If you soak hay does the calorie content drop

[JBAKER]

hi just wondering if you soak hay does it drop the calorie content ?? just that I have a minature shetland whos piling on the pounds and just thought if it does I shall start to do it ?? if so how long do you soak before the calories/goodness drops anyone know ?? thankyou

 

[Emz]

Yep it does.

YO soaks the hay for her mare for at least overnight.

 

[Wally]

You could feed straw and hay mixed.

 

[Sammii]

Yep it does get rid of the goodness in the hay. We normally soak ours and leave them to soak up overnight ready for usage in the morning. If they are used in the evening perhaps soak them in the morning? Hope it works

 

[gordysgirl]

I agree the calorie content does drop but I was also told that when you soak hay you should never soak it in the same water for longer than about 10 minutes as the ammonia content will be so high that it can be stronger than urine!
I cant actually remember the reliable source who informed me of that though!

 

[Jessey]

Yep, I was told by my vet to soak for 30 mins - 1 hour to swell spores (for breathing related stuff) and for 8-12 Hours to deplete the nutritional value, the only thing with that is you not only loose calories but also all the vitamins, minerals and trace elements so the diet will need supplementing with these.

J x

 

[sidesaddlelady1]

hi just wondering if you soak hay does it drop the calorie content ?? just that I have a minature shetland whos piling on the pounds and just thought if it does I shall start to do it ?? if so how long do you soak before the calories/goodness drops anyone know ?? thankyou

Don't think so but long soaking can leach out a lot of the "goodness" (vitamins & minerals etc) which isn't the same thing.

Do you give hard feed? You could be over doing it. Have you contacted the feed manufacturers for advice? Baileys nutritionists are quite good as are most of the others. I use Baileys LoCal instead of hard feed when the WH starts getting a little portly as it contains all the vits and minerals but doesn't pile the weight on. Always better to cut down hard feed than to cut down on hay/grass.

We often forget that historically Shetlands evolved to live in a cool climate on sparse grazing and not much else so even with modern breeding it's not surprising that they put on weight when presented with what we think is a good diet.