Hay / Haylage and how much do you use?

Halfpass

Halfpass

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 May 2005
Messages
3,527
Location
East Sussex
Visit site
On our yard we have hay and haylage included in the price of our livery. This has only been like this since the hay was cut last year. Our yard cuts their own hay and haylage. Last year was not a good year so haylage is now being bought in from a supplier at quite an expense.

A few people on our yard just don't seem to understand how to feed the haylage and are using it like hay. The haylage supplier recommends that for an average 16hh horse a net of 10 - 14 lb of haylage should be used per night. My horse gets 8lb topped up with hay to bulk it out and does really well on this.

Our yard manager is shocked at how much is being used we have 18 horses on our yard ranging from 12hh - 17hh and are using over 3 large bales of haylage per week. So today when most people had gone home he went to check each stable the 12hh pony had the same as my 16.3 warmblood
shocked.gif
. A very overweight 15hh fresian x had double that amount
shocked.gif
shocked.gif
. Of all the horses on our yard only 7 had a sensible amount of haylage.

Our yard manager is fuming and has said that once the 12 bales we have got in now have gone he is not buying anymore until they cut their own later this year so we will all be feeding hay. It really upsets me a that a few people that think they are being kind have ruined it for the rest of us. He has tried talking to them but they just won't listen.

I can only think of 7 horses on our yard that are the correct condition for this time of year. Most are far too overweight due to the amount of feed they get and going into spring this could spell disaster. I wourld rather see a horse underweight at this time of year than obese (?sp).

How much do you feed yours? I don't think our YM is being unreasonable do you?
 
We have exactly the same problem on our yard. Our hay AND straw is included in our livery. As much as we want for £30 per week (used to be £25 p/w, but people were taking the P with the hay). The YO is a farmer and the hay is his own - he also had a bad cut last year though. One woman (no longer here) used to feed almost an entire bale of hay to her horse each night!!!
shocked.gif
And she'd chuck what he didnt eat!
mad.gif


Personally, i feed Molly & Mo about 4 leaves of hay each night (depending on how thick each leaf is). Dolly (12.2hh) is on loan now, but used to get about 2 and a half leaves.

The people on the yard at the mo are all quite sensible, but 3 more are moving on at the end of the month so we'll see...
crazy.gif
 
To be honest I wouldn't be giving fatties Haylage, full stop. 8lbs of Haylage doesn't sound enough to last over night for a 16.3hh Horse (unless he is getting about the same in hay). 8lbs for a pony sound right (if getting no hay as well).
 
Mine have adlib hay at night (for J thats about half a bale) and J has adlib haylege in the field which works out as 1/3 a mini bale of haylege a day. I never leave him with out forage.

The yearlings have adlib hay day and night

Spooks (fat) has one slice of hay at night and 1 during the day in the field
 
My 15.3hh Cob get 14lbs of hay per night, but she gets no hard feed and there is much grass so she is in from 14:30hrs to 08:00hrs. I buy my own, but I would feed the same if it was included!!!
wink.gif


ETA - She also has a slice of hay in the field when it is frosty, and I will probably start putting a slice out everyday as there is so little grazing left.
 
Mine, a 15h3 cob, was getting 8kg of haylage but it was sending him lala. He now gets 4 slices of hay...not sure on the weight of that but anymore and he starts nesting in it!
 
[ QUOTE ]
I did say that mine gets hay aswell though. She is only 3 1/2 and not in work so is actually plenty. The 12hh gets the same hay and haylage.

[/ QUOTE ]

shocked.gif
shocked.gif
shocked.gif
Blimey it wouldn't need hay aswell as 8lbs of Haylage.
shocked.gif
shocked.gif
shocked.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Trouble is I think people just want to get their money worth and as haylage is more expensive they go to town with it.

[/ QUOTE ]

How much is going on the muck heap???
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Trouble is I think people just want to get their money worth and as haylage is more expensive they go to town with it.

[/ QUOTE ]

How much is going on the muck heap???

[/ QUOTE ]

Too much!!!! In some cases not enough in others
tongue.gif

Its such a waste though its such good stuff aswell.
 
I have three in - a 15.1 Welsh, a 16.1 warmblood and a 16.2 Shire X TB. They are fed ad lib and I get through a round bale of homegrown hay in approximately a week.
 
I'm at the same yard and my horse gets a net of haylage at night, I havent weighed it but I guess its about 14lb. This lasts him all night and he still has a bit left in the morning.
He is in full work and looks in good condition ie not too fat or too thin.

YO was saying got to me tonight that its not the money or the fact that they are using too much haylage, its the horses welfare he's worried about.
Come the spring when the grass comes through they are going to have serious problems and it will be the owners own fault that their horse is suffering with laminitis etc.
 
I buy the large bales of haylage (big square ones) approx £22.00 and it lasts for 6 days feeding two 16.2hh, t.b. i find they dont need much hard feed, and they look absolutely smashing, if i feed ad lib hay in the same way they never keep the same condition as when feeding ad lib haylage.
 
Mine gets about 5-6kg of hayledge at night with a slice of hay, and about the same of hayledge in the day without the hay when he is out. People do overfeed it, BUT you can feed ad lib hayledge without probs.... as long as the horse doesnt turn into a bloater on it! I feed very little hard feed alongside his hayledge, just onme small feed with his topspec in. Alot of people overfeed hard feed ontop of hayledge
smirk.gif
 
My 2 TB's have ad lib haylage but we grow our own and my husband picks up what gets left and feeds it to the cows up the lane!
 
My TBx has 2 bin bags full per day and the pony has 1 bin bag per day - (when we open a bale we bag it all up in bin bags). The haylage is organic but because if the rains we had it wasn't cut until August so a lot of goodness had gone by then tho the analysis said reasonable.
 
I have a 15 hh HW cob and a 15.1hh TBx and they both get a net of approx 10kg haylage per night and the same in the morning if they're staying in (only in really bad weather), as I don't like them being in with no forage, but if they're out they only get their evening net.

TBH they are both a bit overweight for the time of year tho.
 
Mine -a 15hh QH in full work - gets about 10kg of haylage night and morning, but when I switched from wet hay (hassle factor/variable quality hay) we cut her feed dramatically - she now gets about 1kg of nuts and 1kg hi-fi plus carrots and oil a day. She looks really well on it but not over fat and more importantly it keeps her busy as we are on restricted turnout -about half a day twice a week.
It's important to keep an eye on their condition - she's not a particularly good doer for a QH and if she started to drop condition I would up the hard feed a bit.
It's even more of a job after a poor haymaking season as the haylage has been so variable in quality - if there's any left in her net it tends to be the odd smelly or wet bit!
Most people who switch to haylage don't think to cut the hard feed down - so they either get fat or naughty.
 
I'm prety much the same as Daisychain. 2 fit (well, one is actually now broken) hunters (irish sports horses), 15.2 and 15.3.A large bale of haylage (£22) lasts about 7 - 8 days.
 
my 5 have adlib haylege.
we have one large bale in the field and it lasts abut a week
and we feed a haybar full of haylege to the 2 that are in at night
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top