hay v's haylage - opinions?

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dragonflys

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I have always mainly fed hay to my horses without problems, but we have a dire shortage of hay this year, but plenty of haylage.
I feel a bit concerned about feeding welldoing ponies on haylage especially, although they would only have one haynet per day unless weather very bad.

What are pros and cons of hay v's haylage that you have found?
Realise cost is more on haylage.

Also would you feed straw as a filler maybe mixed in with hay/haylage if it came to it??
 
Well saved haylage is much better as there is no dust.. I had changed my horses onto really good hay for the summer, which was barn dried, green and sweet, however, my youngster, who always did throw a cough of two at the start of a work session has now has developed fairly accute COPD in the last few weeks, so he is now on a steroid medication and back on the haylage!!
Haylage is great for adding those few extra pounds on the bellies, so do be careful if you are feeding it to good doers!
Also, unless you are flying through each bale you use, it might be a wise thing to open each bale and put if on a pallet so that it doesn't start to heat.. that's what I do and it keeps it from spoiling.
 
I would feed slightly less than hay. I use haylage nets, which have much smaller holes, so the haylege is eater much slower. This will keep your ponies occupied for longer, reduce waste as less will drop on the ground and will be a better, slower trickle for the digestive system.
 
haylage has a higher water content so pound for pound you are ment to feed more.... 1-1.25

so a horse who has 12lbs of has would need 15lbs of haylage. however if yours are good doers feeding same as hay would be fine
 
my good doer gets fat and fizzy on haylage, and has to have hay. I think it depends on the individual horse. I soak the dust out of the hay anyway.
 
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