Is haylage lacking anything?

[carthorse]

As I have purchased excellent quality haylage and the horses love it more than their hard feed, I thought the yearling and ponies could just have that through the winter but is it lacking in anything. The two comp. horses will still have their two feeds a day but thinking of changing [ slowly] to just a mix and unmolassed sugar beet instead of their complete alfa and mix and oil that they are on[ which is quite expensive] Any thoughts?

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

I'd add just the vits and mins that you would give during the summer when neds are on good grass.

 

[Donkeymad]

All the vits/mins/trace elements that grass lacks. Just need add a multi vit supplement.

 

[Llwyncwn]

It depends on the conditions where the haylage was harvested and what has been used to fertilise and feed the ground. For example, our land is surrounded by old coal mines which are no longer in use, but over the years essential minerals and trace elements have been taken away/washed away which means that the area where we live is difficient of magnesium, zinc, selenium etc. I feed a good quality vit/min suppliment which has raised levels of these ingredients (Equivite) to ensure my neds get what they need. You could have a sample of your haylage analysed to find out for sure if there are enough vits to feed alone.