Have any of you had the amount of hay/haylage reduced by your yard?

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LizScott

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The amount of hay and haylage given to horses on our yard have been reduced to almost half of what it was last year so was just wondering if anyone has had the same? Presumably it's to do with hay prices but when the cost of livery has already gone up, is it fair to give less hay aswell?
 
No, we feed what we like, but the cost has gone up and the wastage by some is being cracked down on. Hay does not become rubbish because it has been on your stable floor for a couple of hours!!
 
LizScott said:
The amount of hay and haylage given to horses on our yard have been reduced to almost half of what it was last year so was just wondering if anyone has had the same? Presumably it's to do with hay prices but when the cost of livery has already gone up, is it fair to give less hay aswell?
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Well that's not fair! And I wouldn't be happy with that at all...

Indiapony said:
Yes... last winter Ad Lib... this winter Buy your own! :D Livery cost went down accordingly though :)
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Now that is at least fair.
 
glosgirl said:
No, we feed what we like, but the cost has gone up and the wastage by some is being cracked down on. Hay does not become rubbish because it has been on your stable floor for a couple of hours!!
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Do people really chuck hay away like that :eek:
I have a private yard so buy it all in myself, but will not waste any. If one off the fussy tb don't eat theirs it goes to the ponies. Will not waste any I'm afraid.
I can understand cutting down on the people who chuck it away. If I saw hay going to the muck heap I would want to know why but if your horse eats all he has I don't think you should be cutting him back. I like mine to leave some so I know they have had enough. Than the ponies get any left overs cause the tbs won't eat " last nights hay"
 
Prices went up for the wasters and stayed the same for us that use what we need (not what we think the horse should be having) and don't waste what isn't eaten. Anything that my horse hasn't eaten (cos it's poisonous and 'orrid once it hits the floor you know!!) gets put out the the field ponies...which he then when he's put out goes and eats..go figure!!:rolleyes:
 
Our yard makes its own haylage, but the quality has been so rubbish this year that half the yard is buying in hay as well. I think YO sensibly realises she'd have a riot on her hands if she tried to limit the haylage, lol.

Re: people wasting hay / haylage - yes, this is a terrible problem on our yard. Because it is included in the cost of livery, people don't twig that it needs to be used conservatively (like they would do if they had to buy their own). My personal pet hate is people who feed on the floor (fair enough if your horse has to eat off the floor because of back problems etc) but who LOAD the stable up at 5pm in the evening and then it gets strewn through the bed all night and chucked out with the soiled shavings in the morning. Grrr. If you feed off the floor, you have to feed little and often, so that they clean up without spreading it through the bed.
 
Super wastful and makes me mad as it pushes up the cost for everyone else!
Those who are kept in during the day get a mountain at night (often two barrows of 'waste' hay then go on to the muck heap come the morning), during the day another mountain goes in, with spare left in the barrow to blow around the yard (horse drags enormous amouts of hay around the stable and into the bed so all is thrown out again!), then back to the stack for night time again. Drives me insane!!!
Noises are now being made my yo to stop this, but all that happens is that people now wait until she is off the yard and chuck it anyway - yes of course she is blind and so doesn't see it on the muck heap!!!
.... and breath!
 
Ours is included as the farmer makes his own hay and haylage and we are being warned not to waste it as there is less.
Hay isn't too bad as my TB will eat next doors leftovers but if he had decided one particular net of haylage is not for him there is no negotiating and after a couple of days I have to give up and chuck it.
 
We get 2 haynets of haylage per night... nothing in teh day as they are out. tbh I would prefer my boy to have more than that but that;s all we can have otherwise we have to buy our own
 
My liveries have always had 2 nets a day for turned out horses, and stabled horses get 3 nets a day. If they want more, they pay extra for them. Some have larger nets than others, but they never fill them full to the brim, so it works out equal.
My first livery to move up started to put hay on the floor as well as a net, morning and night....i did put my foot down to that, as many just pull it into there beds, and it needs throwing.
Now no1 puts hay on the floor at all.
 
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People really do waste a lot. At my last yard there was a woman who said her horse didn't eat the haylage at the bottom of his haynet and threw it away twice a day. The reason he didn;t eat it is becuase she gave him such a HUGE amount he couldn't possibly eat it all. So obviously the stuff that was left was at the 'bottom' of the net!! It was enough to feed my welsh cob without giving him any extra.

I don;t throw any away, if you have stuff to throw away surely you are giving too much?

Whatever my TB doesn't eat - he has ad lib - I put in the welshs net for the next day.
 
I only feed my horses off teh floor, but They don;t mix it in with their bedding and what doesn't get eaten gets left for the following night. the liveries can use adlib haylage but I have put up the cost this years as it has increased significantly in cost to produce. I do turn out all teh liveries in the mornings so I do see how much has been left over and will discuss with the liveries if I feel they are wasting it. We don;t seem to have a problem with wasteage now although last year i had on livery who was an absolute night mare. she would give her horse 2 huge nets and the same amount on the floor. it never ate it all. And she would put her huge wter bucket underneath the nets so so much ended up in there and wasted. Her view " i have paid for it i will use it as I want" solved that one - just moved her a large bale across for just her horses, paid for in full up front. She suddenly became very careful with how much she used.
 
Thanks for replies! I'm a bit peeved cos our night nets have been reduced and livery gone up (and due to go up again soon) - they're refusing to give more on grounds that "all" liveries are overwieght anyway and theyy don't want to waste hay so are feeding by appetite, which would be fine but cos mine is a picky eater, one day he will eat a full net of decent hay but if the next day the hay isn't great, he won't eat much at all so they are saying that he doesn't eat much... don't know what to do as he's a nightmare to keep weight on over the winter and don't see why I should start having to increase hard feed (wouldn't want to anyway) to compensate!!
 
Yes. Even though my horse in on livery, I have bought some of my own to supplement what he is given. He's a big TB and IMO it is essential he has ad lib hay and never runs out. My horse gets nearly twice as much hay as the others, but he eats it, and he looks amazing, and has a very nice temperament. Some of the others are so hungry and ratty in the mornings!
 
That does sound a bit pants, though you can see why they would want to try and keep it equal for all liveries. Can you buy a few small hay bales or some horsehage to top up his long fibre ration?
 
My lad is picky too and would leave one day what he'll eat the next so if I were you I'd buy myself a few bales of horsehage or good hay (if you can find it) and just top up with that. Annoying absolutely yes but if it keeps the peace and horse happy it's worth it.
 
We buy it as we use it off the YO - we are lucky as YO makes it and there is always plenty. She has two cuts taken off the field and only uses half of the first cut for our hay, so we are pretty safe. We were also lucky this year in that our hay was cut in the really nice week at the end of June so is good quality - I know plenty of people missed that spell of nice weather.

The price of our hay has gone up slightly - £2 a bale to £2.10 so I'm not going to complain....
 
glosgirl said:
That does sound a bit pants, though you can see why they would want to try and keep it equal for all liveries. Can you buy a few small hay bales or some horsehage to top up his long fibre ration?
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Yes I coud but he is on part livery and I can't always get there and I know the yard wouldn't give it for me as there is no room to store...plus I don't really see why I should when I'm already paying more for less hay!
 
cobgirlie said:
Prices went up for the wasters and stayed the same for us that use what we need (not what we think the horse should be having) and don't waste what isn't eaten. Anything that my horse hasn't eaten (cos it's poisonous and 'orrid once it hits the floor you know!!) gets put out the the field ponies...which he then when he's put out goes and eats..go figure!!:rolleyes:
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That's great but I imagine it could be a bit controversial, as to who is and isn't a waster
 
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