New yard, new food…. Help!

[Struddles&Trubinsky]

I am moving my horse from full livery to DIY on a new yard and I’m hoping for some advice as to what to do regarding introducing her new haylage/feed and getting her settled.

The current yard owner controls what she eats which now we are in summer is just turnout at night, no haylage during the day. She’s not given any hard feed either but I do want to start giving her some once she’s moved yards and have consulted Baileys horse feed as to what would be best for her.

However my main concern is introducing her to the hay/haylage I want to feed her. Throughout winter she was on the current yards own cut haylage and was fine.
The new yard has offered me there hay but I was thinking of getting her the Burlybale high fibre haylage to keep her on haylage. Again the age old debate of hay or haylage is confusing and I’m happy for people’s opinions on what they would do. I used to feed my old horse hay and he was fine and was only going to try haylage as that’s what she had before.

1. Do I start to introduce the Burlybale haylage now while I’m still at the current yard? My only worry is the current yard owner will make a fuss and say no so what is my other option? Just feed her it once at the new yard?

2. Don’t worry about the haylage and get the hay instead? If she’s fussy about the hay then mix the two together?

2. When would you slowly start to introduce hard feed?

She had colic once last summer so am wanting to be as cautious as possible. i plan on keeping her in the same routine as much as possible; in during the day, out at night but I do need to consider the other horse who she is going to be sharing with so this may need to be adjusted.
The grass isn’t loads as it’s had all year turnout so I will need to feed her hay/haylage throughout the day.

Any advice of what you would do is going to be greatly appreciated, thank you!

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I think you need to decide exactly what your mare needs from her feed. I don't understand why you want to start feeding a hard feed, especially at this time of the year. If you want to give her something in a bucket so that she associates that with you, I would give a few good quality grass nuts or a handful of grass chaff, rather than any thing cereal based.

I would ask current YO if you can buy a couple of days worth of their haylage to take with you and just mix that with the new yard's hay. If you find that your mare has a problem with hay, which is unlikely if its good quality, then you could opt for bagged haylage. We have just swapped from big bale haylage to hay because of supply issues and the horses were not keen for the first few days but they have settled to it now. You would find that bagged haylage costs a huge amount more than big bales, or YO produced forage.

 

[Struddles&Trubinsky]

I think you need to decide exactly what your mare needs from her feed. I don't understand why you want to start feeding a hard feed, especially at this time of the year. If you want to give her something in a bucket so that she associates that with you, I would give a few good quality grass nuts or a handful of grass chaff, rather than any thing cereal based.

I would ask current YO if you can buy a couple of days worth of their haylage to take with you and just mix that with the new yard's hay. If you find that your mare has a problem with hay, which is unlikely if its good quality, then you could opt for bagged haylage. We have just swapped from big bale haylage to hay because of supply issues and the horses were not keen for the first few days but they have settled to it now. You would find that bagged haylage costs a huge amount more than big bales, or YO produced forage.

Thank you for your comment, her current yard has luscious grass and plenty of it currently whereas where I am moving to, doesn’t have as much, it looks like the horses previously has been turned out a lot and the grass is quite low. Therefore by introducing a small hard feed I was hoping to supplement any potential minerals being lost. I was going to give a low cal balancer with chaff and some prebiotics.

It’s a good idea re trying to purchase some of the haulage of current YO, however they did have some supply issues and so I’m not sure they would be willing to sell any. It’s worth an ask though thank you. Did you soak your hay to get them switched from the haylage? Or were yours completely fine after the first few fussy days?

Thank you

 

[mini-eventer]

So currently she stands in all day with nothing?

I would have her on hay or haylege in the day, then asses if she needs a hard feed. It is unlikely to be honest

 

[Struddles&Trubinsky]

So currently she stands in all day with nothing?

I would have her on hay or haylege in the day, then asses if she needs a hard feed. It is unlikely to be honest

@mini-eventer Thank you for your comment.

I don’t agree with a lot of what is done on this current yard hence moving our horse to a DIY yard where we can have control.
Do you use hay or haylage? I’m so torn over what to get for different reasons.

 

[Equi]

I think you’re overthinking it and panicking about being in sole charge of her feeding. Move her and don’t add any feed until she’s settled and see if she actually needs any, feed her the hay she’ll be fine on it.

 

[Struddles&Trubinsky]

I think you’re overthinking it and panicking about being in sole charge of her feeding. Move her and don’t add any feed until she’s settled and see if she actually needs any, feed her the hay she’ll be fine on it.

@Equi You’ve hit the nail on the head!!

Thank you for this, it’s the only thing we’ve gotten ourselves confused about. I needed someone to tell me straight so thank you.

 

[mini-eventer]

In summer I'd feed hay as long as you can get decent hay and can store it. She won't eat much if on grass and you might not get through haylege quick enough as it doesn't store well once opened. You can reassess if she looses any condition

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Depends on how much grass your new place has I would just get some hay rather than haylage, if she is not used to eating hay maybe wet it a bit to start with.

 

[94lunagem]

I also read your explanation as if she's standing in all day with nothing, which was going to be my first question. I can see you've suggested that is the case, and partly why you are leaving (I totally agree with that by the way, standing in all day with no access to forage is not acceptable).

I don't have anything different to add other than to agree with what has already been said. Give her hay, see how she gets on, damp it down a little if that makes you feel better to start with. Certainly do this before adding any hard feed, which you may find is not necessary, particularly at this time of year.

Also bear in mind that at the end of the day, the feed companies are salespeople as well as nutritionists and have an interest in you feeding their stuff. That isn't to say their advice is wrong, but if you do feel she needs a hard feed boost I would also approach your local feed merchants who are often very knowledgeable, and practical, themselves.

 

[Struddles&Trubinsky]

Thank you so much everyone! All of your replies have been super helpful and it’s nice to get a sounding board to confirm my thoughts. Also very helpful regarding the haylage/hay; I’m going to get the hay and see how she goes!

Thank you, one less confused horse mum!

 

[Equi]

Good luck with your move

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Thank you for your comment, her current yard has luscious grass and plenty of it currently whereas where I am moving to, doesn’t have as much, it looks like the horses previously has been turned out a lot and the grass is quite low. Therefore by introducing a small hard feed I was hoping to supplement any potential minerals being lost. I was going to give a low cal balancer with chaff and some prebiotics.

It’s a good idea re trying to purchase some of the haulage of current YO, however they did have some supply issues and so I’m not sure they would be willing to sell any. It’s worth an ask though thank you. Did you soak your hay to get them switched from the haylage? Or were yours completely fine after the first few fussy days?

Thank you

No we didn't soak the hay. I did expect them to drink more but it wasn't noticeable. Tbh, we just laughed at their reaction to hay because they did eventually eat it, just made a fuss about it. They live out 24/7 so are able to wander off in a huff and come back to it later, which they did for the first few days. They've got used to it now.
Now they are hanging over the gate into the summer grazing every time we go up there to check how the grass is coming along. Some years they would be up there by now but next door's cattle aren't out yet, so it's not just our unimproved grass that isn't long enough yet.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

I've always been DIY and gave just moved my horses from no grass, and having to feed piled of hay and loads of bucket feed to a place where we will never be short of grass!! They are still in over night so have hay still but turning out 24/7 in the next few says. I've cut all hard feed out.