Please can you weigh me a section of hay

Gingerwitch

Gingerwitch

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I never used to worry too much about the amount of hay i gave the big lad - he used to have a section when he came in at 3ish - and he would have 3 or 4 at night - weight = fine.... moved now on round hay and i am struggling to know quite what to feed him - okay he is supposed to have 9.2kg of forage a day and 3.2kg of feed - i know that but i really wished i had kept an old bale of hay for referance and tbh out local feed merchant wants £6.00 so i though i would ask you lot if you could weigh me a section of hay and let me know

thanks

GW
 
it will differ between hay bales/slices & how tightly packed the bale has been made, but each of my tightly packed sections weighs (on average) 1.5kg.
 
Would it not be easier for you to perhaps buy a set of hanging scales so that you can weigh his haynet? That way you can be sure he is receiving the amount needed.
Weighing a section wouldn't help anyway. Each section will be totally variable (as are bales).
Only sure fire way of knowing he is getting 9.2kg is to weigh the nets once you have filled them.
 
I know what you are all saying about hay sections coming out differently - but after feeding by section for 10 years - you tend to get a feel for bales - light/heavy and i had never though about converting it too an actual weight until i have needed too -and now the issue is clouded. I also have not clipped him for the first time this year and he has only been in light work instead of fully clipped and in hard work.... so its been a big year to adjust - by now he is usually on the nice to slim side and tbh at the moment he is fat - not gross just fat !
 
If he is only doing light work why is he having 25% of his diet as feed rather than nearly all forage?



Agree with weighing nets - luggage scales are a couple of quid.
 
Because that is what is recomened by Baileys feeds - and i needed to start somewhere and yes i have got a set of scales and i am using them, but i am trying to make a comparission to when i used to feed bale hay rather than round bale hay
 
This is so rough and ready yet I have ,with far too many years of experience making and selling the stuff found it to be true. A conventional bale weighs 20 kg (unless from a class dominant baler)and has 14 sections.Spookey but true, bale faster and have thicker slices and you will break a shearbolt.&70 strokes per minute on the baler and a comfortable groundspeed.Class dominant balers produce a bale 14 inches high instead of 12 and are correspondingly heavier eg 25kg per bale .A bale needs to be a good 3ft in length otherwise it will not stack properly because it is 18 inches wide . BET YOU WISH YOUD NEVER ASKED:D:D
 
I understand what you are saying, but can't you stuff a haynet until you get the same "feel" of weight that you had with the no of slices that he had before, then weigh it? Then play it by ear as to how he's doing with it.. If not, I would bite the bullet and buy one small bale...
 
Baileys feeds are in business to sell feeds - try upping the hay & giving only half the hard feed or even cut down to just a balancer as if he is fat he is obviously getting too much.
 
ding-dong-merrily said:
Mike007 - i long for the days when bales were 3ft long!!!! - hay shortage up here in the mids - dont you know my boy lol !

But thanks for trying to answer my question
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Anyone buying hay should have a spring ballance and be good at mental arithmatic. OH, you are under 40 so you are stuffed because you cant do mental arithmatic:D:D:DApologies,its late in the evening and my glass is now empty:D
 
lexiedhb said:
Give him enough so that he has some left over in the morning- if he is in- dont get bogged down with kg's..... simples
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I know of some horses that will eat a whole bale overnight if given the chance.......you cannot always go on "If there is hay left they have had enough".
 
ding-dong-merrily said:
I never used to worry too much about the amount of hay i gave the big lad - he used to have a section when he came in at 3ish - and he would have 3 or 4 at night - weight = fine.... moved now on round hay and i am struggling to know quite what to feed him - okay he is supposed to have 9.2kg of forage a day and 3.2kg of feed - i know that but i really wished i had kept an old bale of hay for referance and tbh out local feed merchant wants £6.00 so i though i would ask you lot if you could weigh me a section of hay and let me know

thanks

GW
Click to expand...

Hi , a section of my hay is 4lbs

hope this helps you xx
 
Not sure why Baileys told you to feed 3.5kg hard feed a day - except they are in business to sell feed. What are you feeding him ?, and what do you consider light work ?. My intermediate eventer will be on about 4kg when he is evening fit and ready for a 3 day, at the moment coming back into work and doing about an hour a day he is on about a kg. This is with ad lib hay. I have been told by my vet to only feed concentrates when needed, otherwise ad lib good quality hay will be more than adequate.
 
figgy said:
Hi , a section of my hay is 4lbs

hope this helps you xx
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And this sort of ties in with ours that come out at 2kg but it can vary a lot between small bales depending on how tight they are packed at baling! We have been feeding ours large bales by weight, we use a shires small holed net which, when stuffed as full as you can possibly get it comes out at between 8 and 9 kilos, once you have filled them a couple of times you get the feel and I can get it spot on 8k now without having to check them all. I bought a spring balance, just to make sure we got it right, from ebay for a couple of quid plus delivery.
 
Bales vary sooooooo much a spring balance really is the only way of telling.

:echo: the others that have commented on the amount of hard feed and agree that Baileys are going to tell you that is what they recommend as that is how they make their money :)

As long as the forage is good quality I would cut down to balancer and a handfull of chaff and go from there.

I`ve got two fatties here and they survive perfectly well on a forage diet with half ration balancer(Baileys lo-cal is fab stuff) for everyday. One does get extra (A&P Sustain) for 'oomph' but only when working hard.

I mix 50/50 Oat straw with their hay/hage to slow them down and give bulk without excess calories or breaking the bank balance.
 
I always weigh hay/haylage and although i realise each bale can vary- i would reckon that one section of hay weighs approx 2 kilo's...

I may of course be wrong and way off the mark, but i hope that helps you!
 
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