How Much Haylege should be fed

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There is a 16hh over weight cob on the yard i run and she doesn’t weigh her nets. I charge a fixed amount per week for however much haylege is used but the owner seems to think that she should feed adlib. I have weighed her nets and over a full day she is feeding between 10 - 15kg at night and a further 2 nets of 5-7kg totaling between 20 - 30kg per day of haylege.

We have all tried to advise her that she is over feeding but she wont listen the horses isn’t eating it all and most of it ends on the muck heap, she also gives her 2 feeds a day.

I have a 18HH ish and he doesn’t get anywhere near as much as this 16hh h/w cob.

How do i broach this with her, as i am so worried about this horse?

Does anyone know the recommended amount of haylege per day? I think she might listen to facts and figures….
 
mmm , well if the horse is overweight & alot is being wasted i would certainly say something , i hate waste & any animal being overfed by an owner , unfortunately i find if people are on a fixed price alot will happily be wateful whereas if they pay for what they use they are more economical

however weight wise i tend to ignore , my 16.3 warmblood is currently eating about 30kg of haylage a day & has 2 hard feeds, wastes none & has actually dropped a little weight over the winter
 
I think the rate of forage per day (grass, chaff and hay) is 1.5 % of the body weight therefore a 500KG horse should be fed 7.5KG if my maths are right and a 600KG horse 9KG. The most important thing to remember about feeding haylage is that haylage contains twice as much water as hay therefore a horse weighing in at 500kg should be fed 15KG a day (double the amount recommended for hay) which equates to about 33 pounds per day. I was feeding my 17.1hh WB gelding who is approx 620KG about 32pounds in weight which was approx 14KG and he seemed to maintain his weight on that. Are you sure you are not getting LBS (pounds) mixed with kilos (KG)? 30KG is a colossal amount to feed a horse that size and type.
 
Are you sure you are not getting LBS (pounds) mixed with kilos (KG)? 30KG is a colossal amount to feed a horse that size and type.

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I wish i was nope it is definitely kg and is a huge amount she has all this with 4 hours turnout on grass and 2 hard feeds all be it hi-fi light and eco mix.
 
Oh well good luck on try to broach the subject with her. I don't envy you. No wonder her horse is fat. I hate seeing horses without anything to pick at as much from the physical side as the mental side, but there is a balance between that and feeding too much.
 
I think the issue here is the waste - it's really up to her how much she feeds. And many people like their horses to have something in front of them pretty much all the time.

The yard I am at presently, and my previous yard, also charge flat rate for haylage - regardless of how much you use. However waste will not be tollerated. At my previous yard any one found to be chucking haylage away was informed that their haylage bill would be going up accordingly. So - if someone was chucking away hay ever day, their bill went £1.00 a day.

It soon stopped.
 
Thanks for all your advice.

AmyMay - that is a good idea i think that might work because we all try and keep the cost down.... I agree it is up to her how much she feeds and i hate people interfering but if she wasn’t feeding the horse at all and it was in poor health i think we would all have something to say about it but when it is the other way round and the horse is dangerously over weight what do you do?????
 
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the horse is dangerously over weight what do you do?????

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Call the RSPCA - it's classed as abuse.
 
we are in a similar situation at the moment! charge flat rate for haylage, one livery explained how she felt she was using a lot less than the others at the start of the winter, so we agreed to charge slightly less (we charge less for ponies also) anyway, we have been keeping an eye on it and she is now feeding more than the biggest horses on the yard, we have today mentioned it and she said she thought she wasnt feeding enough! needless to say, she isnt happy she will have to pay the same as the horse owners but thats the way it is.
 
I have to say, when the flat rate was introduced at my old yard (after the introduction of big bale haylage, rather than bales of hay) there was much muttering about how unfair it was.

But actually, as a customer, I do far better out of it than when I was buying bales of hay. I pay £7.00 for as much as I want. If I was using hay I would be going through (quite probably) around 4 or 5 bales a week.

People simply don't realise how lucky they are and what an economical way to feed (for them) it is.
 
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Are you sure you are not getting LBS (pounds) mixed with kilos (KG)? 30KG is a colossal amount to feed a horse that size and type.

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I wish i was nope it is definitely kg and is a huge amount she has all this with 4 hours turnout on grass and 2 hard feeds all be it hi-fi light and eco mix.

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Blimey, that's something like 66lbs! Nearly three small bales!
 
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