hay - hayledge weight ratio. feed weight

[lizstuguinness]

i have a 17.2hh warmblood mare. just broken so only doing rest/light work.

according to baileys web site she should have around 20lb hay each night. fine no problems as have a weight spring thing to measure it.

anyway just moved to new yard wher i can have unlimited good quality hayledge for £6 p/w. not saying no to this! so have gradulay moved her onto it.

hayledge weights more due to the water content, so weight wize you need to feed more of it, but as it is higher in nutrician (sp?) techniquley you feed less due to calories.

errrrrrr................... more or less???????????

what is 20lb of hay in hedlege terms?

also feeding 6lbs top line mix (high protine mix for building muscles and bone ideal for a baby still growing, or so i thought) and 3lb alfalfa blend. split into 3 feeds. does this sound about right? got this info from baileys so should be about right.

weight wize seems fine and not "fizzy". also never seen so much grass this time of year (fetlock deep), but is only out for 6-8 hours each day .

any thoughts?

 

[dieseldog]

I would feed her ad lib haylage as it will help to combat any potential stable vices due to boredom, if she is too fat/fizzy cut down the hard feed.

Also £6/week haylage - how cheap!

 

[tractorgirl]

Ditto Diesel Dog, I was taught that you feed the same amount of haylage as hay, but cut the concentrates as haylage has more calories. I feed the same amount by volume as hay; as measuring weight will give a smaller amount of haylage because of the higher water content.

They need the fibre content in the hay or haylage to keep their gut moving, feeding smaller amounts can cause issues with excess stomach acid, causing colic. Plus, as Diesel Dog says, it keeps them occupied when they're in. The only thing I do different with haylage is put it in a smaller holed haynet.

 

[lizstuguinness]

good isnt it! they make their own hay and haylage.

straw is £5 p/w, rent is £32 p/w but for that they give: am feed, change rug and turn out for you and bring in 7 days a week!!!!!!!!

lovely big stable, fetlock deep grass, 100 acres off road riding, 30mx60x floodlit outdoor school.

just found out you feed 1.5 times haylage to hay, so 30lbs haylage p/night. dont think she'll eat that much but will try it.

 

[dieseldog]

Where abouts do you live - I want to move there...

 

[johnsongreyhorse]

found this on the web

The main difference between hay and haylage is its water content. Hay is cut and dried in the field and contains about 15% water. Haylage is wrapped in plastic to retain a moisture content of between 30-50%. For this reason, you need to feed approximately 1.5 times as much haylage by weight than hay - quote from -
http://www.yourhorse.co.uk/nav?page=yourhorse.contentspage&view_resource=5105647

 

[runaway]

Small point I feel I should make. Although there is a lot of grass/ grass still growing there is likely to be little to no nutritional value in it due to the time of year, so the advice of ad lib hayledge would be what I'd say too.