Haylage haylage haylage!

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almrc

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How long approx would a small haylage bale last 3 horses, 14.3hh cob, 15.2 hackney x welsh sec d and a tb x 14.2 - 3.5yr old when:

a) the grass is covered in snow
b)when its just winter and no snow!

I know it will all be approx but just to get an idea!

Also, any tips on storing haylage outside?
 
Personaly i feed the exact same amount of haylage weather theres snow or not as theres usually nothing to eat in the field anyway. I use big bales but my friend would usually use 3 small bales of haylage (about 25kg in each bale) per week for her 15hh, sorry probably no help :D
 
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almrc said:
6'x3'x3' bale - is that equivalent to about 2 small bales? and did you have snow or not?
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No, nothing like equivalent generally, though the density of large bales makes an accurate comparison difficult.

To give some indication of how things go, a round bale of haylage was lasting us 10 days.

Thats ad lib, for 2, 15hh horses one Arab, one AQH.

As the cold weather took hold the same size of bale is lasting 8 days.
 
haha see how much I know about haylage! I am trying to work out how many small bales to order, to last the horses about a month. hoping to save back some hay so I can mix (from advice from friend) so it lasts longer.
 
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A small bale (not sure of dimensions but the ones you can easily handle by yourself) lasts me 1 day for a 16.2hh IDxTB and a 12.2hh Welsh. That's pretty much ad lib for the 16.2hh and rations for the porky 12.2hh, fed morning and evening, whether it's snowing or not as no grass in my paddocks either.
 
I have been feeding a gang of 7 (ranging from 13.2 to 15.2 - all good doers - Dales ponies or Dales X) on a total of 3.5 small bales of hay/haylage a day. They have no access to grass. So it averages half a small bale of either hay or haylage per pony per day for me.

So for 3 horses, I'd reckon on one small bale lasting around 16 hours! :eek:

Roll on, spring!

Sarah
 
I suppose it depends on how heavy the small bales are.

When I used to work for my uncle we used to sell small bales of hay, the general rule was to bale them light if we were selling and to bale them heavy if we were keeping them, nightmare isn't it. lol.
 
If the bales are the size of a regular small hay bale I would probably get through at least 1 of those per day for my three, up to 1.5 per day. That's for ad lib overnight and also ad lib in field during day.
 
It does depend on what weight is in the haylage. At the moment my girls, 16.2 and 16hds are out in the day from 9am to 6pm and in at night, they have nets in the field in the day and currently going through a big bale every week. Ad lib all the time.
x
 
A large 300 kg bale, which is the equivalent to 10 - 12 small bales, is feeding 3 small horses and a pony for approx 1 week under the current conditions.

Under normal circumstances this size bale will last the just under a fortnight.

Hope that helps!
 
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