Haylage Blues......

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el_Snowflakes

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Hello,

the time of year has come again when we switch over to haylage. Every year my horse has a squitty tummy due to this (Droppings are a bit pale/loose and large amounts of projectile liquid is passed aswell! leading to a very messy stable and an uncomfortabel horse Im sure) Can anyone please recommend me a supplement which they have found to help this? Her previous owner told me pink powder was unsuccessful in the past but iv nevr put that to the test in the 3.5 years Iv owned her so it might be still worth a shot. Buying in hay is not an option as she develops a cough due to dust and also will not eat it as she knows there is better stuff on the yard....fussy girl! :D

many thanks
 
Have you tried the NAF Haylage balancer - 2 scoops per day? That is supposed to combat the acid effect of haylage. I wouldn't recommend Pink powder for settling stomachs.
 
I feel your pain and have tried numerous supplements none which really worked. I found mixing some hay in does the trick and no more squits x
 
Spot_On said:
I'd be mixing it with the hay over a week or so to get used to it.
Click to expand...

This and due to her coughing, can you soak the hay before mixing with haylage in a slow feeder net. I would use 20% haylage/80% hay and over a period of 10 days gradually increase the percentages, possibly dwelling on a 50/50 mix for a few days before increasing.
 
have introduced it gradually in the past and mixed it in with hay. However she just eats the haylage and leaves the hay in the net which in the past has led to bad behaviour/stress in the stable as she has 'run out' of the good stuff & tummy is just as squitty as ever!

I have tried equine gold supplement which never had any effect but would be interested to try the ones you have suggested so many thanks :)

heres what I was met with today......:( (ps she is only stabled overnight- out at grass during day. Im trying to be well prepared for the winter ahead as the horses may be stuck inside for a while....which means even more haylage munching!!)

http://s1190.photobucket.com/user/Sarah_Paton/media/ute_zps117b7072.jpg.html
 
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I use protexin bio premium for exactly the same problem you describe. Buy it off Amazon think its around £39 for 2 tubs which last around 4 months.
 
Haylage doesn't agree with my horse at all, it runs straight through him. I've even found really good quality hay is a bit rich for him, so he gets his hay soaked and this firms up his poo and stops him squirting all over the place!

I know the above doesn't actually answer your question, but do you have to feed haylage if his guts are more comfortable with hay?
 
I had a discussion with a consultant surgeon about this and about the possible reasons for coprophagia (dung eating). Apparently, it is likely to be caused by the wrong type of bacteria in the gut which normally aid digestion. As others have said, make the change over gradual -- as all changes in diet should be -- so the required bacteria can multiply and reach working concentrations. Forget the supplements.
 
Protexin helps with this and I have used NAF haylage balancer ithe past .
If you feed sugar beet stop and see if that helps make any hard feed as dry as possible try to indroduce low calorie chop to the diet like plain chopped straw or something like halleys Timothy chaff .
You could also get some hay bloks and feed to indroduce more dry matter.
 
We hd this problem with one of ours, he used to get in such a mess, we tried every supplement going but didint work! he had to have haylage as suffered with his breathing and flatly refused to eat wet hay!

when the vet came out to vaccinate him we were telling him and he told us to feed him a scoop of fibre pencils, we were a bit dubious but willing to try anything, well within a week or so of having the fibre pencils he was completely dry so worked fab for him, so simple and we never had a prob after that!

May be worth a try hun?
 
I would be wary of using protexin as it upset my mare more.

NAF make a deliberate Haylage balancer so i would be going to try that first if I were you.
Secondly be worth putting sudacreme around her bottom as that will sooth any irritation as well.
 
I would also recommend the Haylage balancer. My boy's droppings much better on it. To the point where his summer grass droppings are worse than the haylage ones... He is a stressy horse so quite prone to squits.
 
Have you any say in how your haylage is made? I would be looking at the quality of the product, not a supplement. We have a very obliging farmer who makes it as we ask - haylagy enough to be safe for my RAO mare, but dry enough never to cause problems as you describe.
 
Lots of good suggestions on here, but just thought I'd say that I've known a lot of people think that they need to feed less haylage than hay, so the horse is not getting as much fibre as it needs, thus increasing tummy problems.
 
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