Numpty question about haylege

[LaurenBay]

I've recently started giving Ruby haylege, it's much easier to get hold of where I'm from and loads cheaper. However because she is a good doer I am using 50/50 hay and haylege so going through less hay saving money. She does get a cough though, So I wet her hay. Which stops the cough.

So the question is, can I wet the haylege too? by wet I don't mean soak. It will be wetted with the hose then put in her stable straight away.

 

[abitodd]

Theorectically haylage should be moist and dust free. However if you are worried or its very dry I don't think hosing it would be a problem.

 

[forestfantasy]

You shouldn't need to wet the haylage as its less dusty than hay and slightly damp (unless you have very dry, hay-like haylage) but i don't see any reason why you cant!

 

[Magnetic Sparrow]

I have had slightly dusty hay-like haylage and soaked it. I too can't see a reason why you can't wet it down if required.

 

[Rainbow01]

Im guessing you'll be wetting the haylage as it will be in the same hay net as your hay? I see youre feeding half and half.

I feed half and half and in actually fact my horse soaks his hay and haylege for me! Every single bite he eats he dunks it first in his water bucket and it hasnt ever done him any harm so wetting it before hand I cant see being a problem!

 

[Paddy Irish]

I may be wrong ( usually am) but i'm sure that i've been told that hay has far more nutrient value than haylage , which obviously contains more water than hay , so do you really need to feed half and half , could you not just do 100% haylage now?

 

[LaurenBay]

Im guessing you'll be wetting the haylage as it will be in the same hay net as your hay? I see youre feeding half and half.

I feed half and half and in actually fact my horse soaks his hay and haylege for me! Every single bite he eats he dunks it first in his water bucket and it hasnt ever done him any harm so wetting it before hand I cant see being a problem!

Yes, The haylege is good quality. But the hay needs to be wetted first otherwise she coughs.

Thanks

 

[LaurenBay]

I may be wrong ( usually am) but i'm sure that i've been told that hay has far more nutrient value than haylage , which obviously contains more water than hay , so do you really need to feed half and half , could you not just do 100% haylage now?

I thought it was the other way round?

Ruby is a good doer so I was worried about feeding only haylege as I don't want her to get plump on it.

 

[scarymare]

It is the other way round. Wetting haylage is fine and owners of lami's who cant get hay do this for 24 hours

 

[Paddy Irish]

I'm pretty sure that lb for lb hay ( because it doesn't contain any water ), has a higher nutrient value - so , if you were to feed say 5lb of hay and 5lb of haylage the hay would give your horse a fair bit more calories than the same amount of haylage.

This is the link from another poster , it should tell you more http://www.ehhaylage.co.uk/forage_article.asp
hope the link works..

 

[LaurenBay]

I'm pretty sure that lb for lb hay ( because it doesn't contain any water ), has a higher nutrient value - so , if you were to feed say 5lb of hay and 5lb of haylage the hay would give your horse a fair bit more calories than the same amount of haylage.

This is the link from another poster , it should tell you more http://www.ehhaylage.co.uk/forage_article.asp
hope the link works..

Thanks for the link, it was very interesting.

 

[scarymare]

I'm pretty sure that lb for lb hay ( because it doesn't contain any water ), has a higher nutrient value - so , if you were to feed say 5lb of hay and 5lb of haylage the hay would give your horse a fair bit more calories than the same amount of haylage.

This is the link from another poster , it should tell you more http://www.ehhaylage.co.uk/forage_article.asp
hope the link works..

Yes and no. It depends when both are cut/dried for how long/baled. Early cut of both will be high protein. Because Haylage is harvested and baled quickly, you don't get the mineral leaching associated with drying hay over (an ever increasing) long period. Depends also on how wet the haylage is as moisture contents vary hugely. There really isn't a definitive answer for all circumstances I'm afraid but you can defo soak it!