Hay or Halage?

[BusyBee3293]

I have always fed Haylage in the winter with having 3 horses however now i only have to one it is going to become a problem as the haylage will have gone mouldy by the time im half way through the large bale

Also interested in other peoples advice/opinions on both

So the question is.... Hay or Halage?

 

[HazyXmas]

I always feed haylage through the winter but i'm going to move over to just hay as the quality of haylage is absolutely appalling this year.

We cut 7 acres of our own & it is all rubbish so i bought some in from my regular supplier. Out of the 8 big bales i've opened so far, 3 have had mould & 2 have been dusty with huge clumps of dried mud in.

I've had two horses coughing for weeks now & i'm sure that it's the horrible haylage :-(

I've now found a farmer who supply's hay to the racehorses in Newmarket & although i wouldn't normally feed such good quality stuff to my motley bunch, i just can't bare the worry of sub-standard haylage.

I think that you will really struggle with just one horse on haylage unless you stick with small bales?

 

[Myhorseeatsmoney]

I use haylage with one horse and I do not have a problem with it. Once it is opened I just throw a tarpaulin over it and weight it down with a couple of bricks but I do allow the air to circulate around it. I rarely find mildew on it because it is opened usually that happens when there is a small hole in the wrapping which is not large enough to allow the air to circulate.