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

Nothing at all :)

But then I do the hay in fields, not the Boaders, they pay me to do that, which suits us all just fine.

The fields recover, that's what tillers, harrows and rollers are for.
 
At my yard the hay and straw is included in the livery price, you can have as much as you want. The horses have a paddock of their own....but....we are NOT allowed to put hay in the field as it looks messy.
 
love it at my yard got free rein as my girls are the only ones out the YO gelding stays in in bad weather and the other gelding goes in the sandschool for a leg stretch so my girls have about five acers to themselves i put hayledge out in small piles to mimic natural grazing and are out all day long
 
im not a YO but our YO does not allow it in the mares field, only the geldings as they are happy to stand side by side while eating whereas the mares can get very upset & fights break out especially as we have a few quite dominant characters in our field.
 
At our yard, the YM puts out round bales in feeders. I think the 8 horses in the Spooky Pony's field go through about 2 bales every 2 weeks (she puts them out 2 at a time, so all the horses can get at them). Never seen any fighting about the hay, and the grass seems to come in just fine (too fine!!) the next spring. Not much wastage, either. Most of the horses are out 24/7.
 
Flame_ said:
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
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I would be extremely miffed at this as my horse has a dust allergy so can't eat dry hay, he can't have haylage because of laminitis and it causes fighting, there is always a top dog who will guts the lot
 
Ours are going out for two hours in this snow, and I don't put anything out as I want them to move around and exercise, as we can't ride them. I find that when I do put piles out, when they are out longer, they just trample it anyway. The pictures of the hayhutch etc may be better, or haynets on posts around the field perhaps. Luckily ours are all good doers, so don't drop any weight.

It does make a mess, but its easily cleaned up. All these horses with particular problems that mean they can't have x or y to eat make it very difficult for a yard owner.
 
Hay in tractor tyres, so get a wad of hay each spring when you move it. Harrow and roll fields = nice grass and any left seeds get used.

We had the best grass ever on our winter poached but this summer, mainly cos it was fenced off the whole time. If the yard does not have enough land that it can't have trash areas/paddocks, then they should have less horses :)
 
I must have an amazing YO then - we can put hay in the fields if we want. Our horses are all either on individual turnout in separate hot-taped paddocks or in groups according to owners' preferences and the pecking order etc. If the owner I share my paddock with didn't want to put hay out and I did, I could just ask YO to move mine into an individual paddock next to his fieldmate! We can have as much hay/haylage (access to both) as we want, as long as it isn't being wasted. Same goes for bedding - as long as there isn't too much clean straw on the muckheap we can have as much as we like. Last livery yard I was on, they would remove bedding/hay if they thought the owner had used too much!! Thankfully this never happened to me, but I saw it done to others. I love my new yard :D :D :D
 
I've never been on a yard that hayed the fields. Providing the grazing is not overstocked, there's simply no need (for part stabled horses).

Even in the snow, the horses only need a few hours leg stretch, and can then be brought in to eat as much as they want.
 
Out of interest how much are those of you paying for inclusive hay/haylage and are you diy or part livery etc, what else to you get included ?
 
This is our first winter at our new yard and first year that liveries aren't allowed to put haylage out (unless in a haynet and by prior agreement with YM) because of the waste. The YO says we will run out of haylage by mid-March even with that protocol in place so he might have to put the price up :( Ultimately, I pay the YO/YM to manage stuff like this so I do what they say.

At the farm where I keep my pony we have no need to put it out because they have the full run of 3 good sized fields with plenty of sheltered areas so they can get to the grass easily.
 
Flame_ said:
Where I fed hay last winter on frozen, bare snow covered ground, this summer lovely grass came through from the hay seeds. Not convinced yet. ;)
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True. I section off a corner of my field and turn it into a winter 'trash' paddock. Its gets totally eaten down, muddy etc. It does get a bit messy...but I go in with a big rake and clear it up. The grass comes through fine in spring from the hay seeds.

I'd rather the horses were out and eating, but I'm lucky that I can choose to so this.

Mind you, I used to be on livery and the YO had no problem whatsoever with us putting hay/hayledge out in winter.....
 
It's one of the many reasons I'm leaving my yard tomorrow!! The YO has no problems with hay in fields but doesn't put it out anyway!!! I put my boy out last night with bale of my own hay to keep him and the other horse in the paddock (the YO's btw!!) going through the night! I was told by another livery that 6 horses had been in the main paddock all day and night without a scrap of food...1 of which belongs to someone who pays full livery to have his horse bought in and fed TWICE a day but because he wasn't coming up that day to ride the YO didn't bother!!!! As I was putting the hay out to mine the other 6 were straining over the fence to get some. I felt awful but I cannot afford to feed that many horses and the owners should know damn well by now how the YO behaves and ensure they come up and give their horses food. :mad:

Can't wait to leave.
 
cobgirlie said:
It's one of the many reasons I'm leaving my yard tomorrow!! The YO has no problems with hay in fields but doesn't put it out anyway!!! I put my boy out last night with bale of my own hay to keep him and the other horse in the paddock (the YO's btw!!) going through the night! I was told by another livery that 6 horses had been in the main paddock all day and night without a scrap of food...1 of which belongs to someone who pays full livery to have his horse bought in and fed TWICE a day but because he wasn't coming up that day to ride the YO didn't bother!!!! As I was putting the hay out to mine the other 6 were straining over the fence to get some. I felt awful but I cannot afford to feed that many horses and the owners should know damn well by now how the YO behaves and ensure they come up and give their horses food. :mad:

Can't wait to leave.
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That was one of the main reasons I left my yard too....the YO was happy for us to put hay out, but as it wasn't included in livery we had to buy extra.

I was putting huge amounts out for my horses, presuming others would do the same...but no, they would put their horses out for a few hours whilst stables were being done, and not put any hay/water out! So I was feeding everyone elses horses!

I'm still spending a fortune, but at least its only on my horses now....
 
NOISYGIRL said:
I would be extremely miffed at this as my horse has a dust allergy so can't eat dry hay, he can't have haylage because of laminitis and it causes fighting, there is always a top dog who will guts the lot
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OK, as it has special needs, yours only gets a bit of turnout in the arena. It does not cause fighting half as much as boredom and hunger does, how do you think horses living out cope? If the food is spread out, one horse cannot possibly eat the lot.

As for the waste argument, you put out a bit less than the equivalent amount you would feed if the horses if they had to stand in. OK a bit may get wasted, but you've still used less and everyone saves money on bedding. :confused:
 
I'm getting that its logistically more of a problem where people's hay/haylage isn't included in their livery bill, and everyone wants to give different amounts, assuming the groups are large.
 
Livery is £65 per month for grass livery and then large round hale bales are put between 2 fields for 2 horses to share. Each bale is £20 and lasts about 3 or 4 weeks. This system works well on our yard. The grass has grown back and you wouldn't even know where the hay had been
 
NOISYGIRL said:
Out of interest how much are those of you paying for inclusive hay/haylage and are you diy or part livery etc, what else to you get included ?
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We pay £25 a week including as much hay and straw as we want, on DIY, its only the two of us so we do hay in the fields. We have part of the field fenced off so my boy can be separated so that my friends WB can have more hay if needed in Winter or so that Bentley has less grass in Spring/Summer/Autumn.
 
We aren't supposed to put hay piles out in the fields because the landowners (N******* T****) kick off because they think it looks untidy. We are allowed to use a hay box or bale holder (although there isn't either in our paddock) but this wouldn't suit our group as we have a greedy guzzler who won't share and will guard food with her back hooves! It would likely mean the others would get nothing. We are ignoring the rules right now though - there is hardly any grass and its frozen solid so there are 3 small piles, well spaced. The uneaten gets cleaned up regularly. It is a shame that the powers that be that run these bodies think that how the fields look is more important than animal welfare :(
 
I'm a YO and this is our take....

Those that live out 24/7 - at the moment there is 7 of them, foal to 28 year old - they get ab lib haylage put in the field by the farmer. normally 4 at a time. this year i have told mr farmer he can only drop it over the gateways as last year rather than going on the hardstand driveway part of the field he drove across it each time - leaving tyre tracks after him!

Those that are in at night - we dont let the put hay/haylage out in the fields - reasons below.
They have a massive field... they are never stood hungry so dont need it
they normally go out for a few hours a day... in that time they are meant to be stretching legs etc - not stood in one place munching.
Some can only have hay....
some only have haylage....
so eat loads....
some are on diets.....
some are out at 6am ... some dont get put put until 2pm....
its not a matter that they would fight - but i can be sure that IF my liveries did put hay out - they wouldnt put enough piles out, and wouldnt be bothered to actually take it down to the field!
Over 10 years we have NEVER had anyone unhappy with it, except one girl who put some in - in a dip thinking we wouldnt see it.... que one getting another bout of lami (is only allowed hay) and kicks as they put 1 pile out! she soon realised our reasons and accepted it but sadly it was only after the pony had lami brought on and a mare had a swollen leg!

I dare say its much easier if the horses are turned out in pairs/smaller groups etc. but we prefer more natural herd groups (mixed ages/heights/sexes/breeds ect)
 
NOISYGIRL said:
Out of interest how much are those of you paying for inclusive hay/haylage and are you diy or part livery etc, what else to you get included ?
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c.£50 a week - includes all bedding and hay/haylage, YO and staff will feed, change rugs and turnout in the morning or evening (depending on which you prefer), owners to bring in, muck out etc. Other services by arrangement, think it's about £5 to upgrade to full for the day. Have stable, tackroom, space in secure feedroom, washbox with warm and hot running water (godsend in this weather!), use of well-maintained decent size outdoor arena with plenty of showjumps and extensive offroad hacking on their own land. Pastures are well maintained, regularly rotated and the poo picking is done for us! I'm sure you can go other places with similar facilities for less, but I doubt the YO/staff would be as good. I would have absolute confidence in leaving my horse in their care as I know they would look after him exactly the way I like him to be done. :)
 
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