views on haylage

The haylage fed at my yard is their own and absolutely gorgeous quality stuff, but it isn't fed adlib and I'm sure my horse would get fat on it fed adlib as she doesn't so much eat it as slaughter it. But I suspect that haylage does vary hugely, the same as hay.

The horses are on hemp and fed this and it's fantastic for me, and any horse with allergies of course, as there just isn't any hay/straw dust at all.

Paula
 
Big bale haylage is fine if the bag has been undamaged and the bale looks and smells good, in cooler weather should last about 5-7 days, sometimes less in warmer weather. Ive used it for years, some bales are slightly damper than others, but they should always smell sweet,appley,not foul.
A very wet bale of the description you gave sounds like silage to me, and yes, some people if they think you dont know will try to tell you its haylage.
I personally wouldnt put silage or a dodgy smalling haylage near my horses
 
Exactly marydoll the OP seems to be describing silage not haylage. Big difference. I know of a horse that died after eating contaminated (or gone off) silage
 
what the woman feeds on the yard is haylage it stinks cos she opens it and it last so long, you can smell it as you walk past the end of the block.
her horse lives out 3 days out of 4and then only comes in for a couple of hours, the current bale has been open for over 4 wks-i know how bad that can be and other people have mentioned it to her but she doe snot seem to believe them
 
Our haylage is made on the farm and sold to studs and racing stables. Every three years the fields are ploughed and reseeded, cut two or three times in a season and each cut produces different qualities of haylage.

I have a 16h mare and buy a bale for her every four or five weeks in the winter when it's cold enough to keep well. In the summer she has hay which I also give her in the winter so she's not stuffing herself completely and I have never had any problems with it.

I think you need to use your common sense, like you would with all other feed you give your horse.
 
Good haylage is quite hard to make, as one farmer I was talking to was telling me. He made good hay, and silage for his cattle, but didn't get into haylage making as he didn't feel he would produce a quality product. This is always the thing with haylage. Buy it from a good supplier, and there is generally no problem. When mine were stabled at night I fedamixture of hay and haylage, now they are out 24/7 they just have haylage, partly because I don't have suitable storage for hay. I never have a problem with it, but as we have 6, it doesn't have a chance to go off, which is when you geet problems. I am amazed at reports of people having bales open for weeks without having problems.
 
Botulism is still a risk in good horse haylage. You can't see or smell it.

I've had to use it and probably will again but I hate the stuff. It always worries me. Plus it puts weight on my horses too fast. I'm talking about proper horse haylage here. And what no one has failed to mention yet is that feeding by weight is a bit tricky with moisture. Everyone I've seen feed it gives tiny amounts. Their horses stand with empty bellies for at least 10 hours. And I find it very odd someone who screams aspergilosous every time I bring hay and straw into the barn(nowhere near her horse), has the only cougher in the barn. I've watched said person feeding rank bales with no thought ever about what she's doing.

But look it, we all have to do what we have to do. I will also tell you this I have watched my horses go from drinking normal amounts of water to drinking a lot more with dunking when on haylage. This is haylage I'm talking about. Only horse people buy it. It's not my favorite thing and will always use top quality hay when I can.

Terri
 
jools1234 said:
what the woman feeds on the yard is haylage it stinks cos she opens it and it last so long, you can smell it as you walk past the end of the block.
her horse lives out 3 days out of 4and then only comes in for a couple of hours, the current bale has been open for over 4 wks-i know how bad that can be and other people have mentioned it to her but she doe snot seem to believe them
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Her horse, her choice, but no forage should smell so bad that you can smell it walking by the building, i have 3 so go through a bale in about a week, i personally wouldnt use it much after that
 
Jools1234 somebody who stables with me does the same, buys big bales last one was opened for around 6/7 weeks as she couldn't use it all in time and it was so mouldy but all she done was pick off the good bits to feed. Iv never seen such a colourful bale. There was White, blue, purple mould all very colourful.
I know I shouldn't say it but I wanted her horses to get colic to teach her a lesson
 
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