Spring Dilema

K

kal40

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 September 2008
Messages
2,127
Visit site
I have two good doer welsh x's and obviously have to be careful at this time of year. One 12.2 on 15.2.

They both came through the winter a little bit too well but thats a different story.

I have separated the field and put them into individual strip paddocks. Our grass isn't fantastic quality but they have eaten whats there atm. It is bare and they are hungry and try to reach the grass when I lead them in/out.

My dilema is do I move the paddocks outwards to give them more grass or do I feed haylage twice a day.

They have lost a little bit of weight but not a huge amount but having had a pony with lami in the past I am very aware of how easily it can happen.

Does anyone have any advice that could help?
 
I have the same issues with my native too. I have successfully kept two 14hh fell ponies on a track system though; I simply set up electric fencing in a corridor about 12' wide around the perimeter of the field and had food/water/shelter spaced as far apart as possible. It means that they have to move much more and so burn more calories and keep their metabolism going. Obviously I do this gradually rather than in one fell swoop, so I give a little extra grass each day, but watch religiously for cresty necks or raised digital pulses.

I tend to feed hay year round, preferably soaked to keep the sugars down, it is harmful to them not to have a constant trickle of fibre, but it can be dotted in small piles to encourage movement or put in small holed nets to slow them down.

Another thing to try is feeding magnesium oxide or something like naf slimfast in molasses free chaff or fast fibre, if your ponies are restricted then they will need a vit/min supplement.

That's what's worked for me anyway as well as increasing exercise. Good luck!
 
I would avoid feeding haylage as that will be too good for them if they need to loose weight...my lad - welsh d is on a pretty bare paddock and I tend to feed him 1 - 2 pads of hay soaked per day and the rest of the time he wanders around nibbling at the blades of grass that pop through. It is surprising how little they can live off but if you need them to loose weight then either strip graze the grass or ideally - provide small amounts of hay rather than haylage. Remember that despite there 'looking' like there is nothing to eat...if they are not loosing weight, they are eating enough to maintain themselves...the balance is finding how much to feed so they start to loose weight. Exercise is also the key to weight loss, if that is possible.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Unfortunately, I have to feed haylage as we can't get any hay.

I know a weigh tape isn't accurate but it is good for keeping an eye on whether they are going up or down and the good news is they have both lost weight. I have a couple of compliments from other people on how well he is looking.

They weren't massively overweight I'm just accutely aware of how much damage can be caused.
 
It is sugar that is the danger and actually haylage has less sugar in it, than hay does, so it is not the evil substance that people think. You can always soak the haylage too, as people do with hay. My fat shetland wears a muzzle all day and at night comes into a small coral which is bare. He gets a bucket of hi-fi light, instead of hay/haylage. There are a lot of chaff type feeds out there being sold as hay replacers.

It is a complete nightmare with these fat natives.
 
The hay v haylage sugar content is not cut and dried (sorry about the pun!).

A late cut meadow hay will be lower in sugar than a first cut ryegrass haylage. But a late cut meadow grass haylage will be lower in sugar than a first cut ryegrass hay. Other than that the relative sugar content can only be ascertained by having the forage anaylsed. It's not safe to assume haylage will always have lower sugar than hay or vice versa. I checked this all out with a nutrionist as I was curious.

However it is not just about the sugar. The process (much simplified) that eventually leads to lami is that excess sugar in the diet cannot be processed by the horse's digestive system. It therefore causes acidity in the hind gut and it is this acidity that produces the toxins that cause lami. The danger from haylage is not just from it's sugar content but from the the actual process of haylage making i.e. by fermentation forming lactic acid. If this lactic acid reaches the hind gut the effect is the same as sugars fermenting in the gut i.e a risk of lami.

So, personally, I think it much safer to feed soaked hay to those at most risk of laminitis. This has been proven to be a safe approach whereas I don't believe the same can be said for haylage - not saying it couldn't be fed safely but I'd want to see a lot of evidence first.
 
I would feed haylage over grass. Haylage doesnt have to be rich but it depends on what grass it is made from and at what time of year- the best thing to do is get it analysed.

I have fed haylage to native ponies for years and not had a problem. They are on very restricted grass and live out 24/7, fed haylage all year. however they only have a LW turnout when wet in the winter, otherwise they are unrugged, so they lose weight that they gain in the summer. You can easily feel their ribs at this time of year. the haylage is also made from low sugar grass varieties and cut later in the year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top