Soaking Hay post again, differing views on this .

T

treacle86

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I am not meaning from a laminitis conscious point of view .

i mean what is the difference between soaking hay deliberately to remove calories and goodness which people say it does so .

And when you feed a bale of hay in the field , at times like this when it is soaking wet , raining for days , do the calories and goodness come out of the hay bale then ???
 
The Chief nutritionalist from NAF was speaking at the Horse Welfare Conference at Hartpury on Sat. A short soak will swell any spores so that the hay is not dusty. If you soak for 12 hours which is what some people do to make it nutritionally less good for fatties etc. then it reduces calories and vitamins greatly. If you feed it in the field and it is raining for days surely the same thing will happen.
 
I can't see how hay that get's wet in the field can be affected really.
When you soak hay it is submerged in water and kept there for a period of time depending on what you want out of it. When hay gets wet in a field it isn't soaked as such but just wet.
To remove calories/goodness the hay would have to be soaked under water for at least several hours.
I wouldn't have thought you would lose that many calories from hay that is out in the rain.
 
I only soak hay because T will cough if fed dry hay and dry feed. I never even knew soaking was done to remove calories and I'm pretty sure it only removes a small amount, however I've no experience with laminitics so cannot say if it is needed - after reading the other post and having a chat with some people I now see it DOES remove some calories and so could be useful, however for fat ponies or extremely good do-ers there is no point unless they have a respiratory problem or if they just cough a bit. I don't think hay getting wet in a field is anything like soaking - as @MrMeldrew said, removing calories must be done by submerging the hay for a long period of time - not getting wet in the field - even in England unless of course your field's under water!
 
Thanks guys , I was just pondering this recently as a friend was adamant that my wet, rained on hay would be empty of ALL goodness and calories etc .

So I think I am right , : )
although I am not an expert authority on soaking hay I know that most people reccomend soaking it for an hour or a few hours for some people , and i imagined that since my bale is not in constant water or submerged as some of you say , then it is very different to soaked hay as it is effectively stewing in the same water , for the entire period .

There are lots of different views on soaking hay and the nutritional value and especially for laminitics it can be very important .

Thanks everyone !!
xxxx
 
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