Haylage, coughing and good doers

[Sandstone1]

Horse has been coughing and vet says its asthma. Hes a large native breed and a good doer. Have been giving haylage as a short term measure but concerned that haylage is too fattening for him long term. Soaking is difficult, Do home made steamers work? What do others do with coughing good doers?

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

A livery at my yard has exactly this scenario and she steams hay to feed or gives haylage in really small portions.

 

[palo1]

I give my native good doer with asthma ad lib haylage. You can get some quite low calorie stuff these days. I clip my mare and rug her lightly as well as keeping her fit and working quite hard: fast work regularly, longer rides and if need be, a muzzle in summer.

 

[teacups]

I just dampened the hay with a hosepipe to stop it from being dusty, which was enough for mine to stop the coughing.

 

[GoldenWillow]

My good doer cob with asthma has to have haylage, I make sure I get either the bagged suitable for laminitics ones or a farmers late cut meadow one. Like Palo1 the fitter and slimmer I can get him the better he does with his breathing. He still does need nebulised steroids through peak pollen times but is fine the rest of the year with dust free management.

 

[santas_spotty_pony]

The new train of thought is that haylage is actually less full of sugar than hay because it contains more water content. I would maybe talk to your haylage supplier to find out what sort of haylage it is or maybe get it tested. As others have said, if horse is laminitis prone I would just soak hay for a good 12 hours.

 

[tda]

I would also get your haylage tested.
I have one native who can eat dryish haylage ok, but definitely can't eat hay, thankfully she's not a mega good doer.

 

[Debsflo1]

I had an asthmatic horse,even using a haygain steamer coughed ,only thing that worked was haylage.
I would try steaming first but if not look for dryish
meadow haylage

 

[criso]

There are lots of haylage options now so compare the analyses.. Bagged/small bales have the advantage that they will be produced to a set standard.

Timothy versions can be good though the lowest in calories round here turned out to be an own brand from a local feed merchants, it's a late cut hi fibre rye grass. Don't l assume that meadow is lower, I use a local meadow haylage for my tb that needs more weight as that is the most calorific.

 

[meesha]

Mine coughs on hay but totally fine on haylage, ad lib through whole winter and both him and my pony companion have marginally lost weight on ad lib haylage. Pony does nothing as non ridden companion, baggins is ridden but not more than 3 times a week at very ,most.

 

[Highmileagecob]

Look around to see if you have a willow tree close by. Tree pollen is a trigger for my old boy. Hay is another trigger, and haylage appears to keep him looking just fine. Try to keep him as fit as you can, maybe see if a nose net will help with exercise.

 

[Sandstone1]

I have been soaking but he wont eat soaked hay! Im thinking of a steamer but proper ones very expensive and not sure homemade ones will work very well.
Been using marksway horseage in short term which is not very cost effective! Looking for a longer term solution really.

 

[Sandstone1]

The new train of thought is that haylage is actually less full of sugar than hay because it contains more water content. I would maybe talk to your haylage supplier to find out what sort of haylage it is or maybe get it tested. As others have said, if horse is laminitis prone I would just soak hay for a good 12 hours.

Thanks, Thats interesting, Sadly he wont eat hay thats been soaked that long> Ive tried!

 

[meesha]

I buy small bales from local farmer, can only just pick them up so nice and heavy , £7.50 each, much more cost effective than shop bought ones

 

[palo1]

Thanks, Thats interesting, Sadly he wont eat hay thats been soaked that long> Ive tried!

I have found haylage to be really cost effective; it reduces or largely eliminates the need for medication, and our haylage means that I don't need any supplementary feed all winter either. For my horse this also reduces the risk of intolerance to other feed. Making the transition to grass from haylage seems easier than from hay as well. I just hope I don't need to return to feeding hay as it will likely be increasingly difficult to get good enough quality reliably.

 

[GoldenWillow]

I have been soaking but he wont eat soaked hay! Im thinking of a steamer but proper ones very expensive and not sure homemade ones will work very well.
Been using marksway horseage in short term which is not very cost effective! Looking for a longer term solution really.

See if you can find a local supplier, they often do bigger bales and are usually a lot cheaper whichever size bale you are buying. You can usually ask when it was cut and from what grassland.

I think even if I didn't have an asthma pony I would be having to feed haylage as especially for the last few years there's not been the weather for hay around us and getting good quality hay, let alone in small bales, would be pretty impossible.

 

[catembi]

My Dartmoor coughs and gets heaves on hay but is fine on haylage. She also has EMS. I tested my big bale haylage and the sugar content was 7.1 so not too bad.

 

[Sandstone1]

I have only got him plus a companion pony so cant use big bales but will see what i can find

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I fed mine on what I light haylage its wrapped but no where near as wet as haylage more like non dusty hay, that never heated or went off like haylage either.

Problem is not all farmers make it.

 

[meesha]

I use big bale haylage in depths of winter for 1 16.1 and a 14h pony. They r adlib and as long as weather is cold I get through it fine, start and end of winter I switch to small bale...or if you can get it rectangular bales (not Heston) are a great size when u have 2 as they are about half a round.

 

[Lots of Gift Bags]

I use a Haycube for Nelson, which definitely helps. The hay is loaded into it, you fill it with water, soak it for as long as you like (mine gets emptied as soon as it's full) and then you empty the water out. Leave the hay in the cube for them to eat. It's been an absolute banger changer for me, I used to spray the hay with a hosepipe but it if wasn't very effective. He does still cough in the winter but not as badly.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Horse has been coughing and vet says its asthma. Hes a large native breed and a good doer. Have been giving haylage as a short term measure but concerned that haylage is too fattening for him long term. Soaking is difficult, Do home made steamers work? What do others do with coughing good doers?

I got one on asthma and one equine airways desease. My ID mare
dampen it with hose waste of time - still coughed
tried soaking but she left so much but still coughed
steamed worked for a month then she started coughing again,

changed to haylage and within 2 days the cough went.

total waste of money buying my steamer - so sold it.



my steamer never worked well enough to get rid of the cough. I opted for haylage, I have 3 laminitics on the purple lowest one none have got fat on it ranging from 12hh to 16.1 hh


friends EMS pony got a flare of lami with the meadow/high fibre haylage but the Timothy no problem.

 

[Sandstone1]

I buy small bales from local farmer, can only just pick them up so nice and heavy , £7.50 each, much more cost effective than shop bought ones

That would work for me if I can get low calorie stuff.

 

[Highmileagecob]

I am the only haylage user on my yard. Used to buy square four string bales and open one end. The bale was packed in leaves, like a bale of hay and if I sealed the open end after use, it would last seventeen days as I worked my way through it. Old cob can no longer cope with long stalk forage so we are back on a soft bagged meadow grass haylage and forage replacers.

 

[Polos Mum]

Mine coughs on hay - no matter the quality and the waste with soaked hay was huge (he really didn't like it)

He has a national supplier of branded haylage that is tested low calorie for good doers. It's not as expensive as you might think as I buy in bulk by the pallet (in fact I buy 6-8 months worth at a time then delivery is even cheaper).
No waste, no cough, no faffing

I moved all 4 of them onto the same stuff and with 12 hours in a night and reasonable grass in the day a £38 medium bale was lasting 4 horses 5-6 days on average. so under £2 per horse per day - which I don't think is bad at all and small bale local hay would definitely be more.

I put a large tub of top chop Zero in his table for when he runs out of haylage at night - he very rarely eats it as he thinks it's horrible. I sack of top chop has lasted me since October !
So he has constant access to forage - but is picky.

The non coughers have just sections of normal straw at the bottom of their hay bars

 

[HopOnTrot]

I've just switched our asthmatic pony to haylage and she is doing much better, I get meadow hay small bales from our local merchant. She is a pretty good doer but doesn't have EMS.

Devon Haylage make a timothy haylage that is suitable for laminitis in work.

 

[HopOnTrot]

(Just to add that we had been steaming/soaking hay and that wasn't as effective as switching to haylage, this was after a round of ventupulim and inhalers to sort out the coughing)

 

[fidleyspromise]

I just dampened the hay with a hosepipe to stop it from being dusty, which was enough for mine to stop the coughing.

This is similar to what I do.
I put hay in a hay hutch and tip a bucket of water over it.

 

[Love]

I just dampened the hay with a hosepipe to stop it from being dusty, which was enough for mine to stop the coughing.

Same here. A friend fed him for me the other evening and forgot to wet his hay and it was enough to start him coughing again so it definitely works