Haylage or hay?

[amberleystar]

I am trying to source some hay which is low in sugar. I need to find hay which is under 10% NSC (non-structural carbohydrate). I checked out the HorseHage website and both their high fibre and timothy haylage are around 3% sugar, so I phoned them and the nutritionist said that all their haylage is under 3% sugar which is very low, and is because the sugars breakdown during the fermentation process, whereas in hay it just dries and the sugar content remains the same. So, I always thought that haylage was a bit of a no no with laminitics, thought that it would be higher in sugars, so this is a surprise. Does anyone on here feed haylage to a laminitic prone horse and if so was it all ok? I am tempted to try it, as otherwise I will have to get all hay tested before I can use it!

 

[artemis]

My friend feeds big bale haylage to her laminitic horse with no ill effect. My pony has cushings & I get everything tested. Large bale haylage has always come out low sugar.

 

[Bouncer]

Hayledge

My laminitic had hayledge when he was in for about 20hrs a day, as the yard we moved to had very little grazing and she would not get hay for my horse. He managed really well and he can have a few mouthfuls every now and again

 

[eventerbabe]

soaked/steamed hay (pref over a year old) for me i'm afraid. My laminitic mare couldn't eat haylage and the experts advise not to feed even the 'laminitis approved' stuff to laminitics. My concern is it's acidity upsetting the gut balance.

 

[annette h]

When our mare returned from the laminitis clinic I am sure that haylage was a no no, will check tonight

 

[martini55]

You are right, a lot of the time haylage can be lower in sugar than hay. However, I wouldn't feed it to mine. Even before she ever had laminitis it would end up giving her the runs. She gets soaked hay instead. Haylage is more acidic than hay and it's thought that this isn't great for laminitics, though I know some will eat it and experience no problems at all.

 

[Roofio]

is it something to do with accessibility of the sugars in the haylage though? i remember reading something ages ago but really can't remember what

eta - so it's something like, although there's less sugar in haylage, what's there is all easily digested whereas in hay there's more there in the first place but it's less digestible?

 

[FloraHoff]

I was advised by the vet to give soaked hay to my mare when she got laminitis