Haylage amounts... And simple systems

[fornema]

Well i am trying out haylage on my girl who is already losing weight in the way up to winter and nnever really thought of using haylage so how much are you supposed to feed she is in light work and has 2 large feeds a day. Plus also do you think simple systems would help her and which combos have you tried with your underweighties

 

[Bosworth]

i give my WBxtb who loses weight over winter Simple Systems Red nuts, linseed and Pura beet. It is the only feed that keeps him looking covered. I tried all the condidtioning feed, weight gain, balancers out there to no effect. But the Rednuts keep the weight on him and he is still sane on them. He also has haylage - but is not a greedy horse so I would struggle to keep weight on him with haylage alone.

 

[TicTac]

I feed my stressy mare, who looses weight in the winter as much high fibre haylage as she can eat and D & H fibre nuts, with dengie alfa a chaff and vegetable oil. This diet keeps her sane and well enough through the winter.

 

[Puppy]

I feed ab lib haylage, and then my old girl has about a bag a week of Spillers senior conditioning mix (if your is not a veteran, then use the standard spillers conditioning mix) with topspec (senior topspec) and some winters I add sugar beet, oh, and carrots.

She is 23, used to be a poor dooer, and yet thrives, out 24/7 on this

 

[Happytohack]

At the moment I feed my two biggies SS blue grass nuts, lucerne nuts & pura beet and linseed. Plus plenty of hay. If they start dropping off in the winter, they'll go on to the red grass nuts. The benefits of feeding simple systems is that their feed does not contain any sugars or cereals or additives (unlike most proprietary brands). Plus the feeds are soaked - my two get a big trug full which they pick away at. My old Icelandic also has SS - his teeth aren't too good (an overzealous EDT took too much off), so soaked feeds suit him. Give them a ring - they are really helpful.

 

[_daisy_]

throughout the winter 2 of my girls drop weight.
All 4 of my horses live out 24/7 with access to haylage at all times (normally 2 large round bales out at all times). currently I feed the 2 that drop weight blue bag grass nuts but they will move onto red bag grass nuts and linseed shortly.

 

[Magicmillbrook]

My old girl (20) used to drop weight in the winter but would go nuts on most feeds. For the past 4 yearsI have been using SS Lucerne nuts, sugar beet and rough stuff with ad lib hay/haylage. I havent needed to go onto grass nuts and have no fizzy issues at all. I used to use the total eclipse feed balancer, which was excellent but as I also have 3 very very very good doers I wanted one product they could all have so started on Equiminns ultimate feed balancer. It has all the vits, mins plus pre & pro biotics and has been fab (and economical). They all live out 24/7 (apart from very very very nasty nights when they come in)

Last winter we had our young TB returned to us from loan in very poor condition. She put on weight and thrived on just rough stuff, lucy nuts, beet and equiminns balancer too.

With haylage I believe you need to give one third to half as much again as you would hay (on a weight basis) ie if you would normaly give 1.5k of hay you need 2-3k of haylage.

As far as qauntities go I under stood a horse should be fed 1 - 1.5 % of its body weight if it is overweight. 2 - 2.5% for maintenance and up to 3% for underweight. This should range from 100% forage for good doer or horses in rest up to 80% forage/20% concentrates for competition horses. My littlies get about 99.9% forqage, the riding horses get about 90 - 95%.

Hope you find a system that works for you

 

[dressagecrazy]

I feed my Haylage adlib always have done for my poor doer, i also tried SS feeds & tbh it didnt help at all. Plus the amounts i was told to feed where rediculous & horse wouldnt eat it all even if left over night. He looked worse on SS feeds than ive ever seen him.

Last winter i fed Alfa Oil, with Speadibeet & Topspec conditioning cubes & ad lib good quality haylage & my boy held his weight brilliantly for the first time in years.

 

[kjpattingham]

Have you seen there's a new balancer specific for haylage diets? Called Haylage Balancer from NAF. I've it spotted on the 1stforsupplements.co.uk site - designed to give all the vits and mins needed, with antacids and probiotics to help the gut cope with the acid nature of haylage. My boy loves his haylage, and he's always had just a straight balancer with it, but he does tend to go a bit loose in his gut, so it sounds ideal. Anyone tried it? Cheers, K

 

[jhowse]

Half way through my first tub and have definatley seen a difference - we have farm made hayage so the moisture level changes at times and then he could get loose droppings - but all fine now - plus its really cheap - £0.39 a day - I only feed a bit of chaff and a few nuts so its ideal to top him up on everything he needs. Hes an ex racer and used to make burping noises (think it was a sort of wind sucking) but he's hardly doing that now as well

 

[TGM]

If your horse is underweight then you are best to feed the haylage ad lib - that means as much as the horse can possibly eat. Give enough overnight so there is a little left in the morning, and if possible make sure haylage is available in the field as well! Obviously introduce the haylage gradually, mixing in with the hay you already feed.

I've found my poor doer does really well on adlib haylage, alongside a combination of beet, oats and a dash of veg oil. However, the oats might not be suitable for some horses!

Simple Systems feeds are based on fibre foods such as alfalfa, beet and grass products, and contain no cereals and molasses. This can be helpful if you have a horse that fizzes up easily and some people swear by the system. Their feeds can be useful for putting weight on some horses, but sometimes those with poor appetites can be a bit picky about eating it all. In addition, the feeds are not always easy to get hold of depending on where you live.

What are you feeding the mare at the moment? Is she a fizzy type?

I wouldn't worry about feeding a specific haylage balancer unless you actually have a problem with loose droppings - all my horses are on haylage with no adverse effects. If you decide to feed a commercial conditioning cube at the recommended rate that will supply all your horse's vit/mins anyway!

(Oh and check out the advice in my signature.

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