Winter management questions

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Alphamare

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If you stable your horse or not (but please say which)

How much hay/haylage do you feed? Do you adlib or weigh or go by feel?

How much do you buy for the winter?

How much grass do you have?

If you stable and have some grass in the fields do you only hay in the stable?

How many nets do you give your horse (poor doer or good doer?)

How many nets would you make from one small bale of hay (or haylage)

How long is your horse in his/her stable for?

Thanks!!!
 
In the winter my horse goes out from 6.30 am to 6pm. Then she is in her box all night.

She will get in the region of 8kg of haylage in early winter. I will increase this to 10kg when the grass starts to disappear in late Jan/feb.

I don't have loads of storage, so I buy 80bales of hay off the field in the summer and I buy 20kg of bagged haylage x 25 at a time.

I have plenty of grass. I only hay in the stable. I don't want to waste hay/haylage in the field.

I don't use nets because I prefer the horses to eat from the floor. All bales of hay and haylage come in different sizes, so do haynets, so you cannot calculate how many nets you will fill from one bale.

My horse is in her stable for approx 12 hours. When it's cold and wet in winter, she is delighted to stand in her box.
 
mine last year had full turnout at home till mid october but with no field shelter for her

i fed her a small amount of hard feed once a day and a small square of hay a day from mid september till mid october. then she went on working livery for the winter and she had her feed done by someone else, i was just told and knew she was on hayledge and half a scoop of hifi and half a scoop of chaff.

they year she is home from march till as long as i can cope probably end of november and she had a field shelter they can make like a stable.

i cant decide how much hay she will need and i dont no where to put her on a differant mix as she is on pasture mix at the moment only a handful a day and she just eats grass the rest of the time. she is a good doer.

she doesnt need much stabling but she is a sport horse and i wouldnt want her out in minus temperatures of snow. however she wont be rugged till its less then 5 degrees, she doesnt need it.

she lives on just under 2 acres to herself with horses next door.
shes was fed hay on the floor last year as i didnt really have anywhere in the field to tye it up as its electic fences but this year she will probably have her hay nets on the gate or the field shelter
 
I stable mine if it's wet. If it freezes or snows they'll stay out. They'll be in over night - say 9-10pm till 8-9am if they are stabled. Strictly speaking, my yearling doesn't have a stable, but he'll come off the grass for the same period.

I feed ad lib haylage to my veteran cob. I will feed mostly straw to the other two, though possibly supplemented with small amounts of haylage depending on how they do (past experience tells me they'll be fine!) All ad lib but with minimal wastage. I currently have 70 bales of straw and 50 of haylage, plus grass. I'm not sure it will last all winter.

I have 2.5 acres of grass, reasonably well covered but mixed species, not pure ryegrass type paddock.

I will put straw in the field if it snows. I may put the cob in another field with haylage if I think he needs it.

I don't use nets, everything goes on the floor (unless double netting for dieting reasons, e.g. when the middle pony was on box rest earlier in the year).

How long is a piece of string? (or how big are your nets / how big are your bales :D)

Rough maths from times above says they're in for c. 11 hours. But if the fields get trashed, longer, if it snows, less etc... ;)
 
I keep several,some in at night some out 24/7
Those out have a fair amount of grass and are good doers so only had hay during the snow last winter.
The ones in at night have adlib haylage so there is usually some left in the morning.They only had some in the fields during snow.
I use big bale haylage and some small bales of hay,the hay would probably do 2-3 small horses overnight.
The good doers when in get their ration in 2 stages as I am on site I give them more at 10pm. Another way to slow eating to enable the hay to last longer is to double net,this does work well.
Those in at night are turned out about 9am or after they have worked then in by 3.30 in the middle of winter.
 
All my horses live out 24/7 with a shelter when they bother to use them, I dont have a set amount of hay that I give them. The amount of hay I put in the baths outside will depend on the horses needs, some have none some a few slices a day. I have loads of grass, and a few fields untouched since last winter so hay is not really needed untill they eat it all off or it snows heavily. I must add I do have cobs and native types, so not high maintenance when it comes to feeding.
 
Ours are out 24/7, on a 4-acre field with two shelters. the one by the house also has a little stable yard and a concrete track, on which the horses spend a lot of time in the winter).

My own is a good doing cob. She gets a little hard feed throughout the year, but I won't be feeding haylage (sh's allergic to hay) until the end of November, unless we have really bad weather.

Because she had haylage- and frozen grass-related laminitis last winter during the snow spell, this year I will try to ensure that she doesn't get more than 8lbs (NOT kilos) of haylage a da unless it's a very frosty period, in which case I'll raise it to 10-12 lbs.

I will weigh the haylage in a net, and then tip it out on the concrete as I feed her off the floor.

The last two winters, our haylage has worked out roughly at one big bale lasting 3 horses 12-14 days, depending on the weight of the bale. I think I worked out that we needed 20 big bales to see us through from end November to second week of April.

They have slightly bigger feeds in the winter, morning and evening, with plenty of chaff. I also warm their unmolassed sugar beet and add to it home-cooked linseed, so they get a hot breakfast, which they love!

Their haylage is put out four times a day, 9a.m. 1p.m. 5p.m. and midnight, so they are never without for long.

I hope this is some help
 
Alphamare said:
If you stable your horse or not (but please say which) Not

How much hay/haylage do you feed? Do you adlib or weigh or go by feel? Ad-lib

How much do you buy for the winter? this year I have 80 round bales and about 1500 small squares in my barns

How much grass do you have? 35 acres, but that's irrelevant, it's covered in snow from November to March usually;)

If you stable and have some grass in the fields do you only hay in the stable?

How many nets do you give your horse (poor doer or good doer?)

How many nets would you make from one small bale of hay (or haylage)That depends on the size of the horse, what type, how much it needs, would eat, that is a "how long is a piece of string?" question.:D

How long is your horse in his/her stable for?Barring emergencies or necessity - for a couple of hours every 8 weeks or so for the farrier :)

Thanks!!!
Click to expand...

.....
 
My horses eat 16 kg of haylage per day each on average during the winter, even if out on the grass as it is very poor. Even though this seems a lot, it is no where near ad lib. I tried ad lib haylage one year and they all came out of winter looking pregnant! I find that 16 kg and only one hard feed a day keeps them in excellent condition with no weight loss or gain during winter.

During the worst of the weather they only go out for 3 hours in the all weather. The rest of the time they go out in the field during the day light hours and come in before dark. It would be far too dangerous bringing in eight horses in the dark as they get silly at bringing in time if they are out in the fields, but not if they are in the all weather. They are far calmer there as it is closer to the stables.

They get out in the fields or the all weather every day of the year regardless of the weather. When they are only out for three hours, I make it a condition that they are exercised at least 5 times a week, and this will be done by us if the owner is unable to do so.

ETA:

This is not my ideal arrangement. If I were to have only my own horses and no liveries, I would keep them out 24/7 with access to a barn. However, I would only do this on ground that did not poach as I do not like horses being in muddy fields.
 
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Alphamare said:
If you stable your horse or not (but please say which)

How much hay/haylage do you feed? Do you adlib or weigh or go by feel? go by feel these days (only weighed in old BHS days) 3 sections overnight, depending on grass, anything from nothing to 2 sections in day from small hay bales as i can store lots of this & no room for big bales.

How much do you buy for the winter? 100 bales for tubby pair of Fuzzies, one 15.2 & one 12.2

How much grass do you have? 4.5 acres, of which 2 acres are used from late Oct to March

If you stable and have some grass in the fields do you only hay in the stable?
No, as i work 3 days a week & they are left for 11 hrs whatever the weather outside, they have 3 slabs between the 2 in the worst of the winter. Also, think about the 'no grass' in times of snow

How many nets do you give your horse (poor doer or good doer?) As above - 1 at night, loose in day

How many nets would you make from one small bale of hay (or haylage). 3.5 bales per week in depths of winter for bigger fuzzy

How long is your horse in his/her stable for? work days: 12 hours, non-work days prob 7-8 hrs

Thanks!!!
Click to expand...

HTH - lots of variables - October/November is not as bad as January for light/grass etc......
Currently I have ots of grass, so am planning on not haying at all till November & then only overnight
 
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Ok I'm going to be very scientific about this :p.

Mine gets two medium sized haynets a night, one of hay and one of haylage. He usually leaves a bit (sometimes a lot!) if he leaved nothing he gets more.

When it's frozen or cold he gets a medium net worth of mixed hay/haylage in the field but if the weathers ok then none as he has lots of grass all year round in his field.

We buy our hay/haylage as we go as there is limited storage. Usually every month/two months we get a delivery of a couple huge square bales of each forage. It costs around £60-£80 per month mid winter.

My horse is a 16.1 TB
 
If you stable your horse or not (but please say which)
Stable overnight

How much hay/haylage do you feed? Do you adlib or weigh or go by feel?
Hay I feed adlib but usually double netted as horse inhales food...

How much do you buy for the winter?
ON LIVERY SO N/A

How much grass do you have?
At livery, a reasonable amount - as with most places its more or less nothing by the end of winter

If you stable and have some grass in the fields do you only hay in the stable?
Yes only hay in stable

How many nets do you give your horse (poor doer or good doer?)
Good doer - for 12/13 hour overnight stint, approx 4 double netted

How many nets would you make from one small bale of hay (or haylage)
7/8 from our small bales

How long is your horse in his/her stable for?
12/13 hours overnight roughly
 
Alphamare said:
If you stable your horse or not (but please say which)
All horses are stabled from oct to may

How much hay/haylage do you feed? Do you adlib or weigh or go by feel?
As much as I can stuff in - usually 4 nets a day


How much do you buy for the winter?
We buy off farmer big round bales from farmer

How much grass do you have?
very little, as it is overgrazed

If you stable and have some grass in the fields do you only hay in the stable?
Pony isn't turned out because of the steep muddy fields however she is walked out 3 times a day for an hour and a half or 2 hours to a field with grass. Hay is fed in stable

How many nets do you give your horse (poor doer or good doer?)
Roughly 2 in the daytime and 2 at night, 44 year old very poor doer

How many nets would you make from one small bale of hay (or haylage)
Unsure as we have big round bales but I get rougly 30 bales from a big round one

How long is your horse in his/her stable for?
Overnight and during college

Thanks!!!
Click to expand...

Hope this is ok
 
How much hay/haylage do you feed? Do you adlib or weigh or go by feel? Usually, I go by feel. It depends on their weight, how much grass they have in the field and how much turn out they are getting. Towards the end of the winter though, my hunter (who is a good doer) tends to get ad lib hay to prevent him from dropping too much weight.

How much do you buy for the winter?
I don't - it's all included in my livery! :)

How much grass do you have?
Not a lot usually over the winter, but we have limited turnout at the yard so the horses only go out for a few hours each day.

If you stable and have some grass in the fields do you only hay in the stable?
Just hay in the stable, and then they go out and graze. If it has snowed, though, we put hay out in the fields.

How many nets do you give your horse (poor doer or good doer?)
I don't use haynets - I feed from the floor. They get approx 1-1\2 big slices of hay per day. They are good doers.

How many nets would you make from one small bale of hay (or haylage)
Have no idea!

How long is your horse in his/her stable for?
Varies between 16 and 20 hours depending on the weather and ground conditions. There are usually a few days every now and then when it is too wet for them to go out.
 
Thanks everyone i know its a 'how long is string' question but this is my second winter with the horses (have had more experience than that but in hotter climes) and this time we have more grazing and stables where as last year we had no stables and had to adlib forage, boy did that cost an arm and a leg... also they all came out of winter far too fat for my liking.

As we have decent grazing and its a private yard i dont think we will have the problem of running out of grass thankfully so i dont see myself having to hay in the fields.

I will be feeding the poorer doers a hay/haylage mix and the fatties will get a hay/straw mix. I want to actually get a little weight off them this year.

thanks again for all the help!!!
 
My welsh sec d is stabled at night all year round to keep his weight down and laminitis at bay. He is out in the day every day of the year whstever the weather from 5.30am to 7pm.
He has enough grass to last him all year so he has no hay in the field at all. I strip graze him daily in winter. When he is in at night he has a third of a small bale per night in a small hole net.
He has chaff twice per day to put a supplement into. He has access to his field stable all year round but never uses it in the winter. He is unrugged all year.
I do not feed hay adlib as he would just stuff his face and get fat!
 
If you stable your horse or not (but please say which) Two are, the rest not

How much hay/haylage do you feed? Do you adlib or weigh or go by feel? Ad Lib

How much do you buy for the winter Lots!

How much grass do you have? At the moment not a great deal

If you stable and have some grass in the fields do you only hay in the stable? both

How many nets do you give your horse (poor doer or good doer?) none, feed off the floor

How many nets would you make from one small bale of hay (or haylage) 2 if I had to net

How long is your horse in his/her stable for?
Overnight
 
If you stable your horse or not (but please say which)

stabled

How much hay/haylage do you feed? Do you adlib or weigh or go by feel?

as much as they want

How much do you buy for the winter?

roughly about 120 bales

How much grass do you have?

3 acres

If you stable and have some grass in the fields do you only hay in the stable?

if there is snow on the ground then hay outside, depends on how the fields are being eaten off

How many nets do you give your horse (poor doer or good doer?)

dont use haynets (dangerous) only hayracks

How many nets would you make from one small bale of hay (or haylage)

not applicable

How long is your horse in his/her stable for?

depends on when it gets dark, but roughly 13/14 hours
 
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