 years of making our own with no issues so far? 24 horses on our yard. We do however, make sure it's well dried before baling, this years will be perfect as it was super dry when baled, stress over for another year!
 
chocolategirl said:
We have fed hay straight away too for over 20 years of making our own with no issues so far? 24 horses on our yard. We do however, make sure it's well dried before baling, this years will be perfect as it was super dry when baled, stress over for another year!
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Such a brilliant feeling isn't it?!! A years worth of decent hay safely inside :)
 
Mike007 said:
Unless of course you own an Irish draught in which case you would need to rent the O2 building as hay storage!
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Haha! One of them is ID x but actually doesn't eat all that much. Well saying that I still wouldn't want to have to pay for his hay!
We are lucky enough that my o/h works and the horses are kept on a farm so plenty of storage
 
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