Hay- haylage- ponies- help?

[Lintel]

You can probably skip to the bottom but...

Evening all, it has become abundantly clear nobody round my way has cut hay this year. I can get my hands on some small bales though from further away. There has however been haylage cut locally.

I have Highland and Shetland- I'm very paranoid about lami/weight, the past few years we have had management down to a fine art.
Thinking ahead to winter...

They both will have 24 hour turnout but the small field has nothing in it of value during the winter so I always fed hay ad lib- periodically treating them to a small bale of haylage. One large round hay bale would last us 3 weeks.

So I suppose my worry is- I would NOT feed haylage ad lib- I do want them to come out of winter abit lean (less worry in the spring), if I was to feed lib small bales of hay it is going to cost me a small fortune and it's an hours drive to get it.

What would you do? Thoughts please!
At the moment I'm thinking to buy in small bales and leave them a couple of pieces for during the day to munch on along with the small morsels of grass from the field and give them a haylage net for through the night.
(I also need to check how the haylage is ie. drier hopefully!)

 

[rabatsa]

I would get some barley straw to feed ad lib and give haylage as an extra when needed. My fatties get fed like this as it is the only way I can get them to lose any weight in winter.

 

[Lintel]

I would get some barley straw to feed ad lib and give haylage as an extra when needed. My fatties get fed like this as it is the only way I can get them to lose any weight in winter.

I had thought over this but can only get my hands on wheat straw... argh, which I dont think I'd be overly comfortable feeding, certainly not on it's own anyway it might be an option to bulk out the haylage but I'm not keen.

 

[NinjaPony]

I’m currently swapping my Connie over from hay to haylage due to his severe COPD. He is a good doer so ideally would have soaked hay, but he really needs totally dust free forage. I’m putting him on Timothy haylage, which is low in protein, sugar and is over 60% dry matter. It’s nothing like the rich sweet haylage you get with ryegrass, it’s a lot drier. If you do go to haylage, I would strongly advise going for Timothy haylage and checking the stats to make sure it is low in sugar and protein.

 

[Goldenstar]

Can you get any four foot round bales of hay ?

 

[MotherOfChickens]

have you tried the place in Larkhall? I've bought loads of small bales from Barry before-good hay, not cheap but not astronomical. Can't be that far from you? Lots of hay cut around Lanark back before the bad weather, can't be that difficult to find?

I know a good supplier of small bales in Penicuik if you are desperate, before I had the lorry I would hire a Luton and pick up a load. Straw might not be that easy although people have got alot in this weekend. I avoid haylage with mine tbh but the low sugar, timothy stuff doesnt seem that bad

 

[chaps89]

I put mine on Timothy haylage overnight last summer and she seemed to suffer no ill effects. I wouldn't ever try her on meadow or rye haylage though I have to say. Devon haylage, horsehage and easy pack all do Timothy or Timothy mix. It will be more expensive but if you can get hold of a bag or two to try to know they like it, I'd imagine you could buy a pallet load in and it would work out more cost effective. Plus it can at least be stored outside if needsbe.
Failing that, hopefully some of MOC suggestions will help.

 

[Lintel]

have you tried the place in Larkhall? I've bought loads of small bales from Barry before-good hay, not cheap but not astronomical. Can't be that far from you? Lots of hay cut around Lanark back before the bad weather, can't be that difficult to find?

I know a good supplier of small bales in Penicuik if you are desperate, before I had the lorry I would hire a Luton and pick up a load. Straw might not be that easy although people have got alot in this weekend. I avoid haylage with mine tbh but the low sugar, timothy stuff doesnt seem that bad

On the look out for the big round bales, heading upto the market today and hoping there will be some adverts up. That's amazing to know that Lanark has cut some. Have sourced some good quality bales in Stirling but when I compare the costs feeding the small bales in my calculation nearly doubles my cost.

 

[Lintel]

Can you get any four foot round bales of hay ?

Sadly haven't found any, that would solve all my problems

 

[Goldenstar]

Try to get Timothy haylege if you can but don’t assume it’s lower calorie than rye unless it’s analysed it depends how it’s made .
I only buy haylege from a specialist company who analyse ,it can be very variable .
If you do feed bucket feeds you will probably be able to stop .
Our horses can hunt two days a week in haylege no hard food just a token to get salts etc down .

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Have a look on the notice boards at Lawrie and Symington and McCaskies-Lawries often have ads for hay up.

 

[flying_high]

It’s not cast in stone. Depending on the cut, rye / meadow / Timothy Haylage can be high or low sugar, DE and protein. You can by stuff with an analysis done, and check sugars, protein and DE or run your own analysis.

Whilst some rye is off scale high other rye hay and Haylage tests as laminitic suitable. You don’t know without an analysis.

 

[Lintel]

Been upto the market and there are adverts for round bale hay- my prayers are hopefully answered! Just need to get them to answer the phone now, but its Monday, market day they'll all be busy!

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Been upto the market and there are adverts for round bale hay- my prayers are hopefully answered! Just need to get them to answer the phone now, but its Monday, market day they'll all be busy!

its tuesday?

 

[Lintel]

its tuesday?

Haha- noted. My apologies I'm just off nightshift, the market was hoaching today it doesnt take much to confuse me post-nights! There must have been a livestock sale today.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Haha- noted. My apologies I'm just off nightshift, the market was hoaching today it doesnt take much to confuse me post-nights! There must have been a livestock sale today.

Scotch mule show and sale, so yeah-would have been busy! often people advertising on FB pages too-farming and equestrian.