How much hay?

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kat2290

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How much hay would you put out each day for two mini Shetlands? They are 8months old and live out 24/7, they are in a 1.5 acre field which is in good condition, still plenty of grass cover however the quality of the grass is poor and very short in places. I would say it has very little nutrient value. They have been getting a handful of unmollassed chop in the evening with some supplements added however I may either stop this or reduce it as they are looking a tad too round.
Thanks :)
 
My section a gets 2 haynets a day each with 2 cakes in. So about half a bale a day. I think I'd be inclined for two living out to put down a full bale once a day and see how they go on and up/lower it from that :) I like for mine to never run out.
 
There is no way I would give two mini shetlands a bale of hay a day, my hay weighs on average 4lbs a fold and has 10 folds to a bale. That would be about 20lbs each. My 500Kg arab gets that!

I would think that a fold each morning and night would be plenty. If every scrap is gone then maybe up it. I have three small ponies (bigger than mini shetlands)- two standard shetlands and a miniature horse. They all get a fold each morning and night.
 
Mine has 8 cakes, as I'd just said in a roundabout way about how 2 cakes twice a day being half a bale. IMO 8 cakes for two presumably naked ponies out 24/7 in this weather isn't bad.
 
kat2290 said:
How much hay would you put out each day for two mini Shetlands? They are 8months old and live out 24/7, they are in a 1.5 acre field which is in good condition, still plenty of grass cover however the quality of the grass is poor and very short in places. I would say it has very little nutrient value. They have been getting a handful of unmollassed chop in the evening with some supplements added however I may either stop this or reduce it as they are looking a tad too round.
Thanks :)
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How do you know that the quality is poor? Have you had it analysed? If they are portly enough for you to think about removing their token chaff feed then I would suggest that they don't need much hay at all if any. A flap each at night time at the most!
 
Do they seem hungry? Are they waiting at the gate hoping for food? If they look in good condition and don't seem hungry, I would start by giving them a very basic amount, say 2 kilos between them, and increase if and as necessary. I have two horses out 24/7, one 20 yr old Arab and one 9 yr old Welsh, and they only have 4-5 kilos of hay split between them per day. There is plenty of grass in their field and, although it is obviously quite poor given the time of year, they don't come in from the field hungry, they are never waiting at the gate, and they are both holding their weight fine. Don't feed hay just because you feel like you should - feed it because they need it.
 
perhaps give 2.5 % of body weight to start with and see how they get on.
off the top of my head i would suggest 20 lbs or 9 kg for them to share??? perhaps a bit less if the grass is good.

dont quote me on this,its a quickie :)
 
To be honest I have no idea if the grass has little nutritional value, I have just come to that conclusion from the way it looks and the time of year. It's colour has gone and it now has a distinctly brown tinge. I may be totally wrong but it just doesn't look nutritious anymore like it did a few months ago.
They don't seem overly hungry, they never hang around at the gate waiting for me but as soon as I come in the field they will come straight over and hang around. I can't tell from this whether they are actually hungry or just expecting food.

I have been giving them about one slice each morning and night , however quite a lot has been wasted so I wondered if I was giving them too much. They seem to be quite fussy with it and won't eat the hay that has become wet from rain, or if its been lying on the ground for a couple of days, even if they don't have any fresh stuff they won't eat the old stuff.

I guess I am answering my own questions here, if they were really hungry they would be eating the scraps!
 
If they are 'a tad too round' I wouldn't give them any - until they looked like they needed some from a weight perspective.
Spring will be here in 2 months so you only have that short time to get their weight really down or you'll spend all summer with them in on soaked hay/ muzzles etc.
I personally like them to come into spring a little on the lean side so the spring grass doesn't immediately make them fat!

My boy has a bale a day but he's 17hh, 19 y/o clipped and on this amount his weight has not changed.
 
shetlands are `designed` to live on very sparce fare.
i feel that if they were hungry they would eat the scraps.
from what you say,i would be inclined to give them 2 slices a day between them and up 1 more in a cold spell. agree with polomum too
 
If they are not eating it I wouldnt give it to them they can quite happily live on grass, and it sounds like you have plenty in your field for them, its just a waste of money if there not eating it.
 
Probably a slice each a day split into two feeds. I think they are probably having too much right now as they are well rounded and are not eating it all up.
 
Does anybody have any idea what they would weigh? I've just put the weight tape round them and for one it says 70kg and the other slightly taller one it says 80kg - I don't think they are this heavy though. I'm sure I'm using the tape correctly and it is a pony one but perhaps because they're so small it is giving an inaccurate reading?
Just want to know their weight so I can do the percentage calculation :)
 
My grass sounds like yours and I strip graze my sec D every day onto some fresh brown/green stuff...but he wont be getting any hay unless we have so much snow he has to dig for grass. He is looking 'well' and un-rugged so I go on the rule of thumb that he does not need extra hay if maintaining his weight and not looking hungry.
If your two are not eating all the hay put out for them I would cut it back by half and see how they and you go. Weigh tape weekly to monitor changes.
 
The difficulty with percentage calculations is working out how much they are getting from the grazing.
I find weight tapes most useful to monitor changes, if you do it every week/ two weeks you can see whether weight is going up or down and change their feed/ hay accordingly.
 
showjump123 said:
Reading this isn't it funny what everyone calls there hay!!
folds, cakes, flaps, sections, There's all sorts off names Haha
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Ha ha yeah I was thing 'wtf is a cake of hay?'. :D

Their field is plenty big enough for them, if they lose condition or start to look cold and hungry then give a section each at night and monitor from there. I don't think they need the extra feed but they will happily eat it.
 
Our 11.1 mini x gets through a small bale a week when stabled at night, approx the same when out. They are decent size small bales though, but late cut so not rich. She loses just enough weight over winter on this amount. However, she is a very good doer who is not food orientated, so the bale is feeding ad lib. If she was a greedy type, I'd allow her a little more & pad it out with straw too. She ate the same from being a yearling when she was tiny, but obviously needed more to grow, & at first she really needed the weight.
 
Polos Mum said:
If they are 'a tad too round' I wouldn't give them any - until they looked like they needed some from a weight perspective.
Spring will be here in 2 months so you only have that short time to get their weight really down or you'll spend all summer with them in on soaked hay/ muzzles etc.
I personally like them to come into spring a little on the lean side so the spring grass doesn't immediately make them fat!

My boy has a bale a day but he's 17hh, 19 y/o clipped and on this amount his weight has not changed.
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This ^^ - I was beginning to feel that i was completly mad and for a young, fit healthy unworked animal with access to 24 hour grazing I wouldn't give anything. Horses are designed to go from feast to famine - and that is why now days so many horse suffer from laminitus in later life - we don;t let their metabolism do it's job.
 
I wouldn't be giving them anything. Our Shetland had a 5lb hay net each night but she shared under an acre with another horse and had a hours hack/schooling 6 days a week.
 
Thanks everyone, lots of interesting replies! Tonight I've left them with just the scraps on the floor and the grass so I'll see how they are in the morning. If you don't hear back from me you can assume I've been mowed down by a pair of ravenous minis :D
 
Our two minis are in at night and have one fold in a Haynet between them. There is always a bit left in the night in the mornings.
Out during day on reasonable grass but I figure that if less than one fold is all they eat between 4 pm and 7 am, then they don't eat a lot!
 
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