How much haylage?

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alcraw

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This is my first attempt at keeping a horse stabled and I'm not sure how much she should be eating!!! She's used to living out with ad-lib forage, but I put her in for her first full day today (8am - 6pm). She'd scoffed everything, and I'm not sure how long she'd been without any food.

I want to make sure I'm not leaving her hungry, so how much haylage would you leave for a 14.2 cob, good doer, slightly on the round side, no other hard feed?
 
If she is a good doer and slightly 'chunky' ;) then I would give about 1/4 a large slice in a double haynet. Cobs are very good at eating quickly as a rule - I always think of them as the labradors of the horse world! Obviously this is dependant on how much grass you have.
 
Oh god, I left her with 2 slices... she's conned me well and truly!!! I thought it was loads this morning, then tonight there was nothing left and she was properly showing off like she'd been starved all day!! Lol!

She's got a fixed manger thing on her stable wall... I might have to start doing haynets instead to keep her busy for longer.
 
Oh, no, of a normal small bale!!! And it was 3 slices, I knocked one off when you only said a quarter!!! Phew.

Sorry, I now sound like a complete idiot, but she's always been out since I've had her, on grass or helping herself from a large bale shared with 5 others, so I genuinely don't know how much she eats. I'm learning fast though!
 
The best thing i,ve found for slowing nas down is an elim-a-net, normal haynets he just scoffs the lot as quick as if its in the hay bar...

Is there anyway you can spread it out through the day, because ours spend a lot of time in during the day, they get buckets throughout the day.

A 25kg bag of haylage lasts NAS 3.5days I have to really ration it.
 
Oh genie! Yes that should be fine for her if it's about the size of a slice of small bale hay. As I said if you double net it it will last longer.
 
alcraw said:
This is my first attempt at keeping a horse stabled and I'm not sure how much she should be eating!!! She's used to living out with ad-lib forage, but I put her in for her first full day today (8am - 6pm). She'd scoffed everything, and I'm not sure how long she'd been without any food.

I want to make sure I'm not leaving her hungry, so how much haylage would you leave for a 14.2 cob, good doer, slightly on the round side, no other hard feed?
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Is she going out at night? If she is in 24 hrs then I would feed 10 - 12 kg haylage but split into very small portions. Ideally 6 times a day, though I know this is not possible if you do not live on site. I think the recommended amounts tend to be on the mean side.
 
broke_but_happy said:
Bear in mind Wagtail that the horse sounds like it could lose weight.
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Halage weighs more than hay for the same amount of dry matter. So you need to feed more weight of haylage than you would hay. I have a 14 hh cob on the yard who is a good doer and he would lose weight on 10 - 12 kg of haylage if he was getting nothing else.
 
I've always fed the same weight haylege as hay - although it weighs heavier because of the moisture content, it also has a much higher calorific value, so it levels itself out. I don't like feeding haylege for that reason, they get through it much quicker. But it's kinder in the long run to let them go hungry for a few hours than to overfeed and risk laminitis. My 14.1 cob would hold her weight with 10 kilos a day.
 
Wagtail said:
Halage weighs more than hay for the same amount of dry matter. So you need to feed more weight of haylage than you would hay. I have a 14 hh cob on the yard who is a good doer and he would lose weight on 10 - 12 kg of haylage if he was getting nothing else.
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Yes but the horse is also in the field for 14 hours. I'm not sure where the OP is but even here we have had a decent grass growth recently with the rain we've had in the last 2 weeks.
 
Thanks for the replies. Yes, my horse is out overnight and there is grass in the field so she's getting plenty. And yes, it wouldn't hurt for her to lose a bit a bit of weight - she not massively fat by any means, just a little rounder than I'd like!

Doesn't sound like I cruelly starved her yesterday then... I will start using nets though to slow down her eating. Had a look at the elim-a-nets. They look really good but seem to be out of stock everywhere atm. Will definitely give them I try when I can get hold of one!
 
You can slow down the gobble rate by only using small mesh hay-nets and doubling one inside the other, one medium hay-net should be about right, weigh it and then you can adjust the amount given, it is better to keep the pony a bit slim than too fat, ask feed-room for a weight tape, then you can check every week on progress. If you are doing a lot of riding, and she is losing more than 5 kilograms per week , or looks too ribby, give her a small feed [under a kilo] to provide vitamins and minerals.
If she is in to lose weight you can soak the hay for an hour to remove some sugars, but this will also remove mins and vits.
For a 14.00 cob you really want to keep the guts moving rather than anything else, and of course keep laminitis at bay.
She sounds as though she will compensate for any insufficiancy as soon as you turn her out to grass at night.
 
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broke_but_happy said:
Yes but the horse is also in the field for 14 hours. I'm not sure where the OP is but even here we have had a decent grass growth recently with the rain we've had in the last 2 weeks.
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That is why I asked if horse was in 24 hours as my advice was for a horse kept entirely on haylage. We have had plenty of rain here too, but sadly, the grass has not responded too well and so the horses are on around 10 kg haylage per day WITH 24 hr turnout and they are all in tip top condition, not gaining or losing weight. The cob I referred to, however, only has 5 kg whilst out 24/7 on poor grass.
 
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