fast fibre as hay replacer over night - how much?

notpoodle

notpoodle

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Jul 16, 2003
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or rather 'hay top-up' :)

Angel is in a paddock overnight now with hay/hifibre haylage. since hay os costing s fortune i figured i might save a bit by replacing some of the hay with a hay replacer. she likes fast fibre - but how much would I add? she gets 3 slices of hay and 1 slice of haylage.

how much fast fibre do i add? would she gobble it all in one go?
 
I think she would eat it all in one go then move onto the hay. I think the idea of using it as a replacer only works when you can feed say a slice of hay at 6pm then pop up and put a bucket of it in at say 10pm, then again last thing drop hay in... if you get what i am saying, but you know your horse and routine best so see how it works. I would say the amount needs to be like for like weight of the hay...
 
thanks :)

if its soaked its a lot heavier than hay, or do you mean dry? hmm, tricky, yard is 20min drive away, i cant keep popping in every few hours.

i know some people have managed to feed fast fibre as a total hay replacer somehow.

*back to the drawingboard*
 
I am not sure but I think its dry weight...

It would be good to know how they manage it, just for interest, so if you do find out let us know..

I will go look on another forum and see if I can find anything..
 
Find a cheaper hay supplier? I can't think it can work out cheaper to feed fast fibre than hay? Our hay is same as last year has yours gone up loads? Given how close we are I can give you some contacts that might be cheaper? Otherwise what about bulking with straw -its oat straw you can do that with isn't it?
 
trust me, YO's been looking for one that actually has hay and is cheaper for quite some time now - to no avail, so we stuck with the trusty one who WILL put us first when nobody's got any hay and who WILL stick the snowchains on and deliver to us in the snow (loyalty pays when you have a herd of 30 hungry horses!) ... pay £5 a bale (same as last year) and going through 4 a week at the moment, plus a small bag of haylage.

not sure about straw though - desperately trying to keep weight on her.
 
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Are your bales very small or are you feeding more than one pony? My small bales have a least 9 slices in, which would equate to 2 1/2 bales a week ish.

I do know someone that feeds it as a complete replacer and they go through a bag in three days... :frown:
 
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Ah ok:happy:

Personally, if you go up twice a day anyway, I would feed a bucket of fast fibre or similar in the morning, (maybe you could fill it out with more chaff to slow down eating) then give reduced amount of hay at night.
 
@ julie: just angel, she is a very poor doer, unfortunately. her feeding regime is under control (in that im managing to keep the weight on), im only wondering if i might be cheaper off with fast fibre instead of just hay at night. she gets breakfast before she goes back up field for the day already :)
 
Ive never found it cheaper than feeding hay. Hay you looked at horsehage to see if that can be delivered, or look at the halleys stuff - I think I would be cutting back forage and increasing copra and beet etc if I could as its higher calroies for less feed.
 
My friend was feeding calm and condition to her TB two scoops in a big tubtrug with a scoop of speedi beet. (As well as his hay) to put weight back on him and yes it was rather expensive but it did the treat.

It was one of the big 25L tubtrugs and this was it 3/4 full after soaking she made it up and the morning and fed it at night :smile:
 
I don't think it's cheaper but you can make it as a hay replacer by basically making it in a tub trug and mixing it 50/50 ish with a chaff of some type - then it takes longer to chew. Adjust quantity as needed but maybe 1/2 a tub tru go it mixed soaked. she might gobble it for the first few nights but then should slow down
 
I find fast fibre excellent for putting weight on my poor doer :smile: Mine live out unfortunately but i,ve started him on one feed a day and as it gets colder he,ll have adlib hay and 2 feeds o0f fast fibre ..x
 
thanks everyone, lots to think about :)

@glenrox - fastfibre alone wont make mine put on any weight, unfortunately - she needs the 'big guns' as a basis eg veteran mix, coprameal etc. when i had her on fast fibre/speedi/chaff alone, she kept on dropping :(
 
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