Hay vs Haylage - nutritional values?

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Crazydancer

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Sorry, I know this has probably been asked and answered before somewhere, but unless I pressed the wrong buttons, the search function had a meltdown!!

I have never used haylage before. My horse has only ever had hay. Last 2 winters he lived out with ad-lib hay, we had a round bale in the field, and he dropped a little weight, which was fine as he was lean going onto the spring grass. (good do-er)
Our current yard they have ad-lib haylage, and he has porked himself into hippo proportions. He is unrugged.
Is it the haylage itself, or the AMOUNT of haylage?? I don't want to restrict his access to food right now in this cold snap, but if I cut it back so it's not on offer 24/7 would that solve the problem, or woud I be better moving back to hay??
He gets no other feed and is retired other than the occasional hack.

Sorry if this seems a stupid question, but I honestly have NO experience of using haylage.
Thanks! :)
 
You should feed more haylege than you would hay, as a lot of the weight in haylege is water. So you need to look at what amount you're giving him. Is he living in this winter? This can have a massive impact as regards their weight, if he's lived out the last 2 :)
 
JDChaser said:
You should feed more haylege than you would hay, as a lot of the weight in haylege is water. So you need to look at what amount you're giving him. Is he living in this winter? This can have a massive impact as regards their weight, if he's lived out the last 2 :)
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Hi, no he's still living out, I just don't understand why the last few years he's lost a little weight (which is good) but this year he has expanded to the size of a whale (bad)!! The only difference is moving from ad-lib hay to ad-lib haylage. He is they type to eat and eat, and not stop, even when full....... so full he can hardly move..... if it is there, he will eat it!!!
I think I will have to ration him... which will mean altering the field arrangements as his companion right now is an older horse and needs all she can eat.
 
Hmm, it is strange. Plenty of horses have a 'thing' for haylege though, must be a lot tastier than hay! So potentially he's just gorging on it. Is there anyway you could hang haynets in the field, which might slow him down? Good luck! x
 
JDChaser said:
Hmm, it is strange. Plenty of horses have a 'thing' for haylege though, must be a lot tastier than hay! So potentially he's just gorging on it. Is there anyway you could hang haynets in the field, which might slow him down? Good luck! x
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Hmmm, that is what I thought. It even smells really good.... Yes, I think haynets would be a great idea, slow him down, but we are going to have to move them around so he's in a different field, with other fatties!. Thanks for that!! :)
 
I found my boy ate haylage faster than hay and he liked the haylage a heck of a lot more than the hay lol Hmmm maybe because the haylage is more moist it goes down easier!!!
 
I think it may have something to do with the protein levels in the haylege.

The haylege that our YO makes gets analysed every year (with the new crop) and the stuff that we feed to the livery horses is 9% protein which is the equivalent to a cool mix.

Dont quote me on it but im pretty sure that may be a factor.

:)
 
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