Optimum time for soaking hay

[Bertolie]

As title what do people think is the optimum time for soaking hay for fatties? I have been told various amounts of time ranging from 2 hours up to 24 hours!

My two horses are in a different paddock this year, and although there doesn't look to be loads of grass they have both put on weight. They are currently in during the day and out at night on approx half an acre. They have been having dry hay during the day but I want to start soaking it to reduce the sugar.

How long does everyone soak their hay for?

 

[Pinkvboots]

I only soak for an hour my horses won't eat it if it's soaked any longer.

 

[Shay]

I only soak for 20 mins at the moment - but my purpose in soaking is to damp down dust not reduce sugar.

There is a lot of research on the Laminitis trust website on the effect of the length of time in reducing carbohydrate. Here http://www.thelaminitissite.org/h.html (Scroll down to hay...)

I think the basic answer is that the optimum time varies depending on the nutritional analysis of the hay and the ambient temperature.

From when I had a cushings pony we soaked to reduce carbohydrates. Personally I won't soak for more than 8 hours because the risk of the hay rotting and the animal contracting botulism increases - and I always soak in clean water for the same reason. At one point we were soaking 4 hours, changing the water and soaking again on vets advice - but I'm not entirely convinced that was worth the effort...

 

[MotherOfChickens]

You can soak it longer when its colder-this time of year I wouldn't soak for longer than an hour and then rinse well.

 

[LouisCat]

we used to soak just to get the worst of the dust out so we'd fill haynets in the morning and then in the evening put them in to soak when we arrived at the stables. Do all the odd jobs, get horse in change rugs etc and then get it out of the water so I suppose it would be 15/20 mins

 

[tallyho!]

My favourite subject...

http://www.safergrass.org/pdf/SoakReport2.pdf

Do consider the caveat she mentions near the end that you need to take into account how long it takes to eat the soaked hay.

Left in a net, it gets warmer inside and causes moulds to grow and nutrients to degrade making it slimy and bad for the lungs.

So if you soak for an hour, make sure you rinse the hay to wash off the concentrated sugar or else this will make the problem worse.

I tend to only soak for 20-30 mins. It's enough to reduce sugar by 30% which is enough considering horses still need some carbs in the diet. It's not long enough to leach out minerals and reduces the time it's damp in the net.

 

[Laura Dora]

We soak for like 6h. And try to do it overnight as cooler. And for one horse in the day fro about 5h anyway to get rid of sugure for the laminitic prone horses or just fat ones haha
They seem to eat even when left in longer.

 

[Bertolie]

At the moment I am soaking for about 8 hours. My daughter does horses in morning so puts nets in to soak and I take them out in evening to drain. They are then left overnight draining and fed next morning......I assume this isn't the best way to do it?

 

[MuddyMonster]

I soak to reduce sugars in the hay as mine is laminitic prone.

Generally, I soak for 8-10 hours, rinse them off until the water coming off is clear (usually only a few minutes) then leave to drip dry a bit whilst I ride & do jobs & then hang up in stable for my horse before I go. This is in a vain attempt to not getting soaking wet every time I hang a haynet ... it rarely if ever works though

Occassionally, if I'm away or not down twice that day (YM sometimes does him one end of the day for me) it will get soaked for nearer 24 hours. On those occassions I just rinse for longer & not had any ill effects from this.

 

[soulfull]

I agree you need to rinse until water runs clear

How long you soak for will depend what you are soaking for and the weather as If too hot it's not good to soak for really long periods

Respiratory and to get rid of a little sugar 20mins

I think if I was soaking for weight loss I would be soaking over night atm then rinsing mega well.

 

[Cortez]

I soak for 10 - 12 hours, drain and feed. They all eat it up straight away and look well (as in not fat). I believe that most of the sugars are leached out after 5 - 6 hours, but practicalities mean it gets left in longer. Seem to do alright on it.

 

[BentleyBelly]

Interesting thread. I have recently started feeding soaked (last years) hay and due to time constraints it gets between 20 mins and an hour with 1 water change . Basically as long as it takes me to poo pick and potter! Fat pony is out 24/7 on a bare half acre and gets 2 sections of this a day. Seems to be working for us.

 

[PorkChop]

Gosh, I soak mine for 24 hours and rinse well - they always eat it, well they would, they're hungry

Is this too long? Or doesn't it matter?

 

[Clannad48]

When our old pony developed another bout of laminitis a couple of months ago, the vet advised us to soak for no longer than 25 minutes, also if you leave it for any longer to thoroughly rinse off as the water it is soaking in will contain everything you are trying to remove.

 

[tallyho!]

Seriously you guys... please look into it about soaking hay for longer than 60 mins. The evidence is peer reviewed and even our vets (3rd largest in country) is now stating 30-60mins tops as they are finding a whole host of issues related to oversoaking

 

[Leo Walker]

I feed high fibre haylage, probably still higher sugar than soaked hay but guaranteed levels of sugar and saves all the hassle and worry of soaking