How much hay should I feed my horse overnight?

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Pooley22

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So I have a very good doer that's a 15.2 cob, he is currently weighing in at 580kg on the weigh tape which is way too much!
He is out on restricted grazing for 7-8 hours in the day with a muzzle on (when he doesn't get it off 😑) and comes in at night. I am aiming to feed him 8.7kg of forage a day in order for him to lose weight, but have no idea how much grass he is eating so don't know how much hay I should give him overnight? He also gets a small feed when he comes in of spillers lo-cal balancer and chaff. TIA ☺
 
One haynet should be enough. I would double net to make sure it lasts longer. Maybe mix in some straw aswell? Not good with weights sorry!
 
It is almost impossible to calculate the amount of grass they eat . the TOTAL DRY MATTER they should eat per day is betwean 1.5 and 2.5 % of their ideal body weight. Glad you are feeding a balancer. Try to find some hay that was cut a bit late and is a bit woody,whilst still smelling clean . Threshed ryegrass hay is good if it is clean .( This is the hay from grass grown for a seed crop.)
 
I currently give him a large greedy feeder net with small holes but there is always some left in the morning and he isn't losing weight so I'm guessing it's too much! And I live on a farm and just use the hay we produce ourselves so don't have much choice on that front! 😕
 
What is the weight of his current net? Maybe reduce it by 1/3 - 1/2 kg and see if it's all gone, straw has fewer calories than hay but does still have some, perhaps top the net up with straw also try soaking as suggested (2-3hrs takes the majority of calories out but leaves a bit more goodness in).
 
I'd soak it and use a greedy feeder net, he still needs plenty of forage, but not the calories. I always aim for some left over in the morning.
 
I wouldn't soak it, it can go rancid in the centre of the net very quickly. I'd follow the 1.5% body weight rule (for a good doer) and split that 50% hay and 50% straw. Alternatively, instead of straw feed the same weight of the lowest calorie chop you can find. It has been proved that it takes longer to eat a pound of chop than a pound of hay.
 
Mine would get ad lib hay and straw mixed together, roughly 60:40 spilt straw to hay. That way he doesn't binge eat because he can see loads of food and never runs out, and it takes him a while as he tends to sift the hay from the straw and that slows him right down.
 
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