Haylage fed to a good doer- Bad idea?

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littlen

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Hi,

I have an overweight/lami prone gelding who has been on hay all winter. I have recently had to switch to haylage as hay has ran out. I get unlimited haylage from YO but have to pay for hay, so it makes sense financially too.

Ive never fed haylage before so could do with some help!

He normally gets 2 large nets of hay a night. Do i reduce this to 1 net, will this be enough?
How many nets of haylage would you give a 15.2hh good doer!?
Will it have a massive impact on his weight and condition?

Does anyone else feed haylage to a good doer ?

Thanks
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It's hard because you're supposed to feed more haylage than hay as haylage has a much higher water count but then it also has more sugar and calories.

I had to feed my fattie haylage for a while becasue of breathing, I got around the extra calories but soaking it for a couple of hours
 
Eeeek, 2 large nets at night, my 16.2 good doer gets a small to medium sized net of haylage at night.
People will say all different things but they reckon haylage as its full of water needs to be fed in larger quantities to ensure enough fibre is recieved, saying that todays haylage is much drier than it used to be. My horse puts on weight very easily and as Spring is arround the corner I have to get some weight off him. Your horse will put on weight with haylage, Id say you will have to be very careful.
A lami prone pony on our yard gets hay and a small amount of it.
 
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How many nets of haylage would you give a 15.2hh good doer!?

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If he were mine he'd get no more than 12lbs a night. However, if you soak it for several hours you could feed more.

But hay would be far better.
 
2 haynets a night sounds a lot to me anyway, my mare anly gets 1 large net a night and she is 17.3 and looking very good weight wise.
What type of haylage is it?
 
Thanks everyone.

He was on hay and I was told by another 'experienced' livery that he should have 2 large nets to keep him going through the night as he shouldnt be left with nothing.

Now he has been switched to haylage I obviously cant feed that much but I dont know how many nets to give. I dont weigh it usually just go by nets.
He is in between 4 and 8am, so i didnt want him standing with nothing to eat all of that time, as 1 net is usually gone within 5 mins!


I have no idea what type of haylage it is, just what YO makes as it comes with livery. I cant get any more hay as all local suppliers have ran out, and the one that has some left is notorious for having terrible quality hay (at a cost of £30a bale!) so it works out cheaper for me also.
 
Is there anyway you could give him a small amount when he comes in and then get one of the other liveries to put in his night time one later.
I'm at the yard till 7.30 most nights and I have done this in the past for people
 
First of all, the calorie level of haylage can vary a lot depending on the type of grasses used and the time it is cut - there are some haylages that are a similar calorie level to normal hay, but generally the haylage making process retains more nutrients than in hay-making, so haylage is likely to be a bit more calorific than hay cut from the same grasses and at the same time. Without knowing the type of haylage you are using it is difficult to give specific quantities - your best bet would be to send off a small sample of the haylage to be analysed - Dodson & Horrell will do this for about ten pounds, so it is worth giving them a ring.

As for whether you feed more haylage than hay - because of the moisture content haylage is heavier than hay so you need to feed more by WEIGHT than hay, but a similar VOLUME to that of hay.

If you get the haylage analysed and it turns out to be much more calorific than your hay, then first thing to do is cut any hard feed right down or out completely. If that isn't enough then you can reduce the haylage, but I would reduce to two smaller nets, rather than one large one, and try and arrange for the second one to be put in later in the evening, so you space out consumption. Use small-holed nets as well to make it last longer.

I feed meadow grass haylage to my good doers and they are fine on it. They don't have it absolutely ad lib but enough to keep them occupied and plenty of fibre in their gut.
 
Do you use small hole hay nets? If not then this will slow down the rate at which he can stuff a hay net down, or put one net inside another to again slow down the eating rate. That way you'll have a constant supply of fibre as it will take longer to eat the same quantity
 
I personally wouldnt, there good doers for a reason, it might save you money now but it wont in the long run should he get lami again.
 
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He was on hay and I was told by another 'experienced' livery that he should have 2 large nets to keep him going through the night as he shouldnt be left with nothing.

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That is fair enough - however, simply not always appropriate when dealing with the good doer.....
 
Nets are always double netted. He is out all day on little grass with no hard feed. He gets no treats and is under-rugged all in a bid to shed the pounds before spring.
He has not had a lami attack since spring but I heard that haylage can induce lami, is this right?

As stated, I cant get hay in this area. All local suppliers have ran out of hay and only have haylage left, so I might as well take the haylage included in my livery. The only place I can get hay does terrible quality stuff (ragwort, a dead rat and plastic bottles in the last one!!) so i refuse to pay £30 for this when I can get the haylage for free.

I will ask other liveries if they can help but they all seem to bring in around the same time as me. They also interfere alot and complain to me that my horse is "starving" as he only had one net, telling me he needs more, either that or just taking it upon themselves to throw an armful in for him despite the massive net he already had.
 
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I personally wouldnt, there good doers for a reason, it might save you money now but it wont in the long run should he get lami again.

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I missed the bit about having had lami - if that is the case then the OP should not feed the haylage unless it has been analysed and pronounced suitable for laminitis prone animals.
 
That is naughty of them to put more hay in but I have been on yards where people cant help themselves but to interfere. I have the opposite where I am, all the horses are in very good condition but get tiny amounts of haylage, my instinct tells me to feed more than I do but in reality hes more than thriving on the amount hes getting now, infact hes a bit fat. Our horses were in during the bad weather so got more haylage and my horse piled on the weight.
You need to get a proper haylage net with tiny holes, double netting unless already small holed is better but not as good as the proper nets.
You may not be too bad if the haylage looks hayish, some smells really strong and is potent but IMO you still need to cut the amount down by probably half at least which is a loosing battle if everyone keeps throwing hay over his door.
Our horses get the small net but YO does throw a handful over when she checks them about 10pm.
 
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My Laminitic was fed Haylage but it was the Horsehage Hi Fibre (blue?) one.

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I used to feed it to my old laminitic too. The great thing about Horsehage is that they provide an analysis of their products. (Here: http://www.horsehage.co.uk/analysis.html for anyone interested).

The trouble with local farmer made haylage is that usually you have no idea of the nutrition in it, so vital to get it analysed before feeding to a laminitic. (The same can be said as of hay actually, as there is often a wide variation of sugar content in different types of hay).
 
I take it this is a little Welsh pony? (just guessing from your username) if it is, then 2 haynets on a night is way too much, no wonder he got lami, tell the other liveries to stop interfering...otherwise they will eventually kill him.

He will not starve, Welsh mountain ponies/Shetlands and other M&M breeds or even part breds for that matter, there designed to live on very little and at little intervals, thats how they survive in the wild, they eat little and store fat reserves to keep them warm.

Stick the diet plan that your vet advised.
 
I made the mistake of feeding it to my good doer (had to as I couldn't wet his hay due to frozen pipes). No problem with weight gain but he went OFF HIS TROLLEY! He's back to soaked hay now and sane again, thank the Lord!
 
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It's 15.2hh

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lol now I wouldnt like to come across a 15.2 Welsh mountain pony.

Sorry OP, my mistake, but still I be very careful and wouldnt go onto haylage.
 
No he is not a welsh he is a 15.2hh arab (I look after an 11hh welsh mountain pony as well as him, hence the name!)

It looks quite dry but smells strong. I will ask YO about it and see if I can get it analised. I have cut the amount down to 1 net and double netted it for now.I might be able to get hay but it looks unlikley, so I might just have to make do until I can find another soloution. Other laminitics on the yard are fed the same stuff and are fine (admittedly the only get small amounts though)

I have a haylage net but it is a small one and I didnt think it would be enough for him. The haynets I have are bigger so I used that.
 
QR I would do everything I could not to feed haylage to a lami prone good doer, its not worth it.

I dont think its fair on them or good for them to have to have less fibre because the calorific value is higher than hay.

and yes I know of a case of haylage induced lami this year, they haylage was given by mistake

can you really not continue to feed hay?
 
Please tell me the laminitic horses don't belong to the same owners that are telling you your not feeding him enough, if they do then I wouldnt take too much notice of them.

 
Just like to add that "two large nets" is fairly unspecific, I have just had to change from half hestons to roundbales, and to get the equivalent weight of of hay in my nets is a task in itself, the square bales were so easy
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! And also, one person's idea of a large net may be different to someone else's. But I like to hear that someone else "under-rugs" to help with weight control!
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QR I would do everything I could not to feed haylage to a lami prone good doer, its not worth it.

I dont think its fair on them or good for them to have to have less fibre because the calorific value is higher than hay.

and yes I know of a case of haylage induced lami this year, they haylage was given by mistake

can you really not continue to feed hay?

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I would much rather feed hay yes, but as I said the reasons why im finding it difficult are that everywhere has ran out. I have 3 local suppliers, all of which have no hay left. No large or small bales. The one that does have some has poor quality hay at £30, it is horrible dusty stuff with allsorts in it and I dont want to pay £30 for such nasty hay. Other liveries are all on haylage so I dont have anyone to share with to get some delivered from further afield, and it would cost a fortune to get 1 bale delivered from the next county. (looking at £30 bale and about £10-£15 delivery, I have enquired and putting him on haylage has been a last resort decision as it was that or have nothing)
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Personally, no I wouldn't but if thats all you have then thats all you have so i would soak it or buy in something suitable.
 
Trying not to sound like a stuck record but as a comparison, there are 2 arabs on our yard, same owner, both had lami 2 yrs ago which was a combination of good grazing, being overweight and too much good haylage. We have the choice of hay or haylage and despite being advised to feed hay she feeds haylage mainly so she doesnt have to soak it. She uses the small haylage net that I think you are descibing. It doesnt look a lot but I was suprised at how much you can get in them and when weighed there wasnt much between her small net and my medium one. They get an unstuffed small net in the morning, go in the field at dinner and get a stuffed small net at night, YO puts a handful over for all horses later on.
 
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can you bulk it out with straw perhaps?

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I did think about this, but heard that straw can cause colic and other problems
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Would it work
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Whether if it's hay or haylage, or whatever, it just needs to be soaked for 24 hours and fed ad-lib. Surely it really is that simple?! just feed a full complement of vits and mins alongside.
 
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