Haylage problem *possibly* solved with no supplements

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soloequestrian

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I posted a few weeks ago about a problem with mare being squitty on the lovely haylage I had, and my two boys being fine on it. I had tried live yoghurt, yeast, NAF haylage balancer and soaking the haylage. Nothing had worked. I have now got some haylage that has been made without any acidifiers or preservatives and she has been on it for just over a week and the squittiness has gone. For the first time in my life, I am glad to see a little bit of white mould on the haylage!!
It would be interesting to see how many other horses out there whose tummies get upset by haylage would react the same - I think it is becoming very common now to use preservatives when making haylage, especially by commercial growers whose supply is expected to be pristine.
 
Nasty stuff that is :( My old horse once lost the hair on all of his body not covered by the rug. Turns out the straw we were using had been used to weight down a tarp on a silage clamp and some of the additive had leaked onto it...
 
It generally depends on the additive which has been used as to whether or not it causes issues. I am using haylage treated with the product made by the company I work for and have no problems at all it is the best haylage I have ever used however in the past we had some made with a different product and it was a nightmare we had major issues. Our hay is also treated and again is perfect
 
I don't know anything about the actual additives, but they are used to speed up the acidification process so you get good preservation of the grass even if the conditions aren't perfect. I don't know if there are additives that just preserve without acidifying?
Amage, do you know any more about it and do you have any brand names?
 
soloequestrian said:
I don't know anything about the actual additives, but they are used to speed up the acidification process so you get good preservation of the grass even if the conditions aren't perfect. I don't know if there are additives that just preserve without acidifying?
Amage, do you know any more about it and do you have any brand names?
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Yes there are!!!! Using acid is very old fashioned practice these days....most contractors over here refuse to use it! will pm you brands
 
My old horse used to loose sooo much wieght when fed hayledge! He used to have the worst squits and then even when we returned him to hay he still got the squits for ages!!

My current horse loves hayledge but some times it is a bit rich for her (normally when the hayledge looks wet and smells very strong) so i tried mixing it with hay but she wont touch the hay if there is hayledge available.

Now-a-days i stick with hay, so much easier!!!
 
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