Haylage usage for one horse

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wallykissmas

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Im looking to change over to haylage as my horse is finding hay too dusty, he currently has about 15lb of hay a night.

How much haylage would i replace it with, I always thought you give more haylage than hay due to the water content ?

How do you buy haylage for one horse without spoilage ? how much do you pay per bale ?

Im aware of E&H Haylage, Horsehage but would be looking for local in Norfolk.
 
Feed less haylage than hay!

My 14hh new forest was having 1/4 of a slice of haylage big bale once a day. We paid £40 for it, and its massive! Used to feed 5 horses for a week through the winter.

How big is your horse? what breed? age? etc. If it's finding hay dusty, it might be better to just soak it?

bexcy-bee x
 
There is always confusion about replacing hay with haylage! Haylage has a higher moisture content than hay, so you need to feed more BY WEIGHT but about the same BY VOLUME (assuming the hay and haylage are made from similar types of grasses cut at the same time). So if you normally feed one large net of hay then give one large net of haylage - but shake the haylage out as some small bales are very compressed, which makes things even more confusing! Some types of haylage may be more calorific than normal hay, so you need to keep an eye on the horse's weight and reduce the hard feed if they start to get to get porky.
 
TGM said:
There is always confusion about replacing hay with haylage! Haylage has a higher moisture content than hay, so you need to feed more BY WEIGHT but about the same BY VOLUME (assuming the hay and haylage are made from similar types of grasses cut at the same time). Some types of haylage may be more calorific than normal hay, so you need to keep an eye on the horse's weight and reduce the hard feed if they start to get to get porky.
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So, if my horse normally has a large net of hay, he should get a large net of hayledge, which will weigh more but same volume?
Ps. he needs to put on weight, hence change to haylege :)
 
Yes same in volume but the haylage wil weigh more do remeber to shake out the haylage as it wil be more compressed.
You wil find haylage will put weight on, most of mine lived out all winter just on ab lib haylage and came out of this winter looking better than previous year when had haylage and hard feed
 
I use E&H haylage, their hi fibre one. Have used it for 3 years now and never had a bad bale, just the very occassional weed.

My 16 hh ID/TB gets one very full small holed haylage net per night and their small bales lasts me 2 - 3 days.

I buy in bulk at the beginning of winter, think it cost me £5.90 a bale.
 
I'm pretty sure that the calorific value in real terms is about the same as grass (fermentation process makes sugars more available). I've swapped ad-lib hay for ad-lib haylage (no hard feed) this winter for my 7 (cobs, TB's WB's) and they look like bulls. I think therefore you need to feed less hence haylage nets have smaller holes.
 
scarymare said:
I'm pretty sure that the calorific value in real terms is about the same as grass (fermentation process makes sugars more available). I've swapped ad-lib hay for ad-lib haylage (no hard feed) this winter for my 7 (cobs, TB's WB's) and they look like bulls. I think therefore you need to feed less hence haylage nets have smaller holes.
Click to expand...

The trouble is, if you feed significantly less haylage BY VOLUME than you did of hay, then your horse will not be getting as much fibre as before. Hence why it is better to feed the same BY VOLUME and reduce the hard feed if putting on weight is a problem. Obviously if the animal is not getting hard feed and is already overweight, then it might be best to mix haylage with straw, give soaked hay, or to look for one of the lower calorie haylages which are made from late cut grasses.
 
I feed haylege add lib to my t.b.s i buy a big 6 string square bale for £35.00 which lasts 2 wks.

The large bales if not too wet easily keep for 3/4wks aslong as you open one end up only and take one slice off at a time. The wetter stuff about 2half weeks.

You find that many hayledge producers are making it slightly drier, which enables it to keep better.
 
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