Haylage Query

[Twigletz7]

Just wondered if anyone could clear up a query about haylage?!

Some liveries at my yard don't want to feed their horses haylage as they don't want them to become excitable. However i always thought haylage had the same nutritional and energy value as good quality hay but you had to feed more to compensate for the water content.

I feed my tb mare adlib haylage as she develops a cough when fed on hay. It keeps the condition on her well and i don't find it causes her to become excitable.

So basically does haylage give a horse more energy than hay as i am confuddled:confused: :confused: :)

[xxxkristinaxxx]

In my opinion, haylage shouldnt be fed to horses doing no work as the horses will put weight on.
I find alot of hay is dusty, unless soaked.

[Kaboo]

So, what about a horse who has allergies and cannot eat hay? Sorry, disagree kirsts.

Horses who need to put weight on, or even fat horses with allergies, im sure theres a way round that with hard work.

[Kecka~Rocka]

How do you weigh haylage, obviously its weighs more than hay so what is the ratio?

[nutkin]

all the horses at our yard are fed haylage and I don't find it makes them excitable at all. They all prefer it to hay and for the horses that can't eat hay because of dust allergies it really does make a difference to them. Our horses have adlib haylage so I couldn't really say exactly how much more they need than hay although you are right about the moisture content.I think they say you need roughly a third more haylage than hay though to give them the same amount.

Kristina

it makes no difference whether a horse is working or not as to whether haylage can be fed.Yes some do gain more weight than others but playing around with the amount you give will soon decide the correct amount they need.Most hay is dusty but by soaking it you actually remove the neccessary nutrients from it if you soak for too long.They say 20 minutes soaking is long enough to remove the dust without removing the nutrients.

[teabiscuit]

like hay, the nutritional content of haylage depends on the quality of the grass that it was made from

so you can get high octane haylage or deisel haylage-as long as its made well(no mould etc) i prefer the deisel option-if i want to top up energy levels i can do it with hard feed


that way you avoid the problems like weight gain and fizzyness

i prefer haylage because it's not dusty, and the horses seem to like it better than hay :)

[Ross]

I suspect this is another of those things that depends on the horse and the haylage, which presumably varies in quality and content just like hay does. I was actually always told that haylage was higher feed value than hay, so they needed less - hence those small hole haynets to slow the horses down.

Mine used to eat haylage with no problems - but I know at least one horse who gets extremely silly if he gets too much. Horses do react differently to different feeds though - Fire couldn't have alfalfa as it sent him doolally..

Ross

[coss]

one of my RI's horses goes silly on haylage, ad lib hay is fine but we always say he starts halusinating on haylage ;) he spooks at everything when he's been fed it.
I always thought it had more energy (obviously depending on quality) than hay as most people i know will feed less haylage than they would hay.
Hay is dried/cooked for longer, haylage is greener... more nutritional value?

[teabiscuit]

i know the theory is that as haylage is wetter than hay you should feed more, but to be honest, when i compare what they eat haylage vs hay, they do seem to eat less haylage and that is their choice


i think it is because haylage does have more value in it so they need less


its one of those cases where the theory doesn't back up what i see.

i also think that as haylage is made differently, that maybe it isn't the extra oomph that makes some horses spooky, maybe its a by product of the making process present in the haylage that is the problem, as it is only some horses that react to it?

[coss]

haylage is simply the stage between silage (sp?) and hay and i thought silage had more nutritional vlaue than hay so haylage would too

[teabiscuit]

i was agreeing with you coss :D about that point

[virtuallyhorses]

Interesting, I would have thought that any decision not to use haylage would be based on the risk of salmonella/botulism rather than differences in nutritional value.

[teabiscuit]

Interesting, I would have thought that any decision not to use haylage would be based on the risk of salmonella/botulism rather than differences in nutritional value.

that's an interesting thing to say, why do you think that?

i must admit we are very careful not to feed hot/dirty haylage and having fed it over many years we've never *touch wood* had a problem with salmonella/botulism

its a small risk to be weighed up against the benifits of feeding haylage, just as dust allergy, or even just plain old irriatation caused by dust (both human and equine) is a risk to be weighed up when feeding hay


have you had personal expereince of selmonella/botulism in haylage?

[Jay.o]

Does HorseHage have a higher feed value than hay?
Yes, as it retains 90% of the value of fresh grass, and has consistent feed values, whereas hay loses much of its value in the drying process and is much more variable. HorseHage is also more digestible.

From the Horsehage website. I know its reguarding their haylage, but farmers' haylage and other makes etc must be similar...

[Trewsers]

I have been told that haylage gives them more energy and that it contains more calories. My horses certainly prefer it - and its better for them as they don't cough off it - like they do if fed normal dry hay. I don't find them fizzy or anything off it either. If you were worried about weight gain you could feed less - or put one net inside another (I did for Storm for a while, then I got a net with smaller holes).

[teabiscuit]

From the Horsehage website. I know its reguarding their haylage, but farmers' haylage and other makes etc must be similar...

you would not believe the variation in the quality of the haylage i have bought over the years

that includes nutritional qualilty

some of it smells and looks good enough to eat myself :D

some of it belonged on the muckheap and actually lowered the muck heaps standards, so bad was it :mad:

[Trewsers]

In my opinion, haylage shouldnt be fed to horses doing no work as the horses will put weight on.
.


Not true about our pair! Yes, Storm is prone to weight gain being a native but fresh air would feed her up! Haylage is included in our livery price so we give it ours anyway (not that I am mean and wouldn't pay out extra for hay) but I prefer haylage - if I were a horse I'd eat it over hay I'm sure!!! Joe has been on box rest for months and hasn't put any on. I just give Storm less haylage than I would hay. As I said in my other reply, you can always put a net inside another net to stop them wolfing it all down at once.

[Jessey]

i know the theory is that as haylage is wetter than hay you should feed more, but to be honest, when i compare what they eat haylage vs hay, they do seem to eat less haylage and that is their choice

i think it is because haylage does have more value in it so they need less

its one of those cases where the theory doesn't back up what i see.

Haylage does have a higher nutritional content, it also has a higher water content so horses should be fed more of it by weight than hay - but due to the higher nutritional value this is often less by bulk :D

[puzzles]

haylage contains a higher water content and a lowerf fibre content compred to hay, though it is true that it contains more energy.
therefore in order to feed a suitable amount of haylage to make up for its deficiencies it shiould be fed at a rate opf 1.5 times the amount you would feed of hay; horses not fed enough fibre this way can be seen to lose condition and energy.
if your mare appears and feels fine then you have nothing to worry about!

[teabiscuit]

hey you lot bloomin confusing you are :D

i just feed it ad lib and keep an eye on condition :p that way you don;t need a brain the size of a planet :D

[puzzles]

oops, well it's good to know a thing or two about these things! ;-)

[Twigletz7]

thanks! it is all very interesting:) i will keep feeding twiggy haylage (wasn't planning on stopping) and keep an eye on it heating up;)