What to feed in field now grass is so poor...

Not helpful i'm afraid, but I wish we had your problem....we have way too much green stuff. We currently have 3 laminitics on the yard who are experts at getting muzzles off, so they are stuck indoors :(....We'd give anything for one bare field *sigh*
 
phantomhorse said:
Can you feed FF unsoaked? I normally feed SB and Copra in winter but am reluctant to in summer for fear of it going off if left in the field.
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Aghh copra is 21% protein and did not do my horse any favours temperament wise when I fed it. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone now - anything over a 12 % protein content delfinate no no.

btw that pic of the horse chasing dog is just like my dog hating WB who would kill the dog!!
 
How about a scoop of hi fibre nuts or grass nuts scattered on the ground. If you scatter them far and wide the horses (in my case ponies) spend hours hovering them up. I literally take them to the field and throw them in all directions a handful at a time whilst walking about. Keeps them occupied for hours.
 
Perissa said:
How about a scoop of hi fibre nuts or grass nuts scattered on the ground. If you scatter them far and wide the horses (in my case ponies) spend hours hovering them up. I literally take them to the field and throw them in all directions a handful at a time whilst walking about. Keeps them occupied for hours.
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That's an excellent idea - you could do it with alfalfa pellets (for those on forage diets)
 
I'd be querying with the YO as to why they are so averse to horses having hay in the field when there is little grass and your horse is losing condition.

If they are not prepared to let you feed your horse correctly and healthily then I'd be inclined to find somewhere else.

Can you get hold of a 56 gallon oil drum - plastic type and cut it in half - they make great hay bins - the hay goes in already shaken up so the horse doesn't spread it around. Maybe put the bin way up the back of the field so it's not easily seen.
 
YasandCrystal said:
Aghh copra is 21% protein and did not do my horse any favours temperament wise when I fed it. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone now - anything over a 12 % protein content delfinate no no.
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OP: I use Copra too. No ones got a more highly strung, nor stressy horse than my 4 yr old mare and I can honestly say Copra doesn't affect her (I feed 500g (unsoaked weight) per day in winter.)

I don't find the 'protein' level affects her temperament (although, by the same token, I'm aware to balance the WHOLE diet so the protein level evens out so it's never high anyway.)

Same horse: Now with molassed sugar beet - YIKES! :eek: That's another story. She bursts out of her skin if she even gets a sniff of it. It's the sugar and cereal content of feed that affects temperament.

Funny how horses are all so different :)
 
As a YO, I understand about no hay in fields in winter as it makes such a mess where the horses stand and poach the ground (so I don't allow any hay in fields in winter either), but I don't understand why you can't when the ground is dry and hard!? Weird.

You need to move here, we have so much grass it's unbelieveable!

Yes, Fast Fibre is excellent. You could also feed a large Tubtrug of Readigrass, or Hi-Fi Lite, that way it's still a "feed" ;)
 
MillionDollar said:
As a YO, I understand about no hay in fields in winter as it makes such a mess where the horses stand and poach the ground (so I don't allow any hay in fields in winter either), but I don't understand why you can't when the ground is dry and hard!? Weird.

You need to move here, we have so much grass it's unbelieveable!

Yes, Fast Fibre is excellent. You could also feed a large Tubtrug of Readigrass, or Hi-Fi Lite, that way it's still a "feed" ;)
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I find this hard to believe - yes they do pug the grass but if you are feeding in the same place each time then the seed heads that have fallen off the hay will help re-seed the paddock.

So what do you do? How do you feed the hay.

At my school I had 10 hacks in one paddock and 22 ponies in another. I ran an electric fence down one side of each of the paddocks and hay was thrown over this wire from one end of the paddock to the other. It meant that we could get the wheelbarrow in without it being up to the handles in mud and meant also that we didn't get mobbed by the ponies. It worked really well and in the spring the grass grew back all along where the hay had been dropped.
 
MillionDollar said:
but I don't understand why you can't when the ground is dry and hard!? Weird.
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This is what I thought, I own a yard, we scatter hay in piles around the field, there is never much left the next day and if there is it blows away or I will scrape it up if needed.

I also have a big round of hay in a cattle feeder in another field, it is fine on the grass, I move it around every week to another patch, the grass soon grows back.
 
I think it stinks myself, would move my horse if that was the case, the horses welfare should come first not what it looks like from the B&B windows. Go buy some horsehage and give that hay in the trug it is your hay and in a trug so you can feed it what you like atleast he will be getting some fibre through him, poor thing.
 
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