How much hay do you feed?

[noodle_]

I know it depends on the horse too (size/weight etc) so pretty difficult question generally...

we have little grass now going into winter, as most yards do. Im feeding hay - one flake in the field (which she eats in 10 minutes!), feed 3 flakes at 3pm when i bring her in, then another flake at night (11pmish)

Shes a very greedy horse, nice weight at the moment - no bigger but no more off her either....Im not sure if im feeding enough hay though...?

She seems to stand about a lot doing nothing as like i said not much in her field which is the same on all yards in our area this time of year hence feeding hay?

So how often do you hay yours???, are they "ok" standing about with nothing to do for a few hours?!
I cant be there chucking hay in all the time but i do try to give her hay at "lunch"

 

[monkeybum13]

Ad lib when stabled
When its frosty I tend to put a haynet in her field then when her field companion goes out their owner brings the haynet in. This means she's had hay for about an hour minimum, has a full belly and then normally snoozes for a while before eating grass. Wouldn't put her straight out onto frozen grass with an empty belly!
If there's snow/heavy frost the other owner puts out hay too so they both have a pile/haynet.

 

[fizzer]

Ad lib, in stabled at night. Ponies get a big soaked haynet.

 

[Niddlynoo]

My pony would probably eat a whole small bale a night if he had access to it, so ad lib wouldn't work for him. He is moving to a new yard tomorrow with less turnout so would be interested to hear peoples responses to this query

 

[treacle_beastie]

far too much I think! Mine come sin at 4 ish and goes out 8.30 ish so is in for quite a long time. I feed about 8kgs most nights though the last couple of nights I have fed 10kgs which has kept her going and keeping her content. I wont feed any more than that though now, when the grass starts coming through again in spring she will drop back down to 6kg which is about one flap of a large bale.

 

[Mare Stare]

A couple of sections each. They all live out and are all good doers. There's still plenty of grass on the ground for my lot to chew through.

 

[noodle_]

thanks all

trouble is i dont want to give her hay24/7 as she is prone to banging weight on!

ive got her back to a lovely weight, and she gets breakfast and tea (small handful of alpha-a, a snack a ball with pony nuts in and some carrots), hay in a morning, when she comes in and night time!

SO she does get "enough" food...but im just bothered if she gets bored in the field

 

[Dawng]

I feed my mare 4 kilos hay at night and a 3 kilo haynet in the morning - this is in her shelter she can go in and out as she pleases - it equates to 1 1/2 percent of body weight - if I gave her ad lib she would become obese

 

[hessy12]

Horses are trickle feeders and should have access to forage 24 / 7. My horses have as much hay as they want.

 

[touchstone]

While horses are trickle feeders and should have access to forage 24/7 there are many that would be seriously obese having as much hay as they want; mine would be able to munch her way through far more than the recommended amount (and indeed did when I tried totally ad-lib resulting in too much weight gain.)

I feed 1.5 - 2% bodyweight in forage, but I make sure that it is in small holed nets to last longer.

 

[caramel]

Mine gets 4 large sections a night, soaked and fed from the floor.

 

[MrVelvet]

I like the idea of adlib but I fear mine wouldn't fit through the door to get back out of his box! My boy will be out all day as of Monday and then a net at tea time and another later for supper When he's stabled he will have 4 throughout the day.

I have a large haylage net which is stuffed

 

[bertin12]

we're lucky and still have quite a lot of grass in our field, and as there is only 3 of them in there it's even better. at the moment they arent getting hay in their field (mines out from 8-4 30), but when we move them into their field with a shelter we will put a hay net up each.

mine is a very good doer, so he gets a small holed hay net with about 2 sections in it at night & a couple of handfuls of hi fi good doer when i bring him in

 

[CBFan]

My 17hh CB gets half a bale a night... any more than that and he just spreads it wound his stable and stomps on it, then refusing to eat it the following night.... really need to get that 'hay bar' built!

If I were you I'd probably only give yours 2 sections when she comes in then 2 at 11pm... evens it out a bit more then

And to be honest, I think you're really lucky being able to feed hay in the field - grass or no grass... you could cut that one out or move it to one of your other feeding times if you wanted if she's coming in at 3 she's really not spending very long out in the field at all...

 

[nikCscott]

Mine is only turned out 6/7 hours a day but we do have grass.

I feed him 3 slices of hay in a net and there is usually a bit left in the morning, he also has high fat conditioning feed twice a day, pony has 1 flake of hay at night usually some left in morning- neither of mine will gorge themselves, but i think that as there is still good green grass they are still getting some goodness out of that- will up hay if required.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

now clocks gone back

MY liveries and horses come in at night around 3

and go out 6.45- 650am

are on 2 sections a night

will go up to 3 when the isn't any grass left

the pony and donkey get one section a night

 

[muff747]

Surely, there are so many variables to this question? It all depends on the size and weight and sometimes age of your horse and also, as we can see here, whether they have access to any other forage. It also depends on the quality of the forage, whether you have lots of grass if their out 24/7 or stabled.
My 16h TB can eat a lot of haylage and he is a nice weight now and doesn't put weight on. I like to see he has eaten all the haylage I've left with a little left over, which means he has had ample. I might give a bit extra on cold nights or if I've brought him in earlier.
I can't imagine any horse or pony being able to eat continuously all night long, they only have a small stomach so they must stop when they are full. But if you don't want them to get bored, or colic/ulcers, they should be able to eat when they need to as they are TRICKLE feeders so make it as difficult as possible to get big mouthfuls of hay at one bite so it lasts all night. If they are good doers, you could give lower feed value hay or oat straw, or you might bed yours on straw which is ok for them to pick at when their net runs out provided they have plenty of water available. Mine is on shavings, so he needs a bigger net than the others as he has nothing left when that's gone.

 

[PennyJ]

Ad lib doesn't work for my lot (NF Ponies) unless there is absolutely no grass, they will literally stand there and eat themselves to a standstill then start groaning... Rather like some of us at Christmas...

so the adults get 1.5-2% of their bodyweight in hay overnight and they eat the lot, the foals get a large haynets worth which is more than enough, there is some left over the following morning. All are maintaining their condition on this. They also get a small (token)hard feed.

 

[becca1305]

my cushings boy has about 8kg of hay a night soaked if needs be in small holed hay nets. He used to stuff his face full (prior to cushings) and had none left in the morning but as he's got older he always has a little left. The others are on an ad-lib mix of hay and haylage but aren't scoffers. They have about 13/14kg for the night (they are all biggish horses) - from 4pmish to 8am. I prefer to feed adlib so they can continually graze but obviously it doesn't work for scoffers!

 

[noodle_]

And to be honest, I think you're really lucky being able to feed hay in the field - grass or no grass... you could cut that one out or move it to one of your other feeding times if you wanted if she's coming in at 3 she's really not spending very long out in the field at all...

were on individual grazing hence why i can monitor down to the strand of hay she gets

i prefer it this way - she needs individual grazing for her needs and for her health its easier for me to monitor her fat intake


If i put a round bale of hay out it would literally be gone in a couple of days

shes incredibly greedy.

 

[fidleyspromise]

I've got 2 hayhutches out so about 25kg for 2 14.2hh native ponies that are out 24/7.
I'm finidng that they're eating about 6kg of hay a day if that.

They are snuffling through the snow to find grass still and from last nights tracks, they are making their way around the paddock a lot so not staying in one place (plus I've got their hay at one end and their water at the other so they can't get too lazy).

 

[MiCsarah]

My boy has 2-3 slices a night but also picks through his straw if hes hungry still. They have plenty of grass in the field and also have a large patch of saved grass thats really long for when the snow comes or they run out

 

[only_me]

Bill gets approx 3-4 slices (nearly half a bale!!) morning and night if not going out!!
Luckily for us our hay is free this year, as thats a heck of a lot of hay

 

[SO1]

Mine lives out so he is not getting any hay at the moment as he is too fat and there is loads of grass. When there is snow he was having 2 slices of hay a day in his field. It probably took him less than two hours to eat leaving the rest of the time to dig under the snow to find the grass or standing around waiting for hay. However he does live in a huge field and has 8 companions (they shared 2 bales of hay a day in the snow spread out in lots of piles). However group living in a big field is probably more interesting than being in a stable on their own.

I would say that if your field has little grass and is mainly thick mud then that is different as horses seem to get fed up with muddy conditions.

With regard to ad lib hay this will mean different amounts for different ponies or horses. My pony is very greedy and when the herd had to come in for a night i left him 5 slices of hay thinking it would be enough to last him over night but he had ate it all and was asking for more in the morning, whereas my friends cob who is much bigger in the same field had not eaten all his three slices of hay. I think if I put a whole bale in my pony would have eaten the lot.

 

[skydancer]

Horses are trickle feeders and should have access to forage 24 / 7. My horses have as much hay as they want.

same as me

 

[Equimo]

Try a Trickle Net.

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=496786