Soaking hayledge.. yes.. hayledge!

Damnation

Damnation

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 February 2008
Messages
9,662
Location
North Cumbria
Visit site
Would you?
My yard doesn't provide hay but hayledge is included in my livery.
I chuck a few buckets of water over the net whilst its hung up, let it drain for half an hour then feed it to my horse.
I am presuming it does no harm? Isn't the best quality hayledge so I want to soak it to get rid of the mould spores plus a bit of the goodness as she is a fat pie!
Does anyone else do this?
 
Wetting the haylage will help with dust when the hay/haylage dries out again the mould spores shrink and (having mulitplied in the damp) are then as bad if not worse than before.

Sugar to lower the nutritional value removal relies on osmosis, for which the hay/haylage has to be immersed in a sufficient body of water over a period of time for this to occur. It is not effective if there is insufficient water or time, the concern with this is secondary fermentation/bacteria levels so it would be a good idea to rinse it through with clean water after soaking.
 
No need to be rude. :\
Mare is on no hard feed and trying to get hay atm is like plucking hens teeth! Living out isn't an option either because she would be on her own and would jump out - I'm not willing to risk it. So until I can sort an alternative I will start soaking it properly.

Eta - Its so crap the hayledge its actually dusty beyond belief but beggars can't be choosers.
 
I have always been told NOT to soak or even damp haylege as its damp enough and doing so will upset your horses digestive system, if you can't get hay, feed a replacer like Hifi Light or fast fibre, both are excellent.
 
Yes, and I have. When my mare went down with laminitis (concussive not due to weight) I decided to err on the side of caution and changed her diet too (we have a shortage of hay on our yard too, so haylage was the only option), she was on box rest for a long time (8 months or so) and i soaked her nets over night and through the day in a bin and then rinsed them off, did her no harm at all, my Vet said he saw no problem with it (and nor did my very good friend on the yard who is also a vet) - the only problem is the water left behind after soaking is fairly grim so you'll need somewhere to dump it properly.
 
I soaked haylage for most of the winter. It isn't ideal but we struggled to get big bale hay so had to make do. When the haylage is quite dry it's OK but can be a bit manky if you get a wet bale.

Maggiesmum is right, you need enough water to make sure it works properly. I'd put it in a big bin and cover it with a lid on or something to keep it under the water. If you can, drain the water after a few hours and fill up again. Rinse it really well - keep rinsing until the water runs clear then let it drain. I used to soak it overnight and you do notice the difference; the sweet smell totally disappears. If your horse leaves any, throw it away and don't feed it the next day. If you get very wet haylage it is horrible to soak and needs a few goes, IME, with plenty of rinsing.

IIRC one of the issues with haylage is the acidity and I don't think that soaking it changes that but you can get some of the goodness out. My lad definitely lost weight while I was soaking his hay and he wasn't working much.
 
Thanks Hedwards for your helpful reply ;)
I think I will use one of my empty feed bins and soak it. Mare is just getting rather fat, we have no hay to soak and her saddle doesn't fit so I am lunging to try and keep the weight at bay til the saddle man comes!
Horse is a KWPN reg. Dutch Warmblood, been on no hard feed and naked rugs wise since mid march, she was fully clipped for the winter too... Her last home said she was a poor doer :D
 
Yep- I've soaked haylage sucessfully in the past (last year) when I had to temporarily use another supplier- well i say soak but it was just "rinsed" out by using a hose before feeding .

I had to rinse the haylage, not because it was bad quality, but rather the opposite!- it was race horse quality clover/ryegrass haylage and it was like rocket fuel! so i had to leech the sugars out of it.

Like you I too have been having probs in getting haylage at the mo too- my supplier ran out end of Feb so been having to use small bales!- if you get stuck PM me and i could always give you the details of where I've been getting my pallets delivered from- you do have to buy it in big bulk quantities though!
 
chestnut cob said:
I soaked haylage for most of the winter. It isn't ideal but we struggled to get big bale hay so had to make do. When the haylage is quite dry it's OK but can be a bit manky if you get a wet bale.

Maggiesmum is right, you need enough water to make sure it works properly. I'd put it in a big bin and cover it with a lid on or something to keep it under the water. If you can, drain the water after a few hours and fill up again. Rinse it really well - keep rinsing until the water runs clear then let it drain. I used to soak it overnight and you do notice the difference; the sweet smell totally disappears. If your horse leaves any, throw it away and don't feed it the next day. If you get very wet haylage it is horrible to soak and needs a few goes, IME, with plenty of rinsing.

IIRC one of the issues with haylage is the acidity and I don't think that soaking it changes that but you can get some of the goodness out. My lad definitely lost weight while I was soaking his hay and he wasn't working much.
Click to expand...

Thank you! Our hayledge is dry and dusty which is a reason I wanted to soak it in the first place.. then I realised how fat my horse was! Its been left for too long before being baled. Its almost between hay and hayledge..
I don't like the thought of her inhaling mould spores as I knew a mare who ended up very ill with a chest infection, from mould spores in hayledge.
 
K27 said:
Yep- I've soaked haylage sucessfully in the past (last year) when I had to temporarily use another supplier- well i say soak but it was just "rinsed" out by using a hose before feeding .

I had to rinse the haylage, not because it was bad quality, but rather the opposite!- it was race horse quality clover/ryegrass haylage and it was like rocket fuel! so i had to leech the sugars out of it.

Like you I too have been having probs in getting haylage at the mo too- my supplier ran out end of Feb so been having to use small bales!- if you get stuck PM me and i could always give you the details of where I've been getting my pallets delivered from- you do have to buy it in big bulk quantities though!
Click to expand...

Thak you! Our yard is supposed to supply the forage but they are finding it difficult to find anything at the moment let alone anything of quality! I am North up past Carlisle and our last load of Hayledge came from Birmingham way if memory serves me right..
Tbh because of Buffy's weight I would want to keep soaking it as she is already quite forward going on fresh air let alone good quality hayledge!!! :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top