Weighing hay

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LovesBayPonies

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Hi there, I was thinking about getting some scales to weigh hay for my very good doer. He is a medium weight hunter type, 13.1hh. I have been guessing for a long time and used differnent sized haynets one smaller one for the day and a bigger one at night. Just wondering how much hay I should be giving him? thanks :D
 
The best scales are the ones that people use to weigh fish - they hang up and have a hook you can hang your net off - got mine off ebay for less than £10.

To work out how much hay your pony needs, you need a weightape. The average horse needs 2% of its body weight in forage per day - this is be made up of grazing/hard feed and hay or haylage. If the horse is a 'fatty' this can be reduced to 1.5%, and if the horse is in heavy work, or a poor doer it can be increased to 2.5%.

For example, my hunting cob weighs 500 kg, and as is hunting twice a week, use the 2.5%.

Therefore he needs up to 12 kg feed per day.

His current daily rations are:

- 2-3 kgs grass (turned out for approx 6 hrs a day on good grazing)
- 2 kgs hard feed (split into 2 meals)
- 8 kgs haylage

Hope that makes sense!
 
Or if it makes it easier, our 13.2hh hunting pony gets 6kg haylage at night - this is a medium net stuffed full!

He is managed on the same basis as the cob but has less hard feed.
 
Remember from PC days being taught a horse eats around 1kg grass every 2 hrs - obviously would depend on the time of year/grass availablilty, and how greedy the horse is etc......hence out at grass for 6 hrs, the cob is likely to consume approx 3 kgs.

Of course I could have remembered this totally wrong (!) , but the equation tends too work for me x
 
Hi, looked on ebay for fish scales they look just the ticket. Thank you Sidney. I think he would be eating a lot more than 1 kg every two hours if he was turned out in a field with lots of grass! :eek: He is food obsessed.I will be measuring him with a weight tape tomorrow to see how much he needs! :D Thank you for your replies. :)
 
Sidney said:
Remember from PC days being taught a horse eats around 1kg grass every 2 hrs - obviously would depend on the time of year/grass availablilty, and how greedy the horse is etc......hence out at grass for 6 hrs, the cob is likely to consume approx 3 kgs.

Of course I could have remembered this totally wrong (!) , but the equation tends too work for me x
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll bear that guideline in mind.
 
I use the fish scales too. My mare is a vet good doer and I feed her 1.5% of her body weight so she gets 20lbs of soaked hay. She has 5lbs on a morning before being ridden, and she has 3 x small elim-a-nets at night each with 5lbs in. This seems to suit her just fine, she's 16.1hh warmblood x welsh d.
 
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