YOs - What's your problem with hay in fields?

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OK, I thing horses are absolutely fine out on snow and frost (but not ice) as long as they get plenty to eat. Everyone with their own land feeds their horses hay or haylage in piles in the fields, but it sounds like lots of livery yards have issues about it.

If the horses stay in stables they are allowed to munch their way through hay or haylage, but they can't go out with food? Why not?

If it is because they fight, don't you think that has a lot to do with the groups being too big/badly matched? ie Your paddock management?

Sorry, this isn't aimed at everyone, just awkward people, lol, and its something that bugs me. :D
 
It does make a mess of the fields.....I only have 3 horses, and they aren't out for a huge length of time on days like today, and I still don't really like feeding hay in the field!!

I do put it out when the grass is covered in snow, but on wet days I would rather the horses went out for a shorter time and came in to eat....

Invariably, the horses don't eat it all and it gets trampled into the mud, which is impossible to get back up and then prevents grass growing properly through it come Spring/Summer.....

I don't even have the issues of badly matched turn out groups....!!
 
I don't really get the bit about messing up the fields? I feed hay in the field all through the winter, and sometimes in autumn and spring too, depending on the grass quantity. I know how many sections they will get through without wasting any, and I change where I put it every day, so there is never a problem with it ruining the field. If it is really wet then I take care to put it on the highest and driest pieces of land.
 
Maisy said:
It does make a mess of the fields.....I only have 3 horses, and they aren't out for a huge length of time on days like today, and I still don't really like feeding hay in the field!!

I do put it out when the grass is covered in snow, but on wet days I would rather the horses went out for a shorter time and came in to eat....

Invariably, the horses don't eat it all and it gets trampled into the mud, which is impossible to get back up and then prevents grass growing properly through it come Spring/Summer.....

I don't even have the issues of badly matched turn out groups....!!
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Hay Hutches = Problem sorted! :D :D

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our yard owner is great and lets us put haylage out for them at the moment - its better they continue to go out and stay in their routine, granted they are out as long as they want and if they look fed up they are brought in.

We are lucky that on the wet days we have hard standing paddocks so they can go out but the fields are not ruined so best of both worlds.

i think they do more damage when the ground is soaked and ours are still digging thorugh the snow to get to the grass so we dont have to put out much haylage.
 
I am a Yard Owner and I always put Hay out in the fields as soon as the grass stops growing, it is easy as soon as Spring arrives to harrow the fields and this spreads any left over, never had a problem with grass not coming through....
I think it causes more issues for horses to be turned out with nothing to eat as surely this will lead to them fighting as they have nothing to do!
 
Our problem (although still do it) is that you always overfeed outside, as the horses would rather nibble at grass than eat hay. So inevitably liveries put out too much and then end up with a pile of yucky hay that they don't often clean up!!
 
Surely where its on top of the snow at the moment it isn't ruining the grass? We feed ours on the hard standing so they aren't poaching the ground by standing in one place all day.
 
If you put it in the same place every day it can cause problems in the spring with the grass coming through, leftovers get trodden into the ground unless the horses eat it all every day and in that case are you putting enough out? This happended to me last year where we fed hay and come spring the farmer had to scrape it all up with a big digger type machine and re-seed that area with double seed. In fact the area where I fed hay last year hadn't recovered by the end of summer it was still pretty bare. I don't think it's so much of a problem on the snow/hard ground, much worse in wet conditions.

Despite this I still do feed hay in the field as they need it and I would expect a YO to do the same, the maintenance of grazing is part of what you pay your livery for it's not fair to expect horses to stay in for this reason.
 
Jen_Cots said:
Our problem (although still do it) is that you always overfeed outside, as the horses would rather nibble at grass than eat hay. So inevitably liveries put out too much and then end up with a pile of yucky hay that they don't often clean up!!
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One answer is don't let the liveries do the feeding! My YO feeds everything out in the fields herself, regardless fo what livery package each horse is on. She also feeds the DIY horses their hay morning and night, that way there is no wastage and no arguments over who is feeding how much. Makes life a lot easier for all concerned.
 
I put out hay/haylage in winter paddocks, which don't have much grass anyway, but only enough for a nibble. I'm happy for the horses to eat a lot, but not so happy for them to just tread it into the mud, frankly. Forage is like gold dust this year and I'm operating on small profit margins as it is.
 
I always put hay out in fields. Rather that than horse stuck in stables. There is a fine line between too much and just enough and after 3 winters in my fields I think I have cracked it. I spread hay out into lots of small piles and use buckets and troughs as well. Any that does get wasted I leave it to dry then scrape it up and if not too muddy I put it in the field shelter as bedding.

I also collect up all the seeds from my hay store and will be sprinkling them on the ground come spring in the hope the take seed and grow some nice grass.
 
I harrow and roll the fields towards the end of the winter and it spreads out fine + the hay seeds help the land recover.

We only feed during snow or hard frost as have plenty of land for the horses and don't want them to start relying on supplementation.
 
Whenever I was at a livery yard, the problem wasn't with the YO but more the other liveries not wanting to put hay out for their horse, leaving you with no choice not to hay yours unless you wanted to feed everyone else's horse too.

Love being at my own place! I feed hay in the field and change where I feed them every day, I have never noticed issues with it ruining the field and it seems to recover just fine in the spring.
 
At my last yard it was the liveries not the yo who were the issue
:-

Some only fed soaked hay = did not want their horse eating dry hay
Some only fed horseage = did not want their horse eating dry hay
Some had very low pecking horses = did not want there horse to be run off the hay
Some were tight and refused to pay for their horses to have hay in the filed
Who was to put the hay out?
What size piles to pay hay out in
My horse is only going out at 10 am then all the hay is already gone
My horse is going out at 6am and not coming in till 6pm - not enough hay being put in....
My 13.2hh wont eat as much as your 16.2hh

thankfully i am now at a yard with my own field and yep i hay every day when the snow
laying and i move any left overs and put it by the muddy gate way - well frozen muddy gate way
 
We're not allowed to feed haylage in our fields, even though the four boys who are out together are all attached at the hip and never fight. So we're just turning out for an hour in the morning while we muck out and then one of us makes the trip at lunchtime and turns them out and the next one there brings them in about 4pm. when I let them out at lunchtime, they wandered off into the fields and started digging. They were fine. YO prefers that they just have a leg stretch in winter. Not my ideal, but everything else is great, so I have to put up with it.
 
We can do whatever we want in our fields. DIY means just that at our yards. We have a couple of acres between each pair of horses (They are all in pairs although not deliberately, just most of us have two horses so makes sense to turn them out together) and can partition the field however we like, feed in the field, hay in the fields. It's all fine because we're the ones that have to deal with it come spring. If you don't look after your field you get no grass! Hehe. I love it but I expect to some people it seems just awful!
 
I have a friend who runs a livery yard and she won't allow hay in the fields. Mostly because of the poaching - which happens wherever you put the hay if the fields are wet and her theory is "if the horse is standing still eating in a field, it might as well be standing still eating in a stable" ;)
 
Ravenwood said:
I have a friend who runs a livery yard and she won't allow hay in the fields. Mostly because of the poaching - which happens wherever you put the hay if the fields are wet and her theory is "if the horse is standing still eating in a field, it might as well be standing still eating in a stable" ;)
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Except that then you have a hell of a lot of mucking out to do, have to pay for the bedding, and the horses get stiff/fresh ;)
 
We put lots of small piles, just enough to ensure it all gets eaten and move where it goes all the time. Never had any issue. Never had wasted hay, or any trace in the Spring of where we hayed. If you put lots of piles for the number of horses and ensure none are in corners or anywhere they will get trapped then you shouldn't have a problem with fighting.
 
625 said:
I am a Yard Owner and I always put Hay out in the fields as soon as the grass stops growing, it is easy as soon as Spring arrives to harrow the fields and this spreads any left over, never had a problem with grass not coming through....
I think it causes more issues for horses to be turned out with nothing to eat as surely this will lead to them fighting as they have nothing to do!
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Ditto.

I ensure it goes to the edges of the fields - we have one of the paddocks with a nice bank on one side, so this has the hay usually lobbed towards it.
 
our yard I'd say 85% of the horses are out 24/7 365 days of the year! therefore if they weren't allowed hay in the field they would never get any! therefore no problems with that!
 
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