Feeding this years hay

caroline/halle

caroline/halle

Member
Nov 4, 2008
752
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We get hay from farmer of our yard, who cut and baled about 4-6 weeks ago, none of last years hay left. Is this ok to feed so soon? I have a good doer cob who i am now going to be keeping in during the day will this be ok to feed? Im thinking i should soak it as smells quite sweet? If so, will it need to be soaked all throughout winter too?
Thanks!
 
So long as it was baled dry enough you should be fine.
Its difficult to say if you need to soak it just from how it smells, but if in doubt it won't hurt :) you can then gradually see if you can wean off the soaking if you don't want to do it all winter.
 
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I have had to start feeding this years hay a couple of weeks ago. They only get a very small amount though when they are brought in for a few hours during the day. It is nice dry hay and doesn't smell sweet. They have both been fine with it and one is an extremely good doer and the other is a wee cushings pony..I might soak it when they are brought in overnight as they will be getting a lot more of it then ??
 
I posted last year about 'ageing hay' (I can't post a link on my phone but a search pulls it up) I had a chat with my suppliers and they said don't feed it in the first month as it needs that time to cool and cure, longer if its baled damper or bigger bales :) so long as it dry and cool in the core of the bale it should be fine.
 
Mine had been left for about 6 weeks as it was cut beginning of july. I'm glad to hear you say about it being ok as long as it is dry and cool in the core. Mine are the small bales which I think helps them to dry out a lot quicker than the big round bales. I have 400 small bales coming next weekend, should keep us going for a good while. I also feed the sheep it over winter.
 
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We are still feeding last years hay, our supplier has kept enough back to supply us till about February when we will bring in half and half and feed that then it will be this years hay - having lammi prone ponies dictates how we feed, Charlie is still have last years soaked as he is still officially in recovery.
They are all different , Tess could eat this years and have no problems at all other than she has to have haylage when she gets it due to her COPD - but as she only gets it when frost is hard or snow is thick - we don't have to worry about the age of hay at all for her.
 
I have just started feeding this years hay, slowly mixing in with Horsehage which is all I could get for a while. Mine had to come in onto the yard for a few hours at first because the grass was too rich when we first landed here. I was told to leave the hay as long as I could, I think we went six weeks.
 
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