How long does your haylage last you

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moodymare1987

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I have my horse on hay at the moment. But want to put him on haylage and wondered how long it lasts you before it goes off or your horses have eaten it all. I am only feeding the one horse on it so wondered roughly how long I would get of a large round bale.
 
You would be lucky to feed a big bale for one horse without it going off.

My big bales last between 14 and 17 days between one horse and two ponies, I don't think if would last any longer than that. The only reason it lasts that long is that I had it cut myself and dried it out for an extra day than normal before baling so I knew it would be dry.
 
I know it would go off I was just curious how long I would roughly get before it did go off as I have a big hay bale. And tbh I've had it 14 days and I'll be lucky to get many more days as I've gone through it pretty quick. Wasn't the best bale.
 
Hi,

if I really stretched it I could get away more or less with a big bale between 2 horses in winter, as long as I kept re-wrapping, but it could not work in summer.
I now only have one horse, and he is munching through a small bale a day. That is a £6 bale.
I won't feed less as I feed ad lib.
 
I have two big horses and find that a bale usually lasts me about a week to ten days (they are on it 24/7) but at the moment the bales are going off before I can use them as the weather is so mild. I'm getting big bales of hay at the moment, which are lasting much better.
 
I get through a large square bale in 10-14 days for my one horse, he lives out and has it ad lib. Because the bales are square I can rewrap and keep it covered until it runs out so it seems to last longer than when you have to unwrap the whole bale
 
As above, a lot depends on the moisture content.

We are lucky to also have very dry haylage and have had a bale easily last 3 weeks at this time of year. Our bales are barn stored so out of direct light and remove all the wrap on opening. We also keep a close eye as each slice is removed, and if there is any hint of it heating up, loosen the slices to let the air circulate and stop it fermenting.

1 large bale (approx 300 kg) last our 2 approx 2/3 weeks and they are only stabled overnight, but have ad lib.

The financial saving may outweigh any wastage for you if feeding it to one horse, but you will need a way of disposing of it if any does go off.

Also a lot depends on storage - if kept outside and exposed to the elements, it will not last as long.
 
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I used to feed my TB on a big square bale of haylage and I never had any problems with it going off. It was quite dry which I think is the key to ensuring it doesn't go off.
 
Yes I know what you mean. Yeah there's not as much in hay as haylage. And with mine getting fit after being in a field I'd like the help to stop him dropping anything.
 
I use the big square bales, as someone above posted. I slice it open at one end and remove it slice by slice. Doing it like that, it's never gone off with two exmoors munching at it, but it was baled very dry. I don't think I'd get away with round bales.
 
The haylage I use is the size of a standard bale of hay. It lasts my girl 6 days and has never gone off - it is quite dry haylage though.
 
My haylage remains good for at least a month, I suppose it is a fairly dry cut, but never had any go even vaguely off over the last three years. I use large round bales.
 
Red-1 said:
Hi,

if I really stretched it I could get away more or less with a big bale between 2 horses in winter, as long as I kept re-wrapping, but it could not work in summer.
I now only have one horse, and he is munching through a small bale a day. That is a £6 bale.
I won't feed less as I feed ad lib.
Click to expand...
Really? for the whole winter ?with other feeding? Sorry to question you just makes me think i'm feeding to much. i feed two horses, two ponies with no other feed and a big bale lasts 10 days.
 
Iv got a 15.3hh TB (not a poor doer) and a 13.2hh Pony (skinny legged, show pony type), they get as much as they can eat at night (always a little left in the nets in the morning) and turnout in the day. At the moment im going through a large square bale of haylage in two and a half to three weeks, when they have hay in the field during the day too, i usually use a bale every ten days to two weeks. I usually buy 12 bales in november when they have to be stabled at night to last me through until they go out full time at the end of march. I only have to buy extra if we have a long wet winter and the grass isnt growing well.
 
Quote Originally Posted by Red-1 View Post

Hi,

if I really stretched it I could get away more or less with a big bale between 2 horses in winter, as long as I kept re-wrapping, but it could not work in summer.
I now only have one horse, and he is munching through a small bale a day. That is a £6 bale.
I won't feed less as I feed ad lib.
Really? for the whole winter ?with other feeding? Sorry to question you just makes me think i'm feeding to much. i feed two horses, two ponies with no other feed and a big bale lasts 10 days.

Ho Ho, I wish! I should have been more clear. I was replying to the query how long does your haylage last before it goes off. With two horses in winter I could get away with one big bale between two horses in winter but not summer refers to I can get away with it as in use it all up before it all went off.
As I said I am now down to one horse, and use a small bale every day at a cost of £6 a bale. He is fed ad-lib and is not overweight.
 
Red-1 said:
Quote Originally Posted by Red-1 View Post

Hi,

if I really stretched it I could get away more or less with a big bale between 2 horses in winter, as long as I kept re-wrapping, but it could not work in summer.
I now only have one horse, and he is munching through a small bale a day. That is a £6 bale.
I won't feed less as I feed ad lib.
Really? for the whole winter ?with other feeding? Sorry to question you just makes me think i'm feeding to much. i feed two horses, two ponies with no other feed and a big bale lasts 10 days.
Click to expand...

Ho Ho, I wish! I should have been more clear. I was replying to the query how long does your haylage last before it goes off. With two horses in winter I could get away with one big bale between two horses in winter but not summer refers to I can get away with it as in use it all up before it all went off.
As I said I am now down to one horse, and use a small bale every day at a cost of £6 a bale. He is fed ad-lib and is not overweight.
 
Our big round bales of haylage last us a good couple of weeks without going off for 2 big horses being fed out in the field (we're not stabling until the weather really turns bad)
We do keeps ours in a shelter covered with tarp + old rug chucked over the top.

It would probably last longer in terms of going off, but we're feeding a TB that loses condition easily and needs to be kept fed up to be happy and a cob-type that's in consistent work and needs to keep his energy up, so 1 large bale = two weeks of happily fed horses.
 
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