Using hay as bedding..

[LaurenyLou]

I have a gelding who needs a bit of bulking.

So...a little extreme but I have been using hay as his bedding (little dust content). I personally prefer it as it seems so much softer to straw (my others are on shavings). Although he is on ad lib hay (and we must leave him with about 12kg of hay and he is 14.2hh!) but still find his nets empty in the morning.

Does anyone else do this? Has anyone had any problems with it?

 

[Kat]

Why not just leave him even more hay in his nets and give him a nice absorbant bed rather than wasting hay by bedding him on it?

Mine 12kg in 24hrs isn't much if there isn't much grass, so just stick an extra net or two up.

 

[LaurenyLou]

He has two lots of 12kg at the moment as no grass. Have had nutritionist and she advised it was a good idea as turnout is pretty lame here.

I have no problems wasting it, as it actually works out about the same price as the bedding I use.

 

[Kat]

Fair enough, but mine wouldn't eat it if it was in her bed anyway so I'd have to put more nets up if I wanted her to gain weight.

I have found micronised linseed is good for putting on weight without heating up.

 

[LaurenyLou]

Yes! That is fabulous.

And mine isn't fussy - he doesn't eat the wet or poo-ey bits obviously. But other than that! x

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

The potential prob with using hay as bedding is that if it gets damp, as it will if weed and pooed on, it goes mouldy/ gives off spores which are v bad for horses (and humans) lungs.

I use oat straw instead - they can top up on it but it doesn't have the same downsides.

 

[LD&S]

I would just go for more nets, I've got large nets and can easily fit more than 3/4 of a bale in them, I tend to hang one high and the other low so they don't stick out too far, you could also just put a half bale in the corner underneath, agree about hay going a bit mouldy if it's wet for very long.

 

[HardySoul1]

Is this 14.2 really eating 24kg of hay per day????
If he still needs to gain weight then even more hay is not the answer imho.
Everything I've ever learnt about feeding suggests some of this needs replacing with something containing more calories, assuming any possible health issues have been eliminated.
24kg is 5% of a stocky 480 kg pony - well in excess of recommended total daily intake.
Apologies if I have misunderstood OP.

 

[meandmrblue]

Isn't hay hard to muck out because of its length and texture?

 

[smellsofhorse]

Ive used old hay as bedding when ponies where brought into the barn innbad weather.

Horible to muck out!
Goes soggy easily too

But cant really see anything wrong with it if its not too dusty.


But why dont you jus leave your horse more hay?
More haynets/ on the floor etc.

 

[moodymare_1993]

My mare I on shavings and if there is any hay that has fallen out of the bottom of the net I just brush it back to add to her bed and its horrible to muck out! I think it stinks to. Luckily it's only a little bit at a time, but I wouldn't want to waste my hay on bedding! What if you were to run out and you needed some for some reason? If its costs the same amount, why not just use straw? I couldn't use perfectly good hay as bedding. An like other people have said. It's not good for the horse when it gets wet etc

 

[Polos Mum]

Mine mixes hay in with his straw bed (I suspect he drags it over so he can eat while lying down!), it isn't easy to muck out as it's much longer and finer than straw. Any reason you use nets not on the floor? I'd agree with people above and just give him lots more - if you want him to eat quicker ie to get more into him, then get rid of the nets so he can get at it more easily.

 

[cm2581]

I'm wondering if op has confused lbs and kgs?

 

[RutlandH2O]

The problem with using hay as bedding is the possibility of you or the horse acquiring aspergillosis. Aspergillus is a fungus found in organic matter. Moist hay is a breeding ground for aspergillosis, which usually attacks the lungs. I'd go for additional haynets or racks.

 

[Rosiejazzandpia]

I have started doing this with my horse. She has a very large stable and takes tons of little bales of straw to make her a nice bed, and even then it isnt as thick as I would like it to be. Now whenever she drops hay out of her net I just use it as bedding. If it ends up on the floor she wont eat it anyway and waste not want not, hay is softer than our rubbishy bad straw. Horsey wont eat from hay net if she has had the hay longer than a night so just empty nets onto her bed. Results in soft bed for a horse that can lay donw and munch a bit of hay. Lazy mare

 

[gelderlander]

Back-breaking to muck out and very bulky on the muckheap.

 

[LaurenyLou]

Well 24kg a day goes into his stable - what happens to it may be another story.

Well, more than 24kg now he is bedded on it (this only equates to about a bale and a half of the stuff I get which is a lot, but not hugely excessive as he isn't having grass and munches constantly).

The first thing that made me use it was that a) he cannot have haynets as being a naughty little 3 yo, he ALWAYS finds a way to tangle up in them or put himself in some sort of danger as they are sooo interesting he cannot leave them alone. This led to me putting it on the floor, to which he promptly paws it into his bed.

So either way, it was going in there avec shavings or solo.

Luckily, he is a God send when it comes to mucking out and I remove anything wet, and let it air during the day (on rubber too). Wouldn't dream on using it on my other gelding... may as well burn money on a muck heap instead of letting him create a hay/poo smoothie...

 

[smokey]

My 16.2 Clydesdale has 28 lbs of haylage in her night net, plus 2/3lbs of hay. Are you sure you mean kilos, and not pounds?
Agree that using hay as bedding isn't the best idea, it rot very quickly, and if you wouldn't feed mouldy wet hay in a net, I'm not sure why it would be ok in the bed.
Plus, mucking that out every day? No thanks!

 

[Mince Pie]

25kg is just over 1 small bale so not actually that much

 

[LaurenyLou]

Yes 24kg a day goes in. And BbH you're right, I don't think it's a crazy amount. My old TB used to get through the same.

I wouldn't put mouldy hay down I don't think, and didn't think about the spores so thank you for that.

 

[LaurenyLou]

And I know it isn't the best idea, but the post before last only really leaves me with that choice, plus the fact he needs to eat a lot for the next couple of weeks.

 

[RachelFerd]

this is completely bizarre!

if I wanted my horse to eat something, I certainly wouldn't put it where he is going to s**t on it!

I have used hay as bedding before, only when I had a couple of very straw-like bales which my fussy horses wouldn't eat. I have to say it made a much worse bed than straw does, as the texture is too soft and it gets damp and rotten far too quickly. I did it to use it up, I wouldn't have dreamed of doing it with good hay that should be eaten.

put the hay in corners of the box, in racks or in nets. No need whatsoever to put it in the bed.

 

[CBFan]

A few things spring to mind.

1) Why waste perfectly good hay (which come march will more than likely be in VERY short supply - then what will you feed??!) for your horse to poo and wee on.

2) 24 kg is well over a bale - on a 14.2hh???!!! are you bonkers? My 17.2hh would explode on that.

3) you say he is only 3... this is more than likely why he is on the lean side. He will 'bulk up' when he stops growing. Do you have any recent photos of him? I'm sure he isn't that bad.

I would personaly put him on straw / shavings and feed his hay from a tubtrug affixed to the wall with baler twine / the floor.. he is a baby, he will play with his food, he may never grow out of it, I know how annoying it is as my boy does it but thankfully, as I only give him as much as he needs, he tends to fish most of it out of his bed and eat it - only when I over-do his portions do I find myself throwing it on the muck heap - and I'm sure If I put a whole bale in at a time, at least half of that would become a 'bed'. Try reducing the amount you feed - I would put 3 or 4 sections in twice a day MAX and I am sure he will eat it all... or most of it rather than pissing and pooing all over it, and be non the worse weight wise...

With my messy boy he also has a good 4 ft - 6ft of bare floor / mats at the front of his box which he tends to spread his hay over rather than in the bedding itself. i.e. I just bed the back half of the box.

 

[LaurenyLou]

I don't think it's too bizarre - it all ends up in the bed anyway.

The tubtrug idea is a good one - I will try that. However, I know what will happen but if I get it high enough then hopefully he won't do his normal tricks.

He is obviously lean due to age, but added to this his ribs were visible (he is a Welsh D) when he arrived. Much better now but still needs to eat. I have had advice from a nutritionist and a vet - the latter expressed the point of it rotting - but as it will only be for a short time I don't see a huge problem and I clear it out anyway.

Just to re-iterate, he is also on rubber matting.

I have tried the corner method but it doesn't matter - it is all scraped and spreaded by him.

 

[CBFan]

PLEASE don't worry about him being lean. especially with him being a welshy - he will catch up with himself soon and then you'll be trying to get the weight off!. Spring is just around the corner and I'd rather they went into it a little on the lean side so they have room for Dr green to work it's magic. 6 sections of hay a day is more than enough for horse his size.. any more and I can assure you you will be wasting it...

 

[LaurenyLou]

Thank you!