views on haylage

Jools1234

Jools1234

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i live with the belief that haylage is not good for horse

my x husband worked and we lived on a beef and arable farm and all the cattle were fed haylage for fast weight gain. it is meant to be rich forage to be fed in small amounts, many people seem to be feeding it to horse ad-lib

once a bale of haylage is breached/opened it should be used within 24-48hrs due to the fungal spores that multiply rapidly on exposure to the air-this rule was followed with the cattle who were destined to live a short life due to the severe damage to the airways/lungs that could be done

i just constantly see around me and on here people feeding it, some of whom appear to be trying to achieve weight loss, the complete opposite of what it is meant for.

this is meant to be a is it only me post? it is not a personal dig at anyone i am just curious about eveyones views and experiences
 
When we feed it, we go through a bale a day, so whatever they're fed, is never opened for longer than 24 hours.

If I can get away with it, I feed good quality ad-lib hay. For my poor doer, I prefer to have him on ad-lib [though, ad-lib here being a much less amount than ad-lib hay as he's eats it slower] haylage over winter for that very reason :)
 
I feed it ad lib to my horses, the haylage I get is very dry almost hay but wrapped a day early, it is completely dust free, does not cause my horses to cough, unlike hay, most bales if opened fully will last about a week before they start to show any signs of mould developing, a few days longer in the winter although I usually use a bale every 4- 5 days so never see any problems with it, it is just at the start/ end of winter I waste some as they are not in as much but at the price I pay and the fact that it is so easy to use with no waste in general I am happy to throw away a bit.

As for weight, again no issues with feeding it, they have as much as they want and very little hard feed, far more natural in my view.
I am wary about where I buy from, mine all comes from the same farm and is made from a meadow grass so not too rich and has a variety of grasses in it.
 
there's haylage and haylage though......

I have fed my horses haylage for many years but always from late cut stuff not the high protein earlier ryegrass cuts that you describe for cattle above (I wouldn't feed hay made from the same grass either). We also feed more or less ad-lib and have found that they will usually only eat what they need once they've got over the first novelty of having 'all day breakfasts' on tap. You do have to check the bales when you open them as even the best made haylage can sometimes go wrong or get punctured but on the whole have bee very pleased with how well our horses do on it. They are mainly in light consistent ridden work, some hunting lightly in winter.

They have very little hard-food though, perhaps a few oats after Christmas if they are hunting and need them otherwise just vits and mins. They also come off the grass for part of a day in the summer months so they do not have a twice-yearly complete change of diet.

We started because it was easier to get well-made haylage than hay round here - we live in a wet part of the UK.
 
some of it does seem to be quite dry and i suppose that would make a big difference.
we have people at our place that by a big bale for a single horse that is only in for a couple of hours per day and hers last 4-6wks opened it is rank by then
 
I almost never feed hay now the main part of my horses diet is haylage I buy small bale haylage and it's a big cost but the horses look and feel great onit.
 
jools1234 said:
some of it does seem to be quite dry and i suppose that would make a big difference.
we have people at our place that by a big bale for a single horse that is only in for a couple of hours per day and hers last 4-6wks opened it is rank by then
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That is not the way to use it, they are really risking their horses, botulism will be thriving in the bales after that time as well as mould that will harm their lungs. Even my dry haylage will be unusable after about 10 days and gets binned.
 
I also only feed small bale haylage, to a good doer too!

The haylage I feed is low in sugar and high fibre, perfect for what I need and my mare has done well on it. There is no wastage like there used to be when buying hay and I am happy that there is no dust and I dont have to spend the winter hauling semi frozen heavy soaked haynets about.

Some haylage resembles silage more than anything, and I wouldn't be happy feeding it, but many people find haylage far better for putting weight on those that drop it easily.
 
I feed haylege, they are all either broodmares or youngsters and live out most of the time, though do come in when the weather is ongoing horrible. They mostly have hay as it is cheaper, but I do like to give them a treat of haylege a couple of times a week in winter. Bales never last opened more than a day so that has never been an issue, I don't buy the huge bales.
 
Our yard owner makes our haylage and during winter a bale is out less then 48 hours due to most horses being on it.
 
In the past we've had some horrible haylege supplied to us, in fact more like silage, but now we've got a great supplier who sells us large bales at a good price & delivered whenever we need it. We help him out by having 8 delivered at a time so it's worth him coming.

We have 2 horses & we share our open bales with another horse so with 3 eating it (all 3 are in from evening till morning) it gets eaten well before it goes off. The horses enjoy it, look good on it & we have saved a fortune by using it. We used to buy small bale hay but it used to cost us so much more than the haylege we have now. I reckon we are at least £40 per month better off now. Obviously the saving ias important but welfare of the horses is paramount but they are looking good & enjoying their haylege so I'm happy......& they're very content. :)
 
I have never known anyone to feed haylage to horses that is like the haylage given to cattle. Cattle haylage is generally so wet and rich that the (lovely) smell is almost over powering. Generally I think haylage fed to horses is far, far drier and essentially not much more than wrapped hay.

The wrapped hay that we have in at the moment it gorgeous!
 
I have to feed haylage, she coughs even on thoroughly soaked hay. However she is out 24/7 and really doesn't need it until it snows. I wasn't a huge haylage fan but the hay quality round here seems to be getting worse and worse so I would feed it even to an non allergic horse.
 
Sugar_and_Spice said:
I thought cattle were fed silage not haylage. Silage is no good for horses due to the risk of botulism poisoning. Haylage is fine for horses as long as its fed before it goes off.
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I thought that to :p

There's lots of different types of haylage though. The haylage made at our old yard was vial!! Smelt horrid, kind of like fish, was wet, sticky and a very dark brown colour, personally I wouldn't have called it haylage!! Needless to say I bought my own haylage. I've always feed mine goo quality haylage and never had any problems.
 
I don't feed it mainly because I have an ulcer prone horse and you can't always guarantee the quality. It can make a lot of horses 'runny' and cause digestive upset if it is not dry enough.
Love the smell of it though!
 
My boy is on box rest at the moment. I am feeding well soaked hay at night and haylage thro' the day, partly to give him variety and because soaking hay is a bore. It is handling the heavy nets I find difficult.
 
all about Romeo said:
Haylage can`t be that bad for horses otherwise race horse trainers wouldn`t use it??
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Most top trainers buy haylage that is specially made for them, it is rygrass/timothy and is more like a top Q hay, it is bagged to help with preservation and to make sure every bale is consistent quality.
Have a look at the different types of grass species used, some for racehorses, some for cattle.
https://www.cotswoldseeds.com/seedmix/silage-hay
Cattle are fed in sheds which are often poorly ventilated [not all but some are] and are fed silage, grass which is grown with fertiliser, cut and wrapped quickly.
 
If it was being fed to cattle then will most probably have actually been baled silage.

We feed baled silage to our cattle, it's sort of similar but actually poles apart from the haylage I buy in for the horses, and would be no good for them.

Are you sure it wasn't silage?
 
Miss L Toe said:
Most top trainers buy haylage that is specially made for them, it is rygrass/timothy and is more like a top Q hay, it is bagged to help with preservation and to make sure every bale is consistent quality.
Have a look at the different types of grass species used, some for racehorses, some for cattle.
https://www.cotswoldseeds.com/seedmix/silage-hay
Cattle are fed in sheds which are often poorly ventilated [not all but some are] and are fed silage, grass which is grown with fertiliser, cut and wrapped quickly.
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Cattle are fed on silage, not haylage.
I realise there are different types of haylage but the OP was not spercific about which particular type of haylage they were refuring to so I can only generalise...
so like I said, haylage cant be that bad otherwise racehorse trainers would not use it.
 
I used to feed haylage but have had to move back to a stemmier hay as they became just too fat on it. Last year I mixed haylage with barley straw so that they had more bulk and something to chew on, but it still meant they had to eat smaller amounts than I would like. If possible I would prefer to feed hay and clean barley straw.
 
Im surprised op you dont realise the vast difference in haylage? As lots of other people have pointed out the haylage fed to cattle is pretty much like silage...my haylage is grown specifically for horses and is very dry...nothing like the 'haylage' fed to the beef cattle made by the same farmer.
 
patterdale said:
If it was being fed to cattle then will most probably have actually been baled silage.

We feed baled silage to our cattle, it's sort of similar but actually poles apart from the haylage I buy in for the horses, and would be no good for them.

Are you sure it wasn't silage?
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they were fed both but yes the silage most people seem to feed to their horses does seem drier
 
redriverrock said:
Im surprised op you dont realise the vast difference in haylage? As lots of other people have pointed out the haylage fed to cattle is pretty much like silage...my haylage is grown specifically for horses and is very dry...nothing like the 'haylage' fed to the beef cattle made by the same farmer.
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i agree there are huge differences in the type of haylage, i was curious because originally the process to produce it was in order to make a high protein feed to promote fast growth and weight gain for cattle.
i suppose i am lucky i always manage to source good quality hay at a good price so have never had to change from it, but our little welsh pony is on loan and every year her breathing gets worse so its something i would probably have to consider if/when she comes back to us, so i was curious as to how people got on feeding it. seems most people chose to stick with it so it must be better than i thought
 
jools1234 said:
they were fed both but yes the silage most people seem to feed to their horses does seem drier
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You have stated you meant to say haylage.

Of course haylage is drier than silage as it is partly dried on the field whereas silage is lifted the minute it is cut.

Also, haylage lasts longer than 24-48 hours. Average a week but if it is very cold then it can last longer.
 
All bar a couple of horses are on haylage where I keep my horses. It's made on site and is normally really good stuff. I soak it to remove most of the goodness though as my little one is a fatty and I prefer to feed ad-lib than leave him without.
 
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