Horsehage - quantities

[FrodoBeutlin]

I've just bought my first bales of HorseHage for Frodo, who must have dust-free forage from now on.
I've never used this before and, although it looks and smells fantastic and seems highly palatable (well Frodo adores it!), I am concerned about having to feed so little of it.

A bag is supposed to last three days which means that he only has three slices a day...which is NOTHING! Now, no horse at the yard has ad lib hay (a concept unheard of in Germany, apparently...) but still, they definitely get more than one tiny slice per meal....

Unfortunately, it's the green version (bought it from a local feed store which, despite being one of the biggest in the area, doesn't stock the blue / lighter ones unless you specifically order it (and quite a lot of it too

). Which I've now done (Frodo is fat enough as he is

), but they will take a while to arrive. I actually think they're imported from the UK) so I think I really have to follow the feeding guidelines.

I think there are a few people on here who feed it regularly, have you ever been worried about this aspect? Or is it just me? Consider that horses here are turned out every day, but not all day (3/4 hours a day max)

 

[ihatework]

I have a 16.2hh horse and I would be feeding half a bale of horsehage overnight if that is what I used (I don't as it's too cost ineffective). Horse would be out on grass all day. There is no way I'd limit a stable kept horse to third of bale

 

[FrodoBeutlin]

But that's the recommended amount

So you would just ignore it?

 

[Sprout]

I feed the blue bag horsehage to my New Forest ponies - if they were in at night, they would get two or three slices, depending how big the slices are.
You can obviously make it last longer by using a small hole hay net, or even doubling the nets.

 

[ihatework]

I have fed horsehage in the past and yes I just ignore it, although I did feed the blue horsehage (recommended amount the same).

When feeding a horse that amount of good quality haylage I did reduce amount of hard feed.

 

[teddyt]

I have always thought the recomended amount is ridiculous. It has been that much for years, probably from when it was thought to feed less haylage than you do hay.

Because of the lower dry matter you actually have to feed a greater weight than hay, to get the same amount of dry matter. So in answer to your question I would ignore the recomended amount and feed what your horse needs. 3 sections is NOT enough for a horse over a 20 hour period!

 

[FrodoBeutlin]

Thanks to both of you... He gets very little hard feed already, but I think it would be possible to reduce it further by skipping lunch (so hard feed twice a day rather than three times a day).

Not sure about haynet as Vet recommended feeding as much as possible from the floor

 

[wizzi901]

IMHO horses should have access this time of year (as grass is rubbish however long) to ad lib forage. Having had an oldie that would suffer instant colic if nothing to nibble for even an hour its a habit I have got into, and perhaps dont need to!!

However, even my welsh D boy who is chunky monkey gets ad lib haylage and if there is none left in morning, it would concern me.

They are out during day with grass to nibble but no goodness in whatsoever, so at night he gets as much as he can eat, simple.

Small bale I would be using half a bale easily on 14.2 fatty, but thats just my opinion, I hate seeing skinny ribby horses going into the winter.

Ad lib on the forage!!!

 

[FrodoBeutlin]

Ideally yes, and he did have ad lib forage when he was at home with us and we could decide what to feed, but unfortunately this is not possible at the yard he's at. As I said the concept of 'ad-lib forage' seems to be totally unknown in Germany

 

[Beccanspike]

Hi,

I am the North of England sales rep for Horsehage, so I thought you might like some advice.
I don't know the size or weight of your horse but you should feed the same weight of Horsehage as you would hay. A 600kg horse in work light/medium should eat between 9 -12 kgs of feed a day this of course should be split into hard feed and forage but as you say he has little hard feed he should have at least 90% of this as Horsehage. A bale of Horsehage weighs between 20 - 24kgs. There is a manufacturer in Germany so what you buy may even be made there.
If you fed it in a small holed net it will take him longer to eat it which is good for his digestive system as it keeps the fibre moving through his gut.

I hope this helps, for more info see www.horsehage.co.uk

 

[FrodoBeutlin]

Thank you Beccanspike! Sent you a PM too

Didn't know there was a manufacturer in Germany too. I had assumed it was imported purely because of the price (£12.50 a bag

)

 

[GinaGem]

Blimey - I'm paying £6 a bag here!!!

 

[FrodoBeutlin]

I know

In a few weeks' time I'm driving up to the UK again -- something tells me I will bring back a carload of HorseHage

 

[criso]

I fed the purple (timothy) horsehage to my TB who was on box rest and then into light work. It's a little lower in energy than the green.
He is 16 2 and weighs approx 560kg and I was feeding 5 bags a week.
He had a bit of alfa a lite and herbal mollichaff to carry his supplements/medicines but not hard feed.
He's actually a pretty good doer esp for a TB and was in good condition on this.

I am now at a yard that includes ad lib haylage so you can imagine how much I am saving

 

[teddyt]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi,

I am the North of England sales rep for Horsehage, so I thought you might like some advice.
I don't know the size or weight of your horse but you should feed the same weight of Horsehage as you would hay.

[/ QUOTE ]

But if you do that the fibre content of the diet is reduced because of the higher moisture content of haylage compared to hay.
i.e. 8 kg of 55% dry matter haylage will not supply the same amount of fibre as 8kg of 90% dry matter hay. So the fibre content of the horses diet is reduced, which is not a good thing.