will there be any difference....

[Stinkbomb]

in the calorie content of hay if soaked for 12 hours that that soaked for 24hrs???

I dont want my two to get any calories from the hay so i soak for 12hrs, was just wondering whether to change this to 24hrs but not sure whether this would make any difference??

 

[flyingfeet]

I seriously doubt there would be much difference, you need something to make the fibres break down to release more nutrients into the water - so cook it or find an enzyme!

 

[Theresa_F]

I get rough stalky hay not the lovely soft stuff so it has less feed value to start with. Chancer actually comes out in bumps if fed rich meadow hay. I don't soak hay as mine hate soaked hay.

I understand that if you soak for 24 hours the water is equivalent to sewage - 12 hours is the max recommended and should reduce the feed value.

Alternatively fill your little chaps up on a big tub of lucie stalks as this has very low feed value and certainly less than good hay.

 

[piebaldsparkle]

My understanding is that it is better to double soak the hay i.e. soak for a few hours, change water and resoak.

 

[Madasmaz]

There are issues with disposing of water used to soaking hay. Its apparently 10x worse than raw sewage and you are restricted by the waste management legislation as to what you can do with it...there used to be a really handy fact sheet on what you could do with it, but suffice to say its not supposed to go anywhere near any water courses or ditches. I soak my hay and was told that really soaking for more than 6 hours does more harm than good particularly in summer cos it starts to ferment...all those fungal spores. I soak for an hour and that seems to do the trick at keeping the weight of my fatty, she also gets a scoop of good-doer with cortaflex and garlic for breakie.