loose poo on rich haylage

AnnaL

AnnaL

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 February 2009
Messages
87
Visit site
My rising 3yo friesian gelding is a very good doer, fed on adlib haylage, and his tea's consist of a ration of baileys lo-cal balancer and a bit of hi-fi for bulk.

He's absolutely fine on normal haylage but the stuff we've got in at the moment is beautiful stuff- and his poo's go loose on it. not full on diarrhoea, just looser than normal and you can see the effect on his bed- nightmare to muck out!

He's obviously not bothered by his loose poos but it bothers me- have tried him on pink powder and he's still loose (although not sure how loose he'd be if i stopped this altogether)

Wondering about NAF's haylage balancer although have heard a lot of horses can put on extraordinary amounts of weight on that and he's already on the round side.

Suggestions? (switching to hay not really an option due to provision on our yard)
 
I also have a friesian with the same prob! Involves plaited tail and daily leg washing not to mention the state of his fillet string.
All depends on the haylage bale we are munching through. I've tried the naff balancer with no noticeable effect also expensive - have got him on some carob flour much cheaper - which may be working but not totally sure as another horse with same prob has also improved at the same time.
After browsing online, some people have had good results from a cup of regular flour! He already has bran to help, but must admit I always worry about adding stuff in case it causes colic.:confused: Will watch this thread to see if anyone can recommend a solution!
 
Lollii said:
I have doubled the dose of pink powder for one of my liveries because of the same problem, it has worked so far :)
Click to expand...

Tried this- works to an extent but he's still loose. He'll be fine when he's out on grass again for summer but I would like a solution that works because i suspect he'll be the same on the lovely haylage next winter.

I suppose i should be grateful we get such beautiful stuff as some haylage can be awful!!
 
Im in the process of mixing my own digestive supplement, I had some success with haylage balancer but my mare hated all the powder, at the mo she is on the Dengie one which I have had to double the dose but still is quite loose it does not help she is also on box rest so no doctor green.

I have brought all the seperate components, yea sacc 1026, brewers yeast and plain flour and im going to play with the levels to find out which ratio works best for her as will work out much cheaper.
 
splash30 said:
Im in the process of mixing my own digestive supplement, I had some success with haylage balancer but my mare hated all the powder, at the mo she is on the Dengie one which I have had to double the dose but still is quite loose it does not help she is also on box rest so no doctor green.

I have brought all the seperate components, yea sacc 1026, brewers yeast and plain flour and im going to play with the levels to find out which ratio works best for her as will work out much cheaper.
Click to expand...

Let me know how this goes!!

I've just bought baileys digest plus- will see if this suits him! If not, never mind, but worth a try!
 
The scouring is likely to be caused by high sugars in the haylage (coupled with the spring grass starting to come through!). A cheaper solution than adding all these extra supplements would be to soak some of the sugars out of the haylage in plenty of fresh water.
 
HelsB said:
The scouring is likely to be caused by high sugars in the haylage (coupled with the spring grass starting to come through!). A cheaper solution than adding all these extra supplements would be to soak some of the sugars out of the haylage in plenty of fresh water.
Click to expand...

Hi, i agree with HelsB, it is the sugars that cause most of the "poo problems" soaking is a good option. Changing to hay as you said isnt an option but whilst it is good haylage (luck you!) can you add some hay? It may work out cheaper in the long run than buying powders different remedies? I too worry about adding too many suppliments.
 
I take your point but all supplements are being gradually changed over and I've worked it out so he's never getting more vitamins than he should be.

Will try soaking.
 
I now feed yeasacc 1026,and half a scoop of bran and limestone flour works for mine and also try brewers yeast . haylage balancer did not work for him.
 
I too had this problem with my grey horse!!! I had him on Naf pink powder but it didn't seem to work so I then tried him on Naf Thrive (after seeing the effect it had on a horse at livery at the yard) and it def worked a treat on both mine and the other horse, he had one tup of this then went back on to pink powder (mainly because I ordered the wrong thing on ebay!) and touch wood he has been fine since! I spoke to my vet about it and he said the Thrive may have settled the problem then the pick powder can then take affect properly! Id def recommend it after seeing the results on mine and another horse :)!
 
I saw on here (somewhere) that plain flour did the trick - they didn't say what quantities - I have used it successfully on my 3 and they also now have brewers yeast instead of the haylage balancer/pink powders. I give them a 50ml plastic spoonful of the flour if they are loose, until they firm up (usually the same day) and 10ml of brewers yeast. I don't use the flour very often (only if loose) but give B Y every day now. They all seem happy.
 
Protexin Bio Premium is great stuff for horses that have really bad scouring.

When I had my mare she used to have the same problem and i found she was normal on soaked hay and just couldn't take to eating haylage.
 
Hi guys-

thank you so much for the advice. have lots of options to try.

The baileys digest plus actually seems to be working- watch this post! Theres no vits/mins as such in it, its a purely pro/prebiotic and yeast based formula-- fingers crossed.

If not, think i will try the flour and yeasacc/brewers yeast idea. Thank you suenroux for the quantities!
 
HelsB said:
The scouring is likely to be caused by high sugars in the haylage (coupled with the spring grass starting to come through!). A cheaper solution than adding all these extra supplements would be to soak some of the sugars out of the haylage in plenty of fresh water.
Click to expand...

Just to pick up on one point - the preservation of haylage involves fermenting the sugar in the grass, so the sugar is almost all used up, and correctly made haylage will have <3% sugar left (far less than hay) so it will not be the sugars causing the problem - soaking will therefore have no effect on sugar levels. If the haylage in not correctly made, you will have far worse problems than sugar levels to worry about!
 
Just to update those who are interested- the baileys digest plus has completely cleared the problem up.

100% normal.

Interesting how different products work for different horses- hope the effect of this will last as it's been so successful!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top