Hay replacer help

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gill84

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My youngster has taken a dislike to haylage. Opened a new bale 2 days ago and he picks at that too so it wasn't just that bale. He's still eating it but not much of it even if I only give him a small net, he just pulls it out and dumps it on the floor.
I'd rather give him a bucket of feed/hay replacer that I know he's going to eat.
However, hay is not an option, I've know where to store it, Alfalfa doesn't agree with him so dengie hi fi won't do, he won't eat fast fibre and he's not a big lover of sugar beet either. I'm not convinced he'll eat a dried grass such as readigrass coz he's so fussy. Any other suggestions?
 
Will he eat commercial bagged small bale haylage? You can get Timothy varieties that are supposed to be very palatable.

Other than that there is grass nuts.
 
I would be a little concerned that he is proving to be so fussy, soaked grass nuts may be suitable or a plain chaff, soaking the haylage for a while in juice to soften it may help.
 
I have been bulking his evening feed out with masses of apple chaff but wasn't sure if I should be over loading him with sugary chaff. Roll on spring when he can just eat grass! But yeah grass nuts, never thought of them. Thanks
 
It may be worth trying cutting out the chaff, possibly he is rejecting the haylage as it is not sweet enough, you could be pandering to his sweet tooth, just a thought.
 
Ask our horse dentist when he was down before Xmas when he would start needing his teeth done and he told us there's not much to be done until he's at least 3. He is eating his haylage just not a lot of it
 
gill84 said:
Ask our horse dentist when he was down before Xmas when he would start needing his teeth done and he told us there's not much to be done until he's at least 3. He is eating his haylage just not a lot of it
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I've had a dentist look at horses under 3 - there might not be anything wrong and yes, sometimes they can't do anything, but you never know and there is no harm in a dentist looking now. At least you can get the horse to experience it now, before he gets older and stronger!! No different to feet?!
 
Could you mix it with hay even if only for a short while just to get him eating it as a matter of course? Thats what I have done with my pony, I mixed two thirds hay to one third haylage, I left the mixed stuff in a pile then netted it up a day later so the haylage was a little drier, he picked at the haylage in the nets for a couple of days then settled down. the next lot was half hay half haylage and now its more haylage. Its probably taken a couple of weeks to get him used to the haylage. I did it for reasons of trying to ease him in to a more rich diet. Its a very sudden change to coming in off grass to eating haylage
 
gill84 said:
My youngster has taken a dislike to haylage. Opened a new bale 2 days ago and he picks at that too so it wasn't just that bale. He's still eating it but not much of it even if I only give him a small net, he just pulls it out and dumps it on the floor.
I'd rather give him a bucket of feed/hay replacer that I know he's going to eat.
However, hay is not an option, I've know where to store it, Alfalfa doesn't agree with him so dengie hi fi won't do, he won't eat fast fibre and he's not a big lover of sugar beet either. I'm not convinced he'll eat a dried grass such as readigrass coz he's so fussy. Any other suggestions?
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There are several but only willing to coment on these.

I now and use these products which can be used as hay re-placer. D&H Fibergy
Added mint to tempt even fussy feeders
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from also Simple Feeds meadow bricks.

http://www.dodsonandhorrell.com/our-feeds/chaffsforage/chaffsforage/fibergy.html
http://www.simplesystemhorsefeeds.co.uk/
 
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Instead of readigrass, what about graze on grass? I feed a mixture of this and Hi-Fi senior to both of my two, the older one as a total hay replacer and the younger who doesn't eat much hay as a partial hay replacer. I prefer it to readigrass as it is a bit softer and a lot easier to use! I find readigrass a nightmare to remove from the bag and texture is very variable between bags, Grazeon grass seems more consistent.
 
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