Haylage???

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Rocky715

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Ok... need some advice?!?!

Rocky literally stopped eating hay - point blank refused... I persevered for about 10 days and he refused to eat any of it so I gave in and bought some of that horsehage haylage and he loves it.... however he now loves it to the point that he wont eat his hardfood because he wants the haylage so much?

So questions - how much haylage should I feed him? He is about 538 kg and 16hh and a TB x??

Many thanks for any help - haven't ever fed haylage before!

Fiona xx
 
Haylage is alot richer than hay, so it's probably filling him up more so he's not very hungry for hardfeed! If you need to give him hardfeed then cut back a little on the haylage, as for amounts to feed, I'm not sure as I don't know what sort of work he's doing at the mo!!
 
A typical 500kg 16hh riding horse requires a minimum daily roughage intake of about 1% bodyweight, i.e. 5kg of hay. Due to its higher moisture content, the same horse would require 7 to 8.5kg of haylage. Although you need more haylage by weight you need much less by volume as, again due to the higher moisture content, haylage is much denser than hay. At the beginning it is best to weigh out the required amount each day until you get used to judging the volume.
You should also note that haylage dry matter has a higher nutritional value than hay (about 10% higher) so less supplementary feed will be needed if you are feeding the same amount of dry matter to meet the horse’s energy requirements.
 
I was told that an average size horse requires 8 - 10 kg of haylage per day. Robinsons do a basic hanging scales - like the type you weigh fish with, and are only a few pounds, so just fill a net and weigh it.

If you don't want to be too scientific, my cob who I imagine weighs similiar to yours, was fed horsehage and would allow approx 1/3 rd a bale a day

If your horse is only in light work and the haylage is good quality,(should be if it is horsehage), you may not even need to provide hard feed as the haylage should contain all the essentials
 
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A horse needs 2% of his bodyweight to maintain. 1% would be a very strict diet indeed. Most weight loss diets comprise 1.5% daily, so your horse actually needs twice the weight previously advised.

Haylage contains a high proportion of water so needs to be fed at a greater weight still. Like hay, haylage will vary considerably in its nutritional value, hence the different types made by horsehage.

Personally I would ring Horsehage themselves and ask for their recommendations for your particular horse. That way you cannot go wrong.
 
8kg of haylage is certainly quite a small amount for your average sized horse!

My 16.2 horse has a hayhutch full of ab lib haylage, as the bulk of her diet. She gets through at least 16kg in 24 hours, some times more.
 
My boy is 530KG and gets between 12 and 14 KG of haylage a day. I split this into 6 at night and two 3's for the day. I don't worry about being too exact hence the range ;)

Would advise ringing horsehage though.
 
I have to say that I don't and have never weighed hay nets :o I just go by what is kleft if any. Some left feed less looking a bit light fee more.

I do have two poor doers tho :)

Nikki xx
 
Bunnysmum said:
Personally I would ring Horsehage themselves and ask for their recommendations for your particular horse. That way you cannot go wrong.
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Actually, Horsehage gave me some bad advice when I phoned them several years ago due to confusion over how much haylage to feed. They told me that because it was richer I didn't need to feed as much and as haylage is heavier than hay then to feed the same weight as I would hay. This didn't make sense to me and I then bought big bale haylage anyway and just fed ad-lib.
 
Snowysadude said:
How much grass does he get as well? The general advice (written on the horsehage bag - im sad I know) is one bag should last approx 3 days for a 16hh horse :)
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Is a bale 20kgs? If so, there's no way that 20kgs would last either of my horses (16.2 veteran & 16hh WB good doer) 3 days in this sort of weather.

I really think, that unless a horse needs its waistline watching, then you should be feeding it ab lib in cold times like this.
 
For the millionth time, haylege should be fed ad lib. So give him as much as he'll eat. If he's fat then put it in a small holed haylege to slow him down, but still he should never be without forage.
 
You should always feed at least 50% extra haylage than hay because of the water content. So as a minimum to maintain weight the amount fed should be 3% of his ideal bodyweight, more if he needs it in these conditions.
 
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i feed haylage ad lib, i like to see a little bit left by morning that way i know they have had enough - my husband tucked them in last night and dont think he gave them enough, none left this morning! he will be told:rolleyes:
 
I would feed ad lib. But then I always do, especially in harsh weather like this, a horse should have something to eat constantly for the body to make enough energy to stay warm. I just cram as much hay/haylage into nets as poss, they all have some left in a morning. What's left either gets put in field or left in nets and more put in on top.

As for him leaving his hard feed, if he's a pretty good doer and only in light work if you fed ad lib haylage he wouldn't need any hard feed anyway. I have two horses on livery 16.2hh and 17hh who are both ridden every day without fail and the 17hh is competed every other weekend who are both just on ad lib hay and look very very well on it. All they get at tea time is a handful of alfa a and a couple of carrots.

People think that not restricting hay/haylage is expensive and wasteful but my two liveries cost me a hell of a lot less to feed than my skinny tv who's on 4kg of conditioning cubes a day!! I say if they can manage on just forage let them, it's the most natural way :-)
 
I don't feed ad lib haylage - my horses would explode. They are (between them) currently going through 3 BIG bales a day (about 900 kg) which works out at an average of 13 kg per horse per day. Obviously some eat more and some less (given that the total number of horses includes 13 foals/weanlings!)
 
He is normally a poor doer which is why I am surprised he is leaving his dinner. He is in a big paddock with a lot of grass left in at the moment. I am mixing "1 slice" of the haylage at the minute with 1 slice of soaked hay.... so I guess I actually have no idea how much I am giving him. There is some left in the morning - but this tends to be the hay and he is picking out the haylage.

I think I will try giving adlib haylage and see how he does on it... if needs be I can cut out his evening hard food and put the supplements into his breakfast?

Fiona xx
 
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