How much hay do you feed?

[vicm2509]

My horse is now in at night and I just fill 2 haynets for him and he has a constant supply all night (always a little left in the morning). I dont count the slices or weigh it and he goes though about half a bale a night. Now most other people on the yard seem to give their horse a set number of silces of hay each night and they never have any left in the morning. My horse doesnt have weight problems but does benefit from lots of fibre, if he was out all night he would have a constant supply of grass so I think if hes in he should be able to eat hay when he wants. Although I do monitor it (i would know if he his is eating less than usual), I feel that throughout the winter a horse will eat more to keep their weight, but some people will give a certain amount of slices to the horse every night of the year and make it up with hard feed in the winter.

I can understand limited hay if the horse does have wight issues. I am interested to see what others think and do though.

 

[AmyMay]

Freddy used to have as much as he could eat. I would weigh Amy's down to the last ounce - and certainly didn't want her to have as much as she wanted.

She's currently still out 24/7 with the others, and hay is put in the field pm for them. So obviously can't restrict her intake at the moment - no biggie though, she's fine weight wise(ish).

Whilst it would be nice to think of all our horses being able to eat hay all night - it's just not possible for some 'fatties'.

 

[Tempi]

i put 'other' because both mine get a large filled net each night. Bloss always finishes hers as shes a pig - i dont give her more as otherwise she'd get fat as she puts on weight really easily, but Archie always leaves some.

 

[Lucy_Ally]

Spring is a good doer and is on a totally fibre diet, she gets ad-lib hay (probably about half a bale a night as well), sometimes she will eat less and leave some other times she hoovers up! I try to ensure she has a constant supply of fibre to keep her hindgut active. She gets a large double handful of Happy Hoof twice a day, a snack ball with high fibre cubes, carrots and is turned out all day on pretty good grazing. I am pleased with her weight and energy levels and she looks good on this regime.

 

[riotgirl]

My Welshie has to watch her weight so just gets 1 haynet full everynight - about 2 sections. If I gave her all she could eat then it would amount to about 4 bales a night she is so greedy!!

My old girl gets 2 haynets full, but this lasts her the day and night (she is allowed to wander around a small paddock at night so gets grass also). The Welshie then acts as a hoover the next moring and finishes all the stuff my old girl has dropped on the floor!

 

[KatB]

My boy lives out in the summer, and when in he gets given as much hay/hayledge as needed so there is some left over. However, he is getting only about 2 slices of hay a night as that is all he is eating!

 

[UKa]

I put that mine gets as much as she can eat and that I have no idea how much but of course I see how much she gets through normally and if she doesn’t eat I would pick up on it. I notice she goes through more when it is colder as well. I like to give her constant fibre supply and usually manage to give her too much but then I know she never goes hungry, which I find important to keep her hindgut working. In addition to hay I feed Alfa A Oil with added oil as well as high fibre nuts and I feel that a high fibre diet with unlimited hay works well to keep her in decent shape (she is quite a poor-doer) and this has also been recommended for her as she is has tied up in the past. We are lucky in that hay supply is included in our stable rent and the supply is seemingly endless as produced on the farm!

 

[claire1976]

I fill 2 large Haynets a night in winter and there is usually a small amount left each morning but my mare doesn't eat a great deal, seems to be a grass lover and nothing else!!
She has 2 hard feeds a day of pasture mix with carrots, no chaff as won't eat.
Three horses share a large round bale of hay in the field and lasts about 2 weeks.

 

[vicm2509]

So most people seem to do as I do then and feed as much as they want unless the horse gets overweight in which case its limited. I thought I was strange doing this (or rather other people on the yard think I am). They say things like 'OMG that must cost you a fortune'. But IMO it doesnt cost half as much as trying to put weight back on a horse in the middle of winter. Naturally a horse has a constant supply of grass so why should this be any different in the stable (unless you have an overweight horse or one with specific dietry requirements of course). I had to pop back to our yard late one night (about midnight), I had a quick look in a few of the stables and most of them had nearly finished their nightly hay supply! Then they are given huge amounts of hard feed and weight gain feed to keep their weight on! Boggles my mind, it really does.

 

[Rambo]

We don't usually worry how much hay they get....as long as they have enough ! I'd rather control weight by hard feed than hay anyway. It's natural for a horse to graze 'adlib' so why not feed them hay in the same way

 

[sojeph]

Mine get a bale a day between them in the thick of winter. They live out 24/7 all year and unrugged. I have 2 big cobbies and 3 ponies. ATM they have nothing as they are still huge and we have loads of grass yet!

 

[Baggybreeches]

I give them as much as they can eat, but I do sort of half heartedly ration Touchy cos she is a little on the tubby side but not gross!

 

[UKa]

fully agree! feeding more hay in the long run in my opinion cuts down on vet costs and expensive conditioning feeds ... at least works for my girl

 

[pottamus]

Good old Welshies hey! They always eat as much as possible in case tomorrow grass and hay goes out of fashion!!!!
I give my boy 2 haynets in small holed nets so that it lasts all night. I have to watch his weight as he is a typical greedy Welshie but I like him to have something left in the morning. I just exercise to keep his weight down and weigh tape every week.
He probably gets through 2/3 pads a night depending on how much grass he has troughed in the day!

 

[Theresa_F]

Mine get a big net am, a small one about 4.30 and then another big net in the evening. I know approx what I feed, but it works out about 1 - 1/2 bales a day between them.

I like to find a little hay left - shows they had food all the time.

I only feed forage to mine in the form of chaff, nuts and in the winter, speedibeet. They have been far more healthy since changing from mix. They do also get a good supplement.

 

[Happytohack]

Mine get as much as they will eat. Between the two big horses and the two 14.2s, I get through 2 good size bales a day. They don't have very much hard feed at all as the hay is so good. They come in about 4.30 and have a small feed and then a haynet each. I go round to the yard (I have them at home) about 10.00 and give them another net. They have just about eaten up by breakfast time the next morning.

 

[Kelly1982]

My horse gets about 4/5 wedges of hay a night and she is out on good grazing for about 10hours a day.

She does hoover it all up but i dont want her getting fat as she is the right size at the mo so dont give her anymore than that. I also use a small holed haynet so it takes her longer to eat and she has licks and things in her stable for once she has finished.

The other 2 horses are only on 3 weges of hay a night and personally i dont think that is enough for a 16.2 DWB and they go to bed at least an hour before mine does but it seems to work ok for them.

I like to know she has enough to eat but obvioulsy if she started getting a little chubby then i woul cut it down slightly.

I was told horses are designed to eat for 16hours a day so dont like the thought of her standing in her stable with nothing.

 

[the watcher]

Mine only get hay in winter when stabled, about half a bale each..there is often a bit left in the morning. I am particularly generous with the one who is a windsucker, he gets masses to keep him busy and keep weight on.

 

[timeandchance]

Charlie is in a field with a companion horse (not owned by me) and they live out 24/7 until the weather really gets bad! When they do come in Charlie has about 5/6 section of hay.

When they are in the field however they have 2/3 sections spread between them PM only!

 

[Chex]

Mine gets as much as he'll eat, but that isn't very much!

 

[JessPickle]

Pickle gets 16Lbs but the measure thing is broken at the moment so having to guess, then he has 10Lb's if he is in during the day.

 

[Moggy in Manolos]

Mine is getting about 8lbs in her net at the moment,if she needs more i will up it a touch, she is a good doer generally and doesnt tend to drop weight too much at all

 

[wizzi901]

ad lib all winter (in all year round at night) and slightly less in summer when the grass is going mad.

 

[Salcey]

Mine are both good doers and would keep eating anything I put in front of them (especially the weishie). They come in at 4.30 and have a small feed and small haynet, they then get their bedtime time haynet around 9ish. My mare (15.3hh) gets two sections and the welshie just one. I have never known them have any hay in the mornings, but they are both happy and relaxed and don't mug me each morning. I daren't feed an more as they still are on lots of grass when turned out so would be fattys in no time.

 

[S_N]

Well I had to tick other, as I wanted to see the results, but I don't feed any hay/haylage - they live out on very good grazing! If they come in, then they have a very scientific "fair old whack of hay" that lasts em till morning. But they VERY rarely come in

 

[Tia]

I always feed slightly more than they can eat; ad-lib. I know exactly how much every stabled horse eats by weight rather than sections of hay as sections can vary. I always like to see some left over but I don't put in too much that it will be wasted.

 

[Tia]

8lbs of hay per night? Do you know how little 8lbs of hay is? A regular bale of hay weighs somewhere between 40 - 60lbs depending on the size of the bale. 8lbs is barely one or two sections.......

The more usual figure for a horse would be 2% of the horse's own weight - so if your horse weighs 1000lbs then you should be looking at feeding it around 20lbs of hay.

Of course you may have a miniature shetland and if so then your calculations could very well be correct?

 

[MagicMelon]

Mine live out 24/7 so I dont give them quite enough that its all lying about in the mud as its just wasteful. But I do give them hay throughout the day (usually at least 3 times a day) and obviously they have grass so its not like they have nothing to eat like if stabled. If I have to stable any of them, I always give them more than they would usually eat, I also hate to see them with nothing to eat! I do know how much mine tend to eat but one of mine is picky - some days he'll eat masses of hay, other days he wont touch it.

 

[Caritas]

My horse gets 8kg at night 4kg morning and 4 kg midday and he always has a few scraps left of haylage. People offen tell me that I feed far too much but in my 20 years of owning horses i have never had one with laminitis and never had one colic on me so i must be doing something right, hey!!

 

[not_with_it]

Mine has a large filled net at night and then 2 small nets during the day. She usually finishes her night net but it is unusual for her to finish her day nets. IMO she doesnt need any more than this. She looks well and is a nice weight, maybe a little bit podgey and so therefore I must be doing something right.