feeding haylage to veterans

[talie2rose]

Hi I have a 27 year old nf mare, she has started coughing over the past week, from what i have read it sounds like she has COPD.
She normally gets a cough this time of year as she is living in at night. The cough seems better when i soak the hay (one day this week i gave dry hay and she started coughing, so it shows soaked hay is better) but i am wasting quite a bit of hay when i soak it, i dont give her too much but i am wondering whether there is something wrong with the quality of the hay.

I have thought about trying haylage, but as she is only 13.2hh she wont eat a whole bale in 4 days so i will end up wasting that too. I would like to know whether haylage is better for her or would it hyp her up and how much i should feed her as i have been told you dont give as much as hay

haylage or hay????

thanx
nat x

 

[teddyt]

You need to give more haylage than hay because it has a higher water content. So to get the same amount of dry matter you need to feed more. It is more nutritious than hay because the grass is cut earlier in the season and baled quicker. How long do you soak the hay for? You really only need to do it for 20-30 minutes for the spores to swell and stick to the hay so they arent breathed in. Or you could try steaming it.

 

[Nailed]

a bale will last a week easilu if you make sure you remove all the wrapping.
What sort of weight is she? As for me, her weight would eb the biggest decider.

Lou x

 

[cbeebies]

you can get high fibre haylage, which wont heat her up, and so long as you keep it well covered it will last more than 4 days I think that is just a quide but you could get a small bale which covered could last you possibly a week!

 

[talie2rose]

she weighs about 300kg, think im gonna share a bale with another girl from my yard so there isnt any wasted, thanx for all your help by the way x x x

 

[wonkey_donkey]

Good haylage will be much better for your pony than soaked hay. At her age she could do with the nutrients that good hay or haylage provides and you will be washing these away if you soak your hay.
If she does appear more 'hyper' then just give her a small high fibre 'bucket' feed each day with the correct amount of vits/mins and just rely on the haylage to provide her energy intake instead.
Haylage will defo improve her COPD (together with a low dust bedding and plenty of turn-out) and it will also assist her digestive system if you feed it on an adlib basis.
If you share with a friend the haylage should keep fresh long enough for you to use it up on time.