How much hay would you feed?

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debradley

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I have just swapped over from small bales to large ones. The problem I have is I used to feed my horse who's 15.2 IDX but not overly big two small slices overnight; and the pony 14.1 WelshD barrel one slice.

My problem is that the slices in the large bales are enormous and I can't judge, so need to go over to weighing the nets.

I was thinking of maybe 8lbs for the ID and 6lbs for the pony. Do you think I'd be about right there or am I way out? It's only for overnight in there stables. They have loads of grass available to them in the day.
 
Hi if you look in the vet section I posted an update yesterday; but thank you for asking she's doing really well.

I can't feed ad lib hay to Honey because she's proved in the past that she can actually go through a single bale in day along with 35kgs of hard feed!! She's an eating machine and I was walking her for hours after that episode. So her idea of adlib is stuff as much as you can into your mouth and keep going!
 
8lbs really doesn't sound much for an ID. I've got a 16.2 ID & at night he gets 3 or 4 slices off a big square bale (fills 3 large nets). There's nearly always a bit left in the morning but that just goes to the Sec D dustbin the next night! Ok he's on poor grazing & doesn't get a lot of hard feed but that is an awful lot more than 8lbs - when he was on small bales he was getting nearly a bale a night. He is a cribber though so I do like to have food always available & prefer that the bulk of his diet is fibre.

If you do have to restrict hay can you double net it in haylage nets so that it lasts longer?
 
I give about 5 sections of a small bale a night, what would that work out weight wise then?? Know sections vary in size but on average what do you think??
 
I once worked on a yard where all the haynets were weighed religously.
They mainly got 8 - 9 lbs to last them all night, one horse got 11 lbs and one poor cob mare only got 6 lbs of hay to last her all night
frown.gif
she ate it all in about 1 hour though.

Funny thing is they all looked great!
 
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along with 35kgs of hard feed!!

[/ QUOTE ]

a day??

shocked.gif
I hope that's a typo!!
 
In the summer I worked at a yard where all the nets were weighed every day. The 11hh welsh pony had 6lb, anything up to 14.2 had 10lb, the 15.2s had 12lb and anything bigger had 14lb. None of them had anything left in the morning and I think if they were mine I would have been giving them a bit more each.
 
When Merlin was living in I used to put half a bale a day in the box and that used to last him all the time he wasnt turned out (which was most of the time.... very restricted turnout).

Now I put 2 sections a day out for him and there was still some left today.... although he wasnt in his own half of the field again today.... can only assume he jumped out before finishing yesterdays!!!
 
I have a 16.3 tb and he gets half bale of hay a night!!!2 slices for a 15.2 i/d sounds like a small amount to me.....however....do not know the horse etc....how much hard feed do you give???If not in hard work...as much hay as they can eat providing they are not likely to turn into beach whales,lol!!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
along with 35kgs of hard feed!!

[/ QUOTE ]

a day??

shocked.gif
I hope that's a typo!!

[/ QUOTE ]
Me too!!!!Walking for a month wouldnt have cured that one!!!
crazy.gif
 
She got into the feed store and helped herself in one sitting, when I got to the field in the afternoon she looked like a balloon! I couldn't believe how much she'd managed to eat. Vet had me walking her around for hours and hours to prevent collick. Luckily she didn't get it, I don't know how.
 
Thanks for all your guidance. I think I'll take it up to about 10-12lbs for the ID she's not really built like one just eats like one and the pony, well she's a real barrel so will stick with 6-8lbs for her. Guess once I get it weight properly and see how much it actually looks like, I'll be able to tell a bit more. Thks for your help.
 
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