Hay has gone!

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loverly

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My local supplier has now told me has hasn't got any hay for me for the next few months :eek: so I'm panicing.

Have rung 11 farmers/suppliers so far and the only one to reply has Canadian hay at £190 for 18 bales and I'm not paying that as I just can't afford it.

I have found someone who has 6 large round bales of haylage left over that I can have but I've never fed it before :confused: I have one and a half horses (ones a miniature so eats next to nothing) but have read that it will only last a max of one week and obviously won't get anywhere near that in one week.

Does it last for longer? Or any advice?

(I'm in North Devon if anyone has any hay or knows someone that does)

Latte and Panini for anyone who gets this far! (I work for Costa :D )
 
if the lady I have offered them to doesnt want them and you are after small bale hay and can get to Loxton Somerset I have 40 i could let you have for £3.50 collected - BUT ..... this is this years hay just cut ! it is very dry though but obviously very new hay.

Otherwise you may be better off with devon haylage as it will keep for longer as small bales.

What a horrible position to be in ! it seems to be a worry for everyone each year - I am just hoping my haylage supplier has enouh for me as I wont have enough hay for the whole winter (selling as cant store it all - its in my trailer at the moment !)
 
In warm weather it will only last a week before it starts to turn. With only one horse and lil mini i would say thats false economy for you to buy the haylage. As you wont use most of that. We tend to get through 1 bale/wk in winter with 3 horses/
 
just to say - I get through 1 bale of haylage every 10 days with 2 large horses in depths of winter (beginning and end of winter I feed hay a wont get through haylage in time)!
 
Have you tried Melian (they are on Mullacott Industrial Estate just outside Ilfracombe)? They can sometimes get hay when no-one else has any!
 
We use large bale haylage at our yard. As we only have 2 horses and a cob it lasts us ages (about a month). What we do is take the wrapping completely off and just cover it with an old rug, we've never had a problem with it 'turning'.
 
I would pass on big bales. They may not go off totally, but are not good to feed if left open too long, especially in summer. We've just had smaller big bales made this year as we only have two big horses this winter and I was worried about bales going off.

I think I heard of a farmer round here re-baleing big bales into smaller square bales - would it be worth asking round local farmers to see if they can do it?

Otherwise could you find someone else locally who would share the big bales with you - perhaps someone else has run out too...
 
loverly said:
My local supplier has now told me has hasn't got any hay for me for the next few months :eek: so I'm panicing.

Have rung 11 farmers/suppliers so far and the only one to reply has Canadian hay at £190 for 18 bales and I'm not paying that as I just can't afford it.

I have found someone who has 6 large round bales of haylage left over that I can have but I've never fed it before :confused: I have one and a half horses (ones a miniature so eats next to nothing) but have read that it will only last a max of one week and obviously won't get anywhere near that in one week.

Does it last for longer? Or any advice?

(I'm in North Devon if anyone has any hay or knows someone that does)

Latte and Panini for anyone who gets this far! (I work for Costa :D )
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Can you not leave the horse on grass??

If not then what about small haylege from Cornish Farmers?? at Bideford or Hatherleigh ( I think Bideford is closer to North Devon.):)
 
Before you rule out the canadian hay,The bales are usualy VERY heavy and you may be surprised how much you are actualy getting for your money.
 
I'm almost in the same boat - my supplier has no old hay left. I usually feed old till Xmas, then go onto new. I'm going to start a 'when do you start feeding your new hay' thread in New Lounge - but any answers here?

BTW I'm feeding one of my two Equilage, to make my little stack of old hay go as far as possible for my hairy marey (who had a slight dose of lami once, and I don't want a repeat). It's a bit expensive, but I HAVE found that big bales do go off if you don't use them within a couple of weeks, especially in hot weather - and even spread out.
 
loverly said:
Have rung 11 farmers/suppliers so far and the only one to reply has Canadian hay at £190 for 18 bales and I'm not paying that as I just can't afford it.

)
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:eek: Is that small bales? 10 pounds a BALE! That is scarey :( I'd be driving around and calling in at every farm in your position.

The cost is in the shipping I suppose. Our bales (and I am in Canada) average about 60lbs depends on the settings, way, way heavier than the lightly packed British ones. There will be plenty of hay being shipped over, we are having a good summer for hay locally, one neighbour has just baled over 5000 big (600lb) squares that he sells to the UK via a US dealer, they sell for $40 a bale here.

Pat10, I feed new hay straight away if I have to, never killed any of mine yet and I've been doing it for years.
 
Well theres haylage and theres haylage. can you ask to see a bale open? or buy one as a test. Some are dryer than others.

I had some big bale haylage that was just like hay but wrapped. It lasted a good month. I just kept it well undercover in a cool barn out of direct light.

Feeding this years hay isn't the end of the world. just try and mix with what you have left of last years as you would any hay from a new source...
 
horsehage isn't as expensive as canadian hay and you can get it to suit everybody from laminitics to racehorses
 
I hope that no one's going to have an epi-fit now! :eek:, but have you considered good quality barley straw? It's not ideal, perhaps, but most of my horses seem to eat their beds, if they stand in. There are also those who will over winter horses, living out, with round bales, and they all seem to do well on it.

Alec.
 
I'm feeding half oat straw half hay - mainly cos my horse is an extremely good doer. However, it also means the hay lasts much longer, and there's more munching time (also helps that it's netted double in small holed nets). Much less waste. Perhaps by economising thsi way it'll last longer?
 
Ditto Alex Swan - straw is an excellent option.
Haylage if the weather stays dry can last if you spread it out.
Bags of HiFi Lite make good Hay Re placer (more expensive that straw though)
.... Luckily the weather has been cooperation a bit at last so lots of new hay coming.
 
Is there a reason you can't just leave your horse out?

Although I totally agree that straw can be fed, it does seem a bit unnecessary to have to start getting inventive when it is summer and there is grass, even if it means finding summer grazing somewhere other than your usual yard if you are short on turn out.

I wouldn't do what one poster said about spreading out haylage that is 'going mouldy' to dry. It might become dry, but the spores that would have been present as it became mouldy may well still be there.
 
I wouldn't do what one poster said about spreading out haylage that is 'going mouldy' to dry.
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EDITED cause I am a numpty!

Just to say, I spread mine but agree with above poster that it should be spread as soon as the bale opened. Don't wait as the fermentation starts pretty much as soon as you open in, even if you can't see the start of the process.
 
KazzOnAPiano said:
Is there a reason you can't just leave your horse out?

Although I totally agree that straw can be fed, it does seem a bit unnecessary to have to start getting inventive when it is summer and there is grass, even if it means finding summer grazing somewhere other than your usual yard if you are short on turn out.

.
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There will be some folk that can't leave their horses out, and must feed hay or some other forage while stabled. Laminitics for example. Or in my case, an extremely good do-er which, despite being worked 5-7 times a week, is turned out for only 3-6 hours per day, is on diet rations, STILL can look like a hippo if not carefully managed in this way. Starvation paddock would be most ideal. Muzzling is a last option (he can throw a hairy fit while getting it put on, so would prefer to avoid either of us being injured).
 
could you not turn your horse out in a grazing mask, the greenguard ones seam to be the best (well they are the only one my boy can't remove), and although £50 saves a fortune in hay and bedding from haing to stable him.

Mine spends 50% of the time with it off and 50% with it on, but many people leave them on 24/7. He hates it being put on too, but is quite happy when its done, and much more so than when he is shut in.

WRT feeding new hay, if you can't mix it with old or straw and are worried you can always soak it.
 
MrsD123 said:
I had to feed my boy on haylage [one horse one large bale], it was obviously going mouldy , so I spread it out to dry like hay, and it was fine, I mean stalky and no longer green, but fine to feed him.
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this idea works really well, just open the bale & spread it out to dry straight away. like hay. No problem.
 
Mike007 said:
Before you rule out the canadian hay,The bales are usualy VERY heavy and you may be surprised how much you are actualy getting for your money.
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Question Mike, as you are obviously in the know, what is the average weight, of the average small bale of British hay.

I was reading the link given for the hay supplier in Devon and he quoted Canadian bales as weighing approximately 33kg (78lbs - ish) and was really just wanting to make a comparison in weights.
 
I;m not Mike, but if it helps the last lot of hay I weighed was 17-20 kilos (37-44lbs) a bale which ties in with my old thinking of approx 50 bales to a ton. Makes the canadian bales on the expensive side at around £6 for the equivilent weight as an english sized bale, but if the quality is as good as it used to be they are well worth it.
 
Typicaly small bales in the uk weigh in at about 20 kg (45lbs) They can weigh more and 55lbs is not unheard of ,particularly if it is going to be moved and stacked mechanicaly. Because of our dodgy weather we tend not to bale too tightly because it encourages mould. Imported Canadian hay is generaly baled very tightly to reduce shipping costs.The stuff we used to get (30 years ago) was tied with WIRE and three strands at that. They weighed well over 50kg (112 lbs)
 
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