Haylage - how much do you feed and some other questions??

_April_

_April_

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 September 2006
Messages
7,094
Visit site
I have a few questions for all you knowledgable HHOers!

1. Is it hayledge or haylage?
wink.gif
laugh.gif



Tara (15.2 TB) is currently eating her way through approx 11kg of haylage per night. (I am nice and anal about weighing everything).
I put it into a haylage net but it is always completely gone by the morning.


She dropped weight when I moved her from Kent to Scotland 3 weeks ago but she's starting to round out again now so am not too worried even though I would want a bit more on her personally.


So my questions are:

Do you feed adlib haylage or an actual weight?

Do you feed it off of the floor or do you try and stop them scoffing too much?

Is it possible to feed too much haylage?



I'm just not sure whether or not to keep adding more and more into her nets until there is some left or whether I should look at using 2 nets to slow the little gannet down a bit!

One day last week I knew I wasn't going to get to the stable till 10am so I gave her 2 nets overnight and again it was all gone!



Other info incase it helps is - her digestive system is fine with haylage - poos all normal;
they are out from 8am-5pm with no haylage but ok grass for the time of year and never seem desparate to come in when weather is good;
She gets fed Spillers conditioning fibre, Spillers hi-fi nuts, Baileys no 4 nuts, and sugarbeet - twice per day. Won't bore you with weights unless it helps
wink.gif
laugh.gif




Is lovely having a greedy TB though
grin.gif
 
Badger has loads of haylage (I think that's the one!) He has two large haynets (with the big holes) at night and I think my dad sometimes gives him a extra one when he goes to work at 4am if he eaten up. So ad lib I guess.

Badger is a poor dooer though. I haven't heard you can feed too much, although it might make her a bit crazy if it's potent stuff!
 
I have no idea how much it weighs, but I feed a (poor do-er) hunting livery as much haylage as I can stuff into a big net. I use net to prevent her wiping it around her stable, as she likes to paw at things. She always finishes every last scrap, so as I like them to have something to nibble on all night, she also gets a net of hay which she eats more slowly - there is always some left in the morning.

I feed my cob x mare (apparently haylage intolerant) 2 big nets of hay overnight (6pm - 6.30am) and she usually has a few morsels left in the morning.

I'm in a slightly different position though as neither of them really have any grass left in their winter fields so I like them to have full bellies all night
grin.gif
. Occasionally I find myself at the yard late at night and it is amazing how quickly some of the horses finish their nets.
 
I dont weigh it, just cram the net as full as possible, usually a bit left in morning, by doing this my horses look fab and are on a small amount of low energy feed, no need for expensive conditioning feeds lol!
 
millie - I should go take a peek late one night - that is a good idea!

Thanks for the replies guys - it's a minefield isn't it
laugh.gif


lol Starbucks - yes I am monitoring her behaviour closely to see if she's getting more hyper especally as have been introducing the Baileys No.4 gradually - so far so good though!

We can't get hay at the yard and I'm avoiding it anyway as she is prone to very slight RAO.
 
I feed mine ad - lib haylage - as much as she will eat. She is 16hh and i weigh it so i know how much she is getting, she eats approx 20lbs (9kg) in 12hours and she is stabled for most of the day so she gets about 40lbs a day. She is a poor doer so im trying to build her up. I also feed from the floor due to the health benefits. I would always feed ad lib unless I was trying to reduce weight, as well with haylage you dont need to feed as much concentrates/hard feed apparently so it saves on your feed bill

Maybe your mare is hungry, i wouldnt be too concerned that she is eating 11kg overnight but she would obviously like more!!!
 
very helpful thanks prettybay xx

I am very happy to give her as much as she wants but thought I'd better check on here first that it wasn't possible to give TOO much lol.
I don't want her to be hungry that makes me feel terrible!

The past 2 nights I have been both filling her net and putting extra slices on the floor so I will continue doing that
laugh.gif
 
If we use haylage then it's as much in the haylage as possible, we also put hay in haylage nets, it helps to keep them occupied, and stops so much waste. I liked to feed from the ground, but mare kept pulling it about and weeing on it
frown.gif

New mare has a full net and there is a small handful left in the bottom in the morning, but she eats her neighbours so it's not much of a guidance!

I suppose we should weight a full net of each to find out what we're feeding just in case we ever need to know.
 
If you can, do pop up one night, you learn so much about what your horse is up to overnight. I have stayed up once or twice if we have had a colicky horse (incl xmas eve last year
crazy.gif
) and it is fascinating to see them switch between munching and snoozing. Or perhaps I am just v sad. The best thing is blinky horses when you switch the lights on, they are so cute!
 
I'd put her an extra net up if I were you, if it's on the floor it seems to end up modged in with all the poo!!!
tongue.gif
If your buying the expensive stuff that comes in slices I'm thinking you don't want to waste!
wink.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
I'd put her an extra net up if I were you, if it's on the floor it seems to end up modged in with all the poo!!!
tongue.gif
If your buying the expensive stuff that comes in slices I'm thinking you don't want to waste!
wink.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Aye good plan
wink.gif
grin.gif


She is THE messiest horse I have ever met *sigh*
 
[ QUOTE ]
If you can, do pop up one night, you learn so much about what your horse is up to overnight. I have stayed up once or twice if we have had a colicky horse (incl xmas eve last year
crazy.gif
) and it is fascinating to see them switch between munching and snoozing. Or perhaps I am just v sad. The best thing is blinky horses when you switch the lights on, they are so cute!

[/ QUOTE ]


Oh no not sad at all!
My favourite part of moving her to the new place is watching her in the field and seeing who her favourite compadres are
laugh.gif
She really seems to like the boys best haha.

We aren't supposed to go up past 10pm but I am sure as a one off it would be ok to nip up after that.
 
[ QUOTE ]



Quote:
I'd put her an extra net up if I were you, if it's on the floor it seems to end up modged in with all the poo!!! If your buying the expensive stuff that comes in slices I'm thinking you don't want to waste!


Aye good plan

She is THE messiest horse I have ever met *sigh*


[/ QUOTE ]

Oh no - not a messy grey - good job she's such a super star!
 
I feed adlib, he gets as much as he can eat and I can honestly say I have never weighed a haynet in my life- you loon!!
I feed from the floor to make sure his nose drains. This is because of his past abcess troubles, but also because it is not natural for horses to eat from haynets at that height, and my old mare once got her teeth stuck in one
crazy.gif
 
LOL @ loon - yep tis true but humour me Rosiie!

She's the first I've owned and not loaned/ridden for others in a looooong time and first DIY ever (yeah I am a spoiled brat lol) so I am obsessed
grin.gif


I even log down everything on managemyhorse.com
blush.gif


Still there are more unhealthy things to be addicted too so I shall carry on unashamedly
tongue.gif
grin.gif



ETS - I only weighed it a few times so I knew how much a net was I don't measure EVERY night.... excuses, excuses LOL
 
I feed ad lib hay I guess it weighs out to 18lbs which he gets as two nets one at 4 when he comes in and thats 12lbs then one at 7-8 (with a skip out of the box) which weighs 6 lbs. He has about 2 kips a night and grazes at the net. There is usually some left in the morn but if he looks hungry i give him 20lbs. He also gets 6lbs in the field. but haylage is 40% water compared to hay which is (i think) only 5% so when u wieght it you have to think of that too.
 
to carry n from my post above my horse weighs about 525 - 55-kg max and should have no less that 7kg/15lb a night so he never has less than that. he is a good horse at stopping having a standing up sleep then lieing down then eating etc. feed hay in a small hole net as the should graze the hay and he can get it out v easy from the holes any way and makes it neater. and only get uneaten hay in one patch underneath the net.
 
Haylage is very variable in terms of water content so i would feed by volume rather than weight if that makes any sense. I.e if your horse normally eats a large stuffed haynet, then fill that regardless of how much it weighs! As for feeding from the floor, its definately much better for the horse as it stops the wrong muscles from developing and allows their nose to drain naturally, but i guess it depends how much of a mucky pup they are - very frustrating when thry drag it all through your nice bed!! What about a haybar or similar?
 
Mine gets ad-lib high fibre haylage, and eats about 2/3rds of a slice a night, no idea what that equates to a big horse eating though!
She doesn't stuff herself, she gets it on the floor purely because I prefer to and she was hugely built up under her neck from eating from a manger so it encouraged her to stretch down. She roots through it and spreads it everywhere to scoff all the seeds from the floor first
grin.gif

 
My TB is fed ad lib off the floor. I filll a big haynet up every night and empty it onto the floor, and it weighs about 22-24lbs. (Approx 9.9kg - 10.8kg a night). We are on restriced grazing (4 day a week turnout) so I like her to be kept as natural as possible, plus the foraging keeps her occupied if I put the hayledge onto the floor).
Apparently for her size (15.2) she gets fed alot more then she needs but I don't care, horses are designed to eat for 18hrs a day and I try to accomodate that as much as possible! And she is looking damned good at the moment
laugh.gif

You can actually feed alot more hayledge then hay because hayledge has a higher water content than hay, so in order for the horse to get the same type of nutrients from hayledge as it does hay, you actually need to feed more, if that makes sense?
PM me if it doesn't make sense and I will put it into english for you
grin.gif

Izzi x
 
I feed ad lib, from a haybar or big tub trugs on the floor. They all get a flap of a 4'6'' square bale and have some left in the morning......... except one of my yearlings who has a flap and a half
blush.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Haylage is very variable in terms of water content so i would feed by volume rather than weight if that makes any sense. I.e if your horse normally eats a large stuffed haynet, then fill that regardless of how much it weighs!

[/ QUOTE ] That's what I do when I feed haylage - give the same amount of haylage BY VOLUME as I do hay.
 
I am so grateful for all the replies
laugh.gif
laugh.gif


Very interesting especially to learn about the volume rather than the weight. Does make perfect sense!

Thanks so much for all the advice and experience, I'll just keep piling it in add lib.

I actually do already have a large hay tub with matching trolley to move it that I can pinch from my mum - no-one uses it anymore at her stables
grin.gif

Will be better for her breathing and for my shavings bill to use that I think hehe.

Friend turned her out for me today and apparently there is some left today - so thats with 6 slices in a net and 2 on the floor!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top