haylage or hay for winter??

J

Jim bob

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My horse has spent much of his life on hay yet he does like haylage. In the winter I go through a big round bale a month and it is normally. Exposed to the elements a little..does get rained on now and then and I like to make up several haynets for the following week. My vet has suggested haylage as my boy is lacking weight
I love the smell.of haylage however on previous yards even with a few people sharing the bale ends up going off and I aren't sure if buying small bales.would be more expensive in the long run. I only have the one horse he is a big boy at 17hh and does eat alot in the winter of hay anyway. Yet he also us a typical tb and once the hay has touched the floor won't eat it. I am also taking him barefoot this winter and would rather not soak hay in the winter but I don't want to break the bank either. What would you do?
 
Hay is cheaper (per dry matter content) and easier to store, It is also safer . Buy the best , good clean ,sweet smelling hay ,and save on hard feed bills.
 
With only one horse hay is your best bet if you are on a budget. A big bale of haylage would go off before you could use it and small bale haylage is very expensive. Just make sure you buy the best hay you can and he really does have ad lib so no small holed nets and plenty of them if you want to keep weight on.
I dream of having a horse I can just feed and not worry about them being fatties.
 
I'd also stick to hay. Both my TBs arrived underweight, one particularly so, and they put weight on with hay rather than haylage. Just make sure he always has more than he can eat. I use an old 50 gallon round water tub for mine as it keeps it off the floor and is nice and rubbery with no corners.
I've generally stuck to hay over the years due to having chubster potential types along with skinny TBs, but it works for us though we do have a lot of grazing even in winter...
 
Mix them? Haylage is better for horses with respiratory issues as it's less dusty and soaking or steaming hay in winter is a chore. It is also higher in protein generally speaking .... It's too conditioning for my cobs but for those in work, such as heavy horses or Tbs I have found its better and more conditioning. Buy it in round bales for economical reasons and cut down on the hard feed.
 
Ours get haylage simply because REALLY good quality hay is so difficult to come by nowadays sadly. One winter my horses ended up dropping a load of weight and Ive tried some different hay which didnt appear dusty during the summer but within a week my 21yo ended up coughing.

Ive always preferred good quality hay but its so difficult to come by we have had to stick to haylage. We have never had a problem with it going off though, especially in winter. we fully unwrap all the plastic to let the whole bale 'breathe' and have never had problems with mold etc?
 
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