Haylage Balancers a lot of questions here??

Flibble

Flibble

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I notice that NAF now produce a Haylage Balancer and seeing the advert has led me to ponder about my horses behaviour.

I feed him Winergy Equilibrium Condition and Ad-Lib Haylage. He is still getting Daily turnout and is in at night his grazing is very poor.

Since moving to Winergy in mid-July he has been an absolute poppet but every few weeks he will have an issue where bringing him in or turning out he will demonstrate the excitablility factor a little too much.

In his stable even though on haylage he dunks a lot and I have a tub under his automatic waterer to stop him making his Hotel Room a swimming pool.

Do you think the Haylage which comes in massive bales as it is a 40 horse yard can be occassionally cause his change in mood ??

Does anyone know where the reserach Naf have inferred can be located so that I can read it ?? Could the acidity in haylage be the cause of lots of water intake and thus lots of peeing ??
 
Ask NAF directly where their research can be found/was published. But don't hold your breath! There's research and there's research. If research can't be repeated by someone else and still get the same results then it is not valid research. Haylage balancer??? Haylage can vary in make up even from the same supplier, but that's been true for ever. I'd be more inclined to think that your ned's occasional excitability is just that: occasional excitability. No disrespect for NAF but I suspect it's just another attempt to part poverty stricken horse owners from their money x
 
Yep I will do but that will be on Monday.

So in the meantime how do I teach myself to cope with a horse who is an angel and then suddenly as you lead him out pricks his ears flares his nostrils snorts and goes up.

It only happens every 3 weeks or so but I have discovered it brings out the pathetic wuss in me.
 
i saw that Haylage balancer advertised... what a load of bolox!
very vague about what is in it (looks like an expensive general vit supplement to me) and not sure what part of the haylage it is meant to be balancing.

as BoF says, seems to be another money making scheme without much science behind it.

as for your boy, lead him with a control halter so you can get him back easily if he has a 'moment?'
 
Well the snorting fiery beast was like Dobbin this evening.
Unfortunatly I think this virus I have is eroding my brain as I feel like I have cheese in my ears and a constant buzzing.

I must admit it did read like a bit of a fad except there is a horse on the yard who has ulcers and eats halage so I think I will ask NAF to point me at whatever research it is just out of nosiness.
 
Im afraid i am of the same view to others- a load of marketing crap. It is very cleverly worded to play on certain things. for example- haylage being more acidic so possibly being a cause of ulcers. Buy this product to solve your problems. Rubbish! Its more likely that the majority of horses fed on haylage are competition types or those on big yards. They are more prone to ulcers due to limited turnout/higher grain diets and when you feed haylage you need to feed more than hay because it has a higher water content. Most people feed less or the same, hence a lower fibre content of the diet.

It is nothing more than opinion that they have attempted to suggest is scientifically researched fact. IMO!
 
Hello, Im new to all this so please bear with me! I bought the 2 month tub of NAF Haylage balancer for £16 – I don’t think that’s too bad for a balancer. My horse used to be on Blue Chip which was getting on for £1 a day – now that’s expensive!

I rang NAF for a bit more info after i saw this post and they explained that weight for weight haylage is lower in fibre than hay and tends to be more acidic, which some horse’s guts just can’t cope with. I know my horse tends to be loose and a bit too hot on haylage, but that’s all I can get on our livery yard so I don’t have much choice in what I feed.

NAF say that the Haylage Balancer will give him all his vits and mins, with pre and probiotics and antacids, which kind of makes good sense to me. Anyway, he’s been on Haylage Balancer for about a week now and his bed is definitely neater, he seems more settled (he used to totally trash his bed)and – last but not least – I’m not spending so much time cleaning a sh***y bum!!
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I’ll keep you informed of how he gets on.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I rang NAF for a bit more info after i saw this post and they explained that weight for weight haylage is lower in fibre than hay

[/ QUOTE ] That's only because of the extra moisture content in the haylage - volume for volume it contains the same amount of fibre as hay, so a large haynet stuffed full of haylage will provide the same amount of fibre as a large haynet stuffed full of hay (assuming same type of grasses and cut the same time).

My horses and ponies are all on haylage and have never been hot or loose on it, or shown any symptoms of ulcers, even though I have fed several different types of haylage.

I don't feed a balancer of any sort with my haylage, and I don't feel the average horse on haylage needs to be fed one either, but NAF are trying to worry owners into buying a product they might not actually need.

I can understand that if some horses are loose on haylage then you might want some sort of probiotic/prebiotic alongside it, but surely NAF Pink Powder would do the same job? In fact this 'haylage balancer' sounds just like Pink Powder, so you wonder whether this is a rebranded version to try and increase the market for that product.
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Thanks for the advice. I looked at Pink Powder because I had heard some really good things about it, but this product worked out cheaper! (good for my ever emptying wallet!)I don’t really get the fuss here – it seems to have everything in and it’s not expensive, it saves me from buying a couple of supplements. Its good that your horses don't get loose on Haylage, but mine do, and its working for me so far, so im going to stick with it!
 
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I don’t really get the fuss here

[/ QUOTE ] I think the fuss is because the manufacturer's advertising has got people worried and confused about feeding haylage. Unfortunately some of the feed manufacturers tend to give a one-sided version of feed research - ie only tell you those bits that encourage you to buy their products, which is one reason that so many people are confused about feeding these days.

Welcome to the forum by the way, but just keep an eye open when reading some of the posts on here as not everyone is what they seem. Would you credit it, some representatives of feed companies actually sign up pretending to be normal forum users and then start endorsing their products on the forum! What a cheek, eh!
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