Again stick with Hay or move to haylage?

[lauren123]

Sox has been on hay for much of his life. However he loves haylage and I have only thought about this because my vet mentioned that haylage is better at putting weight on then hay in the winter.

But there is only sox and I know... well see from previous yard that haylage goes on quickly. At the moment. Well atleast in the winter I fill my nets on a weekend or my day off for the following week. The bales are under cover to a degree but the bales can still get wet if I don't cover them and it rains badly. I am talking about hay bales at the moment. So I am wondering if you would stick to hay or move to haylage? The only thing that worries me about the haylage is pay... 35 quid for a big bale and it going off after a week or so.

 

[carthorse]

You aren't going to use it quickly enough, stick with hay.

Haylage isn't always higher calorie than hay, and the quality of big bale haylage can be very variable.

There's also the chance that it will upset his gut - not all horses do well on haylage - & that if he takes a like to it he'll refuse to go back on hay which will be a pain if you want to top up his grazing in the summer.

Personally I'd stick to ad lib good hay & if needs be top him up with hard feed to keep the weight on. Don't underestimate the value of proper rugging either - keep him warm but not sweating the weight off.

 

[MrC]

It depends how you store the haulage and how much air gets to it.

I can use a fairly dry Haylege bale in 4 weeks and it's not gone off as I strip a layer at a time and let air get in.

I sit the bale upright, take a Stanley blade to the bottom of the wrapping, roll it up and take it off, take the string off, get a small tubtrug or small tyre, put it on top of the bale, strip off your layer to put in haynets, and out the plastic back on, rolling it down it should come 3/4 now because of the bucket/tyre.

Mine gets air and is kept mostly out of the elements that way

 

[Jessey]

I got 4ft haylage rounds this winter, they kept for the 2 weeks it took me to use them but it sent jess a bit loopy so I wont be doing that again!
Could you not get the hay bale size ones so you can use it quick enough?