Soaking Haylage?

[PucciNPoni]

Can it be done to soak out the sugars? How long?

 

[stacey_lou]

I have never soaked Haylage, I buy haulage firstly for the goodness and secondly so that i dont have to soak it.
Why would you want to soak it anyway? theres no dust in haylage.

 

[ISHmad]

Yes you can soak haylage to leach out the sugars, just the same as you can with hay. The minimum is about an hour but we always soaked ours overnight. Rinsed it well the next morning and then either fed it or left it to dry through the day and fed that evening.

 

[PucciNPoni]

Not for the dust, but for the sugars. I have a laminitic horse. I don't normally soak her hay and her weight is where it low enough that I am not "dieting" her.

We will have a very hard time finding quality hay here in Scotland (as I'm told) and the yard I'm on makes it's own hay/haylage. This year no hay was made because they had to bale it and wrap it due to weather. It sat in the field for one day to dry and then the rain was forecast so they wrapped it. We've had a sample of it so far and it's lovely stuff...

So my query is whether or not I should try to a) source hay from elsewhere b) use the haylage and maybe mix it with quality straw or c) soak it to leach out the sugar (but not sure if C is an option anyway.

 

[PucciNPoni]

Cheers - thanks for that --- very helpful indeed.

 

[EPRider]

I would feed alongside straw. There is some recent research that the water soluble sugers are not removed by soaking as was thought.

 

[kellyeaton]

yes you can soak hayledge but why would you did that if you want less sugars goodness etc why dont you go on hay and soak that needs be and it would be cheaper!

 

[PucciNPoni]

babybells, the problem isn't the cost - the haylage is the same price as the hay. It's simply the availability and ease of buying. Haylage is supplied by my yard, hay was not made due to wet weather. However, if leaching/soaking works, then it would be the easier option. If not then I have to to either find hay (and then find a place to store it, which is difficult at my limited space) or straw...again, storage a pain and as I've never used straw, not sure what to look for. If I get hay or straw, and I can find a place on the yard to store it, then that's easier as I'd not have to soak it. I'm just weighing up the options.

 

[itsme123]

I always soak haylage (when hay is in short supply). I soak for at least 16 hours, and keep changing the water, plus hose it off at the end.

I also feed straw, and fibre cubes in a snack ball.

 

[H's mum]

Yes you can soak haylage but you'll need to change the water more frequently than when soaking hay.

Kate x

 

[Mike007]

I am not sure there is that much sugars to wash out after the fermentation process.Sounds abit odd to me.

 

[ofcourseyoucan]

i would just feed the haylage as it comes and reduce the bucket, hard feed. if a really good doer or fizzy should work off haylage alone. if really worried about vits, mins. fibre just feed a good balancer and carrots. depends how hard it is working, and grazing available through winter

 

[bolandruth]

I need to feed soaked haylage to my mare as she has a stomach problem. She is on livery and I am away with work one week out of every month. Do you think it would be safe to soak 5 days worth of haylage and pop it in hay nets to dry and feed these during the week?

Any advice would be great