What forage do you feed and why?

Small bale meadow hay, taken off our own fields or from a local farm.

It's a nightmare getting it made in the summer, but is then easy to store (I have a hay barn) and feed.

I regard haylage with great suspicion as being too rich, and it goes off too quickly if you only want a section or two. Ditto suspicious of Alfalfa, as many horses seem to have problems with it.
 
I used to feed mine on hay, but grew tired of trying to source quality hay. I moved mine on to horsehage and they're both doing really well on it. I have never fed alfalfa, but have known people who did and, yep, they had nothing but problems.
 
I feed: Soaked hay mixed with oat straw.
Because: She arrived overweight (pads and crest) and a lami risk.
Result: She's lost 3 inches from her girth since being with me, without going hungry ��.
 
Hay, soaked in summer. And straw if they are getting tubby. Because haylage is far too rich for my good doer horses, and alfalfa is rocket fuel.
 
We have a choice of hay or haylage, big bales, both open so you take your pick. I feed my big lad haylage as he is a poor doer, my mare is on haylage in the field due to RAO and soaked hay if in her box overnight.
 
I feed a small net of haylage for breakfast(no hard feed) and any which is left is eaten overnight and also feed soaked hay at night. I buy small haylage bales which last about 5 days.
 
Small bale hay
Honeychop plain oat straw chaff

My pony is horrid if he's hungry, the oat straw chaff means he can have more fibre without the calories
 
Beautiful organic hay, made by the yard owner, and it's ad lib too! It's sometimes fed steamed, but mostly just well wetted in a haynet and then emptied in my haybar.
 
Small bale Haylege a regular and a lite version expensive but wonderful quality and I feed very little else even to horses hunting twice a week .
I always have plain chopped straw and hay and straw blocks in stock and dried grass as chop and cubes .
 
Locally grown meadow hay and that's it. No alfalfa because, as Cortez says, it is rocket fuel. I tried alfa cubes once on a poor keeper, major fail, but the rabbits loved them, good thing too as I had a 50lb sack of the stuff.

I am lucky that I don't have to feed soaked hay or haylage as it would be impossible, they would be chowing down on solid blocks of ice.
 
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Small bale local hay. Easier to store and handle. Mine keep their weight well through winter as they have a lot of grazing, so no need to feed haylage. The hay is just for bad weather, so haylage would end up being wasted.
 
Hay made by the Yard Owner. I don't soak it, she dunks it in her water bucket for me!

As a treat she occasionally gets a handful of hayledge on the floor.

I can't feed hayledge full time as she is prone to colitis.
 
Goldenstar said:
Small bale Haylege a regular and a lite version expensive but wonderful quality and I feed very little else even to horses hunting twice a week .
I always have plain chopped straw and hay and straw blocks in stock and dried grass as chop and cubes .
Click to expand...

Can I ask what brand you use and do you find much difference between regular and lite version? PM if you prefer. Thank you
 
Hay. Because my husband makes it and I have a virtually unlimited supply.

He makes it on a fairly large scale and we have various types, some really soft, sweet meadow, some coarse, more like seed hay and some in between. Sometimes he plants/grows grass for seed hay too. The quality can also vary, the weather can affect this and some fields just make better hay than others.
 
Horsehage high fibre hay for my pony as the hay supplied by yard is of variable quality and pony gets a cough if hay has any dust (dusty hay well soaked has same bad reaction).

Yard hay for my horse as he's a greedy pig that will eat anything and is a good doer so I'm not worried if hay isn't best quality for him.

Not allowed to buy normal bales of hay from elsewhere and bring to yard.
 
Hay, small bales we have a farmer deliver once a fortnight and top everyone up. Quality is variable as he has to buy it in. I don't feed haylage as it's too rich, my horse gets a bit fizzy and also a bit fat on it, but he absolutely loves it, I sometimes give him some if we're going out somewhere.
 
Hay - i buy it from whoever has some extra when I need it (summer atm here, will buy 20 bales soon and put away for winter), usually from a local breeder and its really awesome stuff, smells so good I'd eat it!

Sometimes haylage, more likely in winter I'll feed 'chaffage' stuff (google Fiber Protect or Fiber Ezy).

I also bulk out feeds with beet and chaff depending on weather.

I have very fat horses, so they only get a few slices to act as some form of roughage when they are in their 'diet' paddocks for 16hrs a day
 
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