winter forage.....hay or haylage?

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wakijaki

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Hi all just wanting some advice on winter forage.
This is my first winter as a horse owner although I looked after day to day needs of my friends 5 horses all last winter I'm finding it a bit daunting now I have to make all the decisions myself!
So my friends horses lived out 24/7 and were on haylage all last winter until everywhere around ran out totally and then they had hard feed as they were worked most days.
So this winter I have my own, a fat haflinger mare and she lives out on a farm close to home and shares the field with 2 other fat ponies who belong to friends of mine.
So not wanting a repeat of last year hay shortage and knowing that we are in for a long cold winter we decided to stock up on forage now.
However - we have a choice between large bale hay or haylage....one friend said get hay - less fattening - wont go off. The other friend said get haylage as not dusty and more water content.
So I don't know whats for the best. We have estimated a large bale would last the 3 ponies 2 weeks so would that rule out haylage then as it would start to go off too quick?
Also in terms of the ponies not getting fat as they could all do with losing some weight - would it be better to feed in haynets rather than a large bale feeder? Im also worried that because my mare is so food driven and has become herd leader that she would try to keep it all to herself and drive the other two away.
Just wondered if anyone had any good advice from their own experiences. Thanks :)
 
Hay, definitely. Haylage is acidic and personally I don't think it's good for horses, especially not fatty natives. I tried putting large bales of hay straight out in the field for mine last winter but they ended up gorging on it and also wasted a lot by trampling it in the mud/pooing all over it. They tended to just stay attached to the hay until it was all gone (took about 4-5 days a bale eeek) and didn't move about at all, consequently they got rather large! Now I just put enough out each day in piles on the floor, not much while they've still got grazing but more when it gets eaten down and if there's snow etc.
 
If and when you need to feed, feed hay, double netted and hang up on trees/fencing spread around; I'd be more concerned about them all being fat tbh! Get them moving, don't rug unless they have been clipped.
 
If they're all fat I'd hold off on the extra forage until they really need it (ie. heavy frost, snow on the ground) and definitely would go with hay over haylage. I also wouldn't put a whole bale out as they'll just stand and stuff themselves. Just make sure you put out four piles or nets rather than three so even if one pushes the others around there's always some more for them to go to.
 
If they are chunky chappies (and chappesses) then definitely hay.

I wanted to keep Barry on hay. He's a TB but a very good doer (not yet on any hard feed). However, due to logistics, I've ended up on haylage. It's very hay-like haylage to be fair, so I'm hoping all the future bales are like the ones we've had so far.
 
Go for hay but dont just stick a big bale out as they will just stand eating and get fatter! I would love to do this for my Welshie because it would stop him making the field a mess galloping about but he would just stand and eat until his teeth were worn to nothing!!!
 
brilliant advice! thank you all for your replies. Yep we are going to go for hay instead. I must have had them mixed up in my head as i always thought hay was richer and when i asked my 2 field mates they both said different things. I also think putting up nets would be a great idea as it will get them moving about and i was also very worried that my mare would chase the others away and eat it all her self.
 
wakijaki said:
brilliant advice! thank you all for your replies. Yep we are going to go for hay instead. I must have had them mixed up in my head as i always thought hay was richer and when i asked my 2 field mates they both said different things. I also think putting up nets would be a great idea as it will get them moving about and i was also very worried that my mare would chase the others away and eat it all her self.
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I feed big bale haylage to my retired mare and young connie x. I double net the youngsters haylage. Haylage is lower in sugar than hay but generally higher in protein (it is the fermentation process that uses up the sugar). Here is a link that compares the two.

http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.ie/2011/11/all-about-hay-and-haylage.html
 
Last couple of winters I fed hay to my good doers twice a day in piles. But, we shared with another person's mare who wasn't being fed which meant that my bottom of the herd 4yo was having his pile taken off him unless we supervised/separated the other person's mare twice daily. (eventually she started paying dor hay and i fed all together supervised.) that's what we did all winter. Bit tedious but everyone came thro a good weight.
Halfway thro last winter, we were doing the same thing when the other person got another horse, good doer. My 4yo got even more pushed out and by this time the field was utterly trashed and the weather was foul. So I insisted we went to big bales ad lib. All we could get was haylage. Not my first choice (none of mine are shod and I have a greedy sec a as well as the pushed out youngster and a good doing sec d) but in order to get thrro the winter with everybody at least fed without me having to supervise/separate two horses from mine twice daily, and as I was biding my time to find new grazing, it was the pragmatic choice.
This winter I have new grazing for just my three. My farmer has kindly let me use a big cattle feeder to put big bale hay out for them adlib. There is very little waste so far, they still have 4 acres to move about (and are doing so as far as I can see) but it is lower in nutritional value so that's better for them. The bale is still tied within the feeder so it is tight and they are having to work much harder to get it off the bale (i am checking the state of the string and will remove any that is loose or frayed).
So far this is working well. They have the advantage of ad lib, with lower calorific value than. Haylage, so better for sec a and hooves generally. My 4yo is still bottom of the herd and gets pushed away but there is room for all three of them at the feeder and I know he can get to it when the others have eaten, if they don't always let him share. I also pull off 'outcast' piles for him daily. He is also the only one who is currently lightly rugged, to help him maintain condition. They also get a tiny handful of unmollassed Kwik beet and top spec lite chaff to take a winter mineral balancer. They 4yo gets a bit more beet than the others just to help him out a bit, as by nature he is a good doer but his low herd status means he does lose a little condition if I don't keep any eye on him.
So out of the three different methods of feeding forage thro different winters in different fields with various feed needs and different herd dynamics, each method has worked for different circumstances. And when the circus have changed I've tried to change accordingly.
I know what you mean about when you're scratching your head over deciding what's best at this time of year...as you can tell, it's a major preoccupation of mine! I'll probably stick with this unless it's not working for any of them then tweak to suit. (keeping an eye on sec a and he'll get a track within the field with his own tailored amount of hay if he gets over weight).
At the mo, a huge bale of hay has still got more than half left, a week later. It's not spoiling either ad the feeder keeps it a bit drier too. Will review this when we get near the end of the bale, but I guess as long as its not unhealthily inedible, it's similar to soaking hay so again, better for weight and hooves.
Gosh, sorry that was a complete essay!
 
Definately hay for natives and or good doers. I am currently experimenting with a giant haynet (from the rope seller) which fits right over the big hay bale and is tied up at the bottom of the of it. Am talking about big round bales. The mesh holes are quite small, and it slows down their eating and has already saved alot of wastage. Though its best used in a ring feeder as shod horses would get their feet caught. Money spent on it will be re-couped in several bales time. At £20/big bale - hay is too expensive to waste. Also we are in quite an exposed area, and often hay can be blown out of the ring feeder. I've just bought another giant net to slow down greedy highland ponies !!
 
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