Haylage help please

[JACQSZOO]

I think I'm going to have to put my new mare on haylage as the last week or so she has developed a cough

She is also eating her straw bed in preference to the hay so not sure if thats doing it as well <sigh>

How much do you pay for a small bale and how long would you expect a small bale to last (as in how much to feed not when does it go off)? Its for a 16.1hh TBx that could do with putting a little weight on and is in very light work (hacking at weekends only ATM)

 

[eggs]

£5.75 for a small bale. Don't know how long that would last one horse but I would guess about three days.

Have you tried soaking or steaming your girl's hay?

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

I agree about 3 days. And price too, think ours is £5.99 but it is a very big small bale, orrible to try to carry it!

Haylage might be a good option if they need to put on a bit of weight anyway.

A safe start might be to start with (pricey but consistent nutrition) Horsehage blue (low sugar) and then swap to something more intense once they were used to the haylage. Also recommend NAF pink powder alongside if feeding haylage for the first time, will make sure tum copes well with the change, cheap and you only need a tiny bit.

good luck!

 

[JACQSZOO]

Thanks everyone.
I was steaming, soaking has been difficult because of the cold weather, either way it wasn't helping and this past week she has dropped a lot of weight.

Have had a nice surprise tonight, the farmer next door does large bale haylage so problem solved. Both her and the youngster will stay on the haylage now, they were both on it before I bought them home last month, so I'm not concerned about any adverse affects.

My problem now is using it all up before it goes off!

 

[happihorse]

Horsehage size small bales are about £5.50 to £6 and my 16.2hh warmblood used to get through nearly a whole one a day because he was in most of the time!

However, I changed to Baillie haylage a couple of years ago and I use one bale per week which cost about £28 delivered so I'm saving about 35% on my annual haylage bill. (The haylage keeps well for up to a week so long as it is kept in a cool place (and I also bag it up into day and night feeds which helps keep the moisture in)).