Hay vs haylage and how much?

[bex11]

Hi guys, This is my first post as I have searched the net looking for answers and decided to ask you guys for help in answering my dilemma. I have 2 horses, both 16.2hh but very different builds, one is a tb and very slight and will eat for England and gain very little weight the other a connemara x tb and does drop a bit in winter but in summer looks like he will give birth any minute as soon as look at grass! I would prefer haylage and have found a very good supplier and have seen his bales be used by friends and has been very impressed with the quality. However do i get hay at £4 a bale and give them 2 bales a week each and up the hard feed to the tb or give haylage. I can get a small haylage bale for £8 and large for £24. i would prefer the £24 but not sure if they would go through it before going off. they are stabled at night but have a field for just my two so could feed haylage in the day when grass not so good. Any suggestions welcome. many thanks Becky

 

[ISHmad]

Because haylage has a higher water content the rule of thumb is that you should feed 50% more of it than you do hay. Problem is with good doers that this can send them into tubby land! You could soak it if necessary to lose some of the sugars, the same as you can with hay.

 

[spacefaer]

Hay would probably be better for your good doer as he can fill his belly to keep warm without too much weight gain, while haylage would be better for your skinny, as you could feed ad lib and fill him up with a conditioning source of roughage.

Trouble with haylage is the high sugar content, which can send some horses loopy. Depends on how much turnout and how much work they are in, as to how risky it would be to feed it - I've known some horses go completely nuts on it!

With regards to it going off - it lasts a lot longer in the colder weather particularly if you leave it uncovered - it may dry out slightly but that helps reduce the energy levels It also depends on how big your bales are - some big bales are not as big as others lol!

I can't afford to feed hay - my guys eat approximately a bale a day and at £4.50 min a bale, that's scary a week! (partic with 6 horses!!) Big bale hay is not much cheaper. If I feed big bale haylage, it works out at just under £1/day/horse - bit of a no brainer - but my guys hunt hard all winter and need the extra nutrition. It also means I can seriously cut down on the hard feed - they were on 2 scoops of pony nuts a day with some sugar beet and chaff all last season.

 

[Pale Rider]

Hay would probably be better for your good doer as he can fill his belly to keep warm without too much weight gain, while haylage would be better for your skinny, as you could feed ad lib and fill him up with a conditioning source of roughage.

Trouble with haylage is the high sugar content, which can send some horses loopy. Depends on how much turnout and how much work they are in, as to how risky it would be to feed it - I've known some horses go completely nuts on it!

With regards to it going off - it lasts a lot longer in the colder weather particularly if you leave it uncovered - it may dry out slightly but that helps reduce the energy levels It also depends on how big your bales are - some big bales are not as big as others lol!

I can't afford to feed hay - my guys eat approximately a bale a day and at £4.50 min a bale, that's scary a week! (partic with 6 horses!!) Big bale hay is not much cheaper. If I feed big bale haylage, it works out at just under £1/day/horse - bit of a no brainer - but my guys hunt hard all winter and need the extra nutrition. It also means I can seriously cut down on the hard feed - they were on 2 scoops of pony nuts a day with some sugar beet and chaff all last season.

I believe that haylage is lower in sugars than hay due to the fermentation process.

 

[spacefaer]

I stand corrected PaleRider with regard to "sugar" content

http://www.horsehage.co.uk/analysis.html

However, I always understood that it was the sugar in haylage that gave horses extra energy (like giving toddlers sweets lol!)

We had a bale of racehorse haylage last year (suppliers's mistake) which smelt like candy floss, it was so full of "goodness" - very moist and richly sugary smelling. The horses went nuts on it - we swopped to very dry, hay-like haylage and they were dull and lacking energy.

It can't be the moisture level which was the only discernible difference - so what was in each bale for the effect they each had?

 

[Pondweed]

Haylage has more energy present in in - it's closer to fresh grass than hay - but has less sugar due to the fermentation. Don't soak as it goes off really quick and goes disgusting. Learnt that one the hard way. The sugary smell is due to the sugars being released, rather than kept inside the stems etc.

 

[MileyMouse]

I stand corrected PaleRider with regard to "sugar" content

http://www.horsehage.co.uk/analysis.html

However, I always understood that it was the sugar in haylage that gave horses extra energy (like giving toddlers sweets lol!)

We had a bale of racehorse haylage last year (suppliers's mistake) which smelt like candy floss, it was so full of "goodness" - very moist and richly sugary smelling. The horses went nuts on it - we swopped to very dry, hay-like haylage and they were dull and lacking energy.

It can't be the moisture level which was the only discernible difference - so what was in each bale for the effect they each had?

I stand to be corrected if wrong, but I think the difference in each bale is more than likely the type of grass used.

My haylage supplier always asks if I want 'rocket fuel' or 'non rocket fuel' bales before he loads up the truck for delivery :-D Rocket fuel bales being Rye grass and non rocket fuel being Meadow grass.

 

[Stacy_W]

I stand to be corrected if wrong, but I think the difference in each bale is more than likely the type of grass used.

My haylage supplier always asks if I want 'rocket fuel' or 'non rocket fuel' bales before he loads up the truck for delivery :-D Rocket fuel bales being Rye grass and non rocket fuel being Meadow grass.

I would say grass type and time of cutting. The higher energy stuff was probably rye grass and cut early in the season.

 

[Muddlebuck]

Soaking Haylage won't remove sugars, I had this very discussion with Marksway the other day, all it will do is ferment and create more sugar!