feeding haylage by weight??? same as hay by weight?

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tangosmum

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Sorry if this is a silly q.

I have been feeding hay 8kg per day. But have had to move pony onto Horsehage high fibre, as hay is non existant in these parts.

My question is ..is 8kg of hay the same as 8 kg of haylage?

Or as it has more moisture in it, do I need to feed more to get the same amount into my pony?

Confused :confused:
 
Generally you need to feed 50% more haylage than hay because of the moisture content, unless the haylage is particularly dry for some reason.
 
I was recently at an equine nutrition conference and several speakers were in agreement that you need to feed more haylage as the water content is a lot higher than hay.
 
I'm feeding Silvermoor haylage at the moment, the higher fibre one which presumably makes a difference to the moisture content :confused:

I contacted the company as I was concerned about feeding amounts and they were very helpful. The amount fed obviously depends on the condition and workload of the horse/pony (I have a good doer that could do with dropping some weight!) I was advised to feed 2% of bodyweight as normally forage should be 1.5 - 2% and I could stop feeding other feed as this should supply all her energy needs along with a vit/min supplement. I only feed hay replacement type fibres anyway, so have stuck with them and reduced the haylage amount so the total feed is 2%. (Probably over that now as we are covered in snow!)

When weighed out the net didn't look very much at all compared to hay, but there has been a tiny amount left in each net so I'm sure she's getting enough.
 
tangosmum said:
Sorry if this is a silly q.

I have been feeding hay 8kg per day. But have had to move pony onto Horsehage high fibre, as hay is non existant in these parts.

My question is ..is 8kg of hay the same as 8 kg of haylage?

Or as it has more moisture in it, do I need to feed more to get the same amount into my pony?

Confused :confused:
Click to expand...

In terms of dry matter content (which is what counts here) 8kg of hay(moisture content 14% is equivalent to9.5kg of haylage (typical moisture content 35%)
 
Although you will have to feed more haylage than hay remember that the energy content is higher (more calories) so you may have to adjust her hard feed to avoid weight gain!
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