Hay or Haylage?

[Werehorse]

What do you feed and why?

Which is best for a horse on limited grazing?

What difference, if any, is there in terms of amount that needs to be fed e.g. does 1kg hay = 1kg haylage or do you need to feed more or less haylage?

I'm debating whether Poppy might benefit from haylage either as all of her forage diet or part of it. At present she is on ad-lib unsoaked hay and not much grazing although that is going to improve soon.

 

[Talibutts]

We (me and my daughter) feed hay, its a bit harder to get, the farm we are on produces top quality haylage, but it goes 'straight through' 2 out of 3 of our native cob types, they love to eat it, can't get enough of it, but it produces 'poo juice' rather than poo!

Haylage tends to be less dusty and you are suposed to feed more of it. It doesn't last as long as hay, once opend you have to use it.

 

[Werehorse]

We (me and my daughter) feed hay, its a bit harder to get, the farm we are on produces top quality haylage, but it goes 'straight through' 2 out of 3 of our native cob types, they love to eat it, can't get enough of it, but it produces 'poo juice' rather than poo!

Haylage tends to be less dusty and you are suposed to feed more of it. It doesn't last as long as hay, once opend you have to use it.

I'm on DIY livery and hay and haylage are provided (you pay per bale for hay and a set charge for haylage from a central large bale). So longevity is not really an issue as the bale of haylage gets used up quickly. But less dust would be a definite advantage for Poppy. We can't feed OH's horse, Jester, haylage for the very reason you describe above (apparently he redocorates his stable :yellowcarded.

 

[Talibutts]

It sounds like your in the ideal situation to try it and see how you go, I think you are suposed to feed more haylage than hay, but haylage always seems to slip down alot quicker than hay.