how much haylage??

[BobbyMondeo]

If i were to keep my horse in 12-14 hours overnight in the winter how much haylage would i need to feed him in order to keep him happy but not put too much weight on (he gains weight off of fresh air)

He is 15.3hh Anglo Arab...not sure how much he weighs as i dont have a weigh tape or anything...so difficult to know much to feed him.

I have never used haylage before so i am completely clueless about it!! So any advice/ help/ exmples with similar horses would be great

Thanks in advance

 

[L&M]

The general rule is that a horse needs 2.5 % of its bodyweight in forage daily. If you can borrow/buy a weigh tape that would give you a better idea of what weight to feed.

My horse is 15hh and weighs approx 500kgs so requires 12.5kgs of forage. Therefore in the winter I allow him approx 8-10kgs of haylage overnight, with grass and hard feed making up the rest.

Hope that helps!

 

[BobbyMondeo]

makes sence, so if i had half a big bale....asuming it didnt go off, how long would that last me?

 

[seoirse]

We use 1 big bale a week in the depths of winter, this is shared between 2 x 16.3 warmbloods, my 15hh native and my Mums 13.1hh pony.

 

[BobbyMondeo]

We use 1 big bale a week in the depths of winter, this is shared between 2 x 16.3 warmbloods, my 15hh native and my Mums 13.1hh pony.

And is that with them being turned out all day and in a night ?

 

[Warmblood39]

best haylage is the small green bags x

 

[BobbyMondeo]

best haylage is the small green bags x

Unfortunately i cannot get those, has to be bought from the yard and they do 1 tonne bales or you can just order half a tonne.

 

[seoirse]

And is that with them being turned out all day and in a night ?

Last winter that was with them being out 24/7 as the 2 big ones were turned away as the owner had a baby and mine winter out anyway. The grazing is poor in the winter at our place so they were hayed twice a day and probably ate more as they were out and it was such a vicious winter!

 

[BobbyMondeo]

Ok, as you might be able to tell i am panicing !!!!

Considering moving yards, trying to work out all the costs....cant feed hay as it is ridiculously priced (£90 for a big bale)

how heavy are the bales you get?

 

[seoirse]

Not 100% sure but I remember the farmer I bought them from saying they were about 220-250kgs each. They were the big rectangular bales. I'm not sure how much the square ones and the round ones weigh.

 

[seoirse]

I should add, we paid £30 per bale, and just split the cost 4 ways per horse, even though ours were smaller, it made it easier to calculate and meant we could all use as much as we wanted. So we paid £7.50 per week to feed our horses through the worst winter of my lifetime, which frankly was a bargain. Mine didn't get any hard feed either other than a handful for vitamins and joint sups and they both came out of winter looking amazing, as did the 2 big boys who'd never wintered out.

 

[BobbyMondeo]

These bales are apparently 1 tonne each....but i dont see how, they must be huge..

Gah its all so confusing and stressful

 

[seoirse]

In the depths of winter it does keep for ages, sometimes 2 weeks if the weather is very cold and providing you can keep it dry. How much do they want to charge you for a half bale and can you not share it with someone else? If we didn't share with the 2 big horses we'd have to have small bale haylage, or my horse would have haylage and our pony would have hay if that worked out cheaper. We only feed big bale as there are enough of us to share it and use it before it goes off. I just looked and we had 27 bales last winter, starting on 20th October and the last one came on 25th March, so that worked out at just over a bale a week, though I guess in the worst part we were using it faster than each side of the winter.
Good luck with it. You are very sensible thinking about it now and have prompted me to call our supplier and make sure we can have some next winter!!

 

[BobbyMondeo]

they charge £45 per bale, but you can order it in halves which is £22.50 hopefully the half wouldnt go off..though all the others at the yard seem to manage so im guessing it doesnt

 

[joeanne]

These bales are apparently 1 tonne each....but i dont see how, they must be huge..

Gah its all so confusing and stressful

No not overly huge...but remember that hay weighs less per volume as its been pretty well dried out. And with haylage you need to feed 15% more than hay to take into account the water volume.

 

[BobbyMondeo]

No not overly huge...but remember that hay weighs less per volume as its been pretty well dried out. And with haylage you need to feed 15% more than hay to take into account the water volume.

Yeah i did not think of that! Like i said i have always just fed hay....completely clueless about haylage and its inner workings =P

 

[Honey08]

You definately need to order half bales if it is just for you - even better if you can still share, as it is best if you can use it within a week to ten days. One big bale did our two big horses and two ponies for a week to ten days - mostly stabled and out in the day if mud rash permitted. Once you get used to it, its easy to work with, so don't panic. Will you have somewhere to store it undercover?

 

[BobbyMondeo]

yes plenty of storage space, all undercover so that isnt a problem

So how long would half the bale last 1 horse assuming it stays fresh ?

 

[Honey08]

A couple of weeks at least. Speak to some of the people that use it on your yard - they'd be the best guide really if they are already using it.

I always weighed my nets when I used haylage. I hung a spring suitcase weigher in the hay shed.

 

[BobbyMondeo]

Ok, thanks a lot

 

[JanetGeorge]

Unfortunately i cannot get those, has to be bought from the yard and they do 1 tonne bales or you can just order half a tonne.

1 tonne bales!!! I think they're pulling your chain! The biggest square/rectangular bales I've EVER seen are under 300kg - average is about 200kg

I currently have some LARGE round bales of hay - they are about 300kg (doesn't stop my 4 x 3 year old geldings polishing one off in 3 days!)

 

[L&M]

Our big bales are approx 300kg, so if you base usage on 10kg per day per horse, the bale would last 30 days for 1 horse (but not advised as likely to have gone off by then!!).

Therefore if you have half a bale it should last your horse approx 15 days, which is feasible if you separate the sections out and let it dry rather than ferment...

Hope that helps!

 

[mainpower]

I use these on my yard and as a "guesstimate" to help you this is what they're fed per week;
13.2 porky section C, has had laminitis, 14.2 Welsh/Tb porky (neither get ridden) share 1/3 bale
15hh Welsh/Tb in medium work, 15hh Welsh/ID 4yo in very light work, but growing still, share 1/2 bale week.
17.3 Tb/ID in medium work 1/2 bale a week.
We don't weigh, as the bales differ in wetness, so feed more by eye. They are stabled overnight and also have some before turnout in the morning.
Grazing is quite poor so maybe I feed more than most.
And I think (correct me if I'm wromg, anyone who knows) that you can't get 1 tonne haylage bales as you can't get the machinery big enough to wrap them!