How much hay/haylage do you actually feed?

[Oscar]

I was talking to someone who said her horse doesn't get enough hay on full livery, and another friend who said hers gets ad-lib but I asked how much (in weight) their horses got and they didn't know!! It got me thinking do people not know how much their horses eat and if not why not?


They are all a good weight, have fantastic glossy coats and I never have problems with vices, ulcers etc.

I weigh all my nets, as sections of small bales can vary in weight but I currently use big round bales of meadow hay but in deep winter will switch to half and half with haylage.

My horses are currently still in their summer routine so come in around lunchtime, by the time I've done hay, feeds, and waters etc. They get 8lbs of meadow hay, which is roughly equivalent to 2 slices of hay - I turn them out at around 5:30pm and generally they have eaten the 8lbs in 5hrs or so they are in. Plus they have all had a sleep in between this! And we have lots of grass!!

In the winter they are in overnight, breakfast is fed at 7am with around a 3lb net of hay/haylage. They come in around 4pm & I give them 2 huge nets that equates to around 28lbs, they get one at 4pm, then I go back around 7pm to feed, add the 2nd net and skip out. By the morning there is rarely any hay/haylage left.

I have 4 horses, they are 1 16yr old 17hh WB, 1 7yr old 17.3hh WB, 1 16.2 TBxWB, 1 3yr old 17.1hh WB, Two are ridden regularly, hacking and dressage, 1 is buggered and the other will be lightly backed in the winter.

Feed wise they only get a token feed of happy hoof, with apples and carrots as they are used to getting a feed but they dont get any mix etc as they get all they need from the hay/haylage.

 

[Mince Pie]

Mine gets two small slices of haylage in the summer when he is in during the day. When he is in at night he gets 3/4 slice of large bale haylage which is split 1/4 and 2/4. He will get the smaller net when I leave him at 5/6 and there is another livery who comes up about 9 who will put the rest in for him.

 

[joeanne]

Depends on what the horse is needing TBH.
The way I try and work it is to have SOMETHING left in the net in the morning.
My big girl gets adlib (namely as much as she can eat) where as El stupido is too much of a good dooer so gets a weighed net, which is double netted to slow him down and make his hay last.

 

[Wagtail]

I don't know what it equates to in lbs but our horses average 16 kg of haylage a day to maintain weight. I used to feed ad lib in the winter, but they all got far too fat. The haylage is very dry so would probably equate to around 20 kg of the wetter stuff. They get it in five feeds spread evenly through the day. There is no wastage.

 

[Littlelegs]

I don't go in for weighing it either. Unless its boxrest or veterinary instruction I do adlib forage on the ground, whether in or out. Both good doers, when in overnight Dec- march, 14.2 conxtb has approx 1/3 bale hay, from 6 till 6.30 am, & eats maybe a leaf of straw from her bed. Daughters 11.1 mini x gets one small bale a week, isn't at all greedy though & eats just under 2/3, mine also eats what's left with breakfast. Dependent on grass they get hay in the field Nov & April & in deep snow as out all day, again ad lib. Both worked 5/6 days a week. Feed is a handful of hifi lite for 14.2, & a spoonful for 11.1. And that's only cos the 14.2 expects it from years of competing & is in the habit of bucket feeds. Both ideal weights, & lose enough over winter for summer grass not to need restricting. Tbh, unless you can also weigh the amount your horse grazes, don't see the point in weighing the hay.

 

[Lego]

I tend to do a combination of ad lib and weighed feeding for hay. My last cob got fat on thin air, so everything was weighed and we had an almost military feeding regime much to everyones amusement...

My current cob isn't quite such a good doer, but I'm in the habit of weighing everything out so I've carried on. It means that even on adlib, I know how much he is actually eating. I can't remember where I found it, but there are all sorts of calculations for feed weight based on bodyweight that you can use as a guide; mine should get around 10kg total feed/forage. During the winter, he gets a 4 kg haynet, and 4kg on the floor. The floor hay is always gone, and 2kg of haynet left, so even on adlib, I know he eats no more than around 6kg overnight with poor winter grazing. If he's in at all in the summer, I know he gets more than enough from the grazing (c. 1kg/hr apparently), so he only gets a 2kg double-netted haynet to nibble, which he doesn't finish.

I also weigh out my feeds - and double check weights every so often to make sure I'm being consistent

Yes I am slightly special about feeding - had fatties for too long!

 

[mynutmeg]

In the winter I feed 3.5 - 4 kg a night of hay in a small holed net, I'd love to feed her more but my mare explodes weight wise. Ideally I'd feed so she had a little left in the morning, loose of the floor - this is my idea of ad lib, however she'd eat about 8kg a night and just be horrendously obese so not an option unfortunately.
Our other two just have as much as they will eat, I don't see the point in weighing out hay every night, we have a rough idea of what goes into their nets and they are decent weights. If on ad lib hay they are skinny then we add feed in but if skinny I'd rather up the hay until they're eating as much as they want and then go from there.

 

[dressageforever]

I weigh my haynets as every bale and section tend to be different weights, and when you are feeding competition horses you need to know how much they are eating - although after a while you can tell by feel when you are at the right weight by just holding the nets lol - but I still weigh to be doubly sure!

 

[Janah]

My boy is on box rest at the moment so I feed 2% of his ideal weight daily though I don't take into account his feed which is sugar free as he is barefoot.

Hay soaked for 24 hours and fed overnight. Timothy haylage fed thro' day, and 10 - 20 mins in hand grass grazing.

So far so good, fingers crossed. I need to keep him feeling full without the calories.

 

[L&M]

I weigh my hay nets - I have 2 x 15hh cobs who hunt weekly over the winter. They have 2.5% their bodyweight in forage, so have approx 8-10kg haylage depending on how much they are grazing.

If I let my lads ad lib they would be very fat, and I would be very poor!! They are fed from the floor and although there is rarely any left in the morning, hold their condition well.

 

[catwithclaws]

My poor doer mare has ad-lib haylage, a big haylage net absolutely stuffed full to the brim - no idea how much it weighs but there's always some left in the morning. I wish she was more of a pig to be honest, would be far easier to get weight on her if she was!!

 

[emma.is]

ad lib hay and a token bit of chaff to get a suppliment in her so she looses weight

 

[TicTac]

Now that the grass is dropping off my 16.3 TB gets 2 x bucket feeds a day of un-molassed chaff ( 3 sccops p/feed) 1/2 scoops nuts , speedi beet and a mineral supplement and in the evening he gets 10lb high fibre haylage as well. My 15.1 TB cross just gets 2 bucket feeds a day of un-molassed chaff ( 1 scoop) a bit of speedi beet to moisten and a mineral supplement.

Both look well with glossy dappled coats.

 

[fidleyspromise]

I put ad-lib out to mine but because it goes out to them in hay-nets (and I know each hay-nets weight), I know how much they're eating.

This year, I won't know by weight how much they're eating as they'll get a bale out for them to eat 24/7. I am lucky that they aren't greedy so I don't need to only give them x amount.

 

[TandD]

ad-lib haylage all the way! with two tb's they can eat as much as they like! i tend to judge how much goes in the stable though. 2 very full stuffed single wheeled wheelbarrows for each horse tends to get them through the night if the grazing's poor/ok

i prefer to have them with slightly to much weight on, as its easier to get rid of it rather than put it on! so id rather see haylage on the floor at the end of the night, instead of a clear floor.