People who feed ad lib haylage..

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Starbucks

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Badger is getting as much as he wants at the moment, and TBH he is looking a little bit of a porker!! I don't like the idea of him stood in with nothing to eat though.

He's not getting a great deal of hard feed - handful of chop and a bit of meadow mix twice a day.

Would I be better restricting his intake a little? He doesn't eat loads for his size I wouldn't say. Giving him as much exercise as possible but due to recovering from a tendon injury he's not doing any fast work which he would normally be doing this time of year.
 
Could you mix in a little hay so its not all as sugary?

G gets ad lib haylage but then is only in over night so it isn't making him fat.
 
We get haylage in with the price and not hay - so we'll have to make do with haylage!

He gets enough so he actually wastes quite a bit at the mo, wonder if I make him eat up he might eat a bit less? Would also make me more popular with YO I would imagine!!
 
Mine are on ad lib big bale haylage of excellent quality but live out and they look very well! I only feed a little supplement and they don't need anything else, so maybe cut his hard feed right down and mix haylage with hay or some good quality clean oat straw to bulk it out a bit more as some of the hay this year is rubbish.

Or if you are feeding commercial small bale haylage drop down to a lower grade with higher fibre content perhaps?

Sorry cross post yes make him eat it all as probably what he is leaving are the less suggary bits!!
 
Can you mix his haylage with soaked straw? If you can (and cut out the hard feed) at least his gut will be ticking over without piling on the pounds!
 
We feed ad-lib forage overnight and except in snow leave them to nibble whatever grass they can find during the day. In order to avoid massive weight gain on the haylage which is all we can get this year (we usually feed hay) we are also feeding good quality barley straw. I certainly don't want horses standing in at night with nothing to pick at and I wouldn't use nets if you paid me a lottery win. Nasty dangerous things!
If you are concerned I'd cut out the meadowmix.
 
starbucks.... Ron is hunting on ad lib haylage and speedibeet, with alfa oil and a balancer added.

I would cut out Badgers hardfeed (except maybe a balancer or a vit supplement on a handful of speedibeet), and keep the haylage adlib. If he's still a bit porky you could start to restrict it, or at least make him clear up!
 
Pearlsasinger said:
We feed ad-lib forage overnight and except in snow leave them to nibble whatever grass they can find during the day. In order to avoid massive weight gain on the haylage which is all we can get this year (we usually feed hay) we are also feeding good quality barley straw. I certainly don't want horses standing in at night with nothing to pick at and I wouldn't use nets if you paid me a lottery win. Nasty dangerous things!
If you are concerned I'd cut out the meadowmix.
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I can't believe how little some people feed their horses!!! There's one on our yard and she is shut behind a cage on her door because she cribs and hardly EVER has anything to eat!! Poor girl!!
 
I think the haylage is very important and would reduce it last thing of all. Perhaps just feed him a balancer to ensure he is getting enough vits and mins and maybe a bit of chaff if you want. Stud balancer is good as it's just as nutricious as other balancers but cheaper! If he's hunting (which he looks like he might be by your siggy) then it's important to ensure he's getting his vits and mins.

For the haylage I would invest in a weight measure (so cheap on ebay); guess how much he eats and give him that weight the first night, (probably need a net or hay bag for weighing it) then next morning you can find how much is on the floor and how much left in the net or feeder and calc how much to give him. Next night give the "right amount" then it's pretty easy to guess from there how much he's eating and then you are in a position to finely tune it as necessary.
 
that's a very good idea hels_bels!

and re: the balancer - i feed baileys stud balancer to Ron, it's roughly the same nutritionally as their performance balancer (by their own admission to me at Burghley!), but cheaper!
 
Starbucks said:
We get haylage in with the price and not hay - so we'll have to make do with haylage!

He gets enough so he actually wastes quite a bit at the mo, wonder if I make him eat up he might eat a bit less? Would also make me more popular with YO I would imagine!!
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I used to feed ad lib haylage until one winter when they all started to look pregnant! Haylage is just so palatable that many horses will eat far more than they need or is good for them. I feed small amounts five times a day with their last lot of haylage about 10 pm at night. There are periods of the day when they have finished up and are waiting for their next lot. But all of them eat up. I try to judge it so that there is none left in their beds when I come to muck out. The average daily amount eaten per horse (whilst not on grass) is 16 kg. They all look well covered but not fat.
 
If the horse is looking 'porky' I personally wouldn't ad - lib. I work on the premise that the average horse requires 8 - 10 kg haylage per day and so would also recommend weighing your nets to keep within this. I obvioulsy adjust the amount depending on grass quality and weather conditions, but this helps as a guide.

I have one that is prone to putting on weight with haylage, so weigh out his daily allowance and trickle feed it - but mine are at home so is easier to pop a net in when required.

Bear in mind the grass should start to come through again in the next few months, so best to get the weight down now before we come into Spring.
 
when sun was on box rest for 9 weeks I double netted his haylage day and night (included in our livery) and touch wood he didn't get porky. He is only on 2 handfuls of topspec lite and their lite balancer a day so not much hard feed , just enough to help his crappy feet out really :)
 
Wagtail said:
I used to feed ad lib haylage until one winter when they all started to look pregnant! Haylage is just so palatable that many horses will eat far more than they need or is good for them. I feed small amounts five times a day with their last lot of haylage about 10 pm at night. There are periods of the day when they have finished up and are waiting for their next lot. But all of them eat up. I try to judge it so that there is none left in their beds when I come to muck out. The average daily amount eaten per horse (whilst not on grass) is 16 kg. They all look well covered but not fat.
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You are absolutely right and I have the same problem. Mine are out 24/7 with ad-lib big bale haylage and look like complete heffers. Even my mare who is still feeding her 8 month old foal. Not sure what to do tbh. I do change for hay when the snow is cleared but that hasn't made any difference. The rugged ones are busting out - literally.
 
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