Haylage??

sjp1

sjp1

Well-Known Member
Sep 14, 2009
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Does anybody elses horse get silly on it? I bought Tobes a small bale of haylage (farmers haylage, not rye) for his outing to the show last Saturday, because he would sell me and all his possessions for haylage, and because it was a treat for him to munch on the journey there, and back and tied up at the back of the trailer.

Because I am mean and didn't want to waste it, he has been snacking on it over the week and today when we rode out, he was very silly indeed - jogging all the time, fly kicking, spooking at nothing at all .............. grr!!!

I do know this is the effect it has on him and every time I do give it to him, I always end up with the same conclusion - you would think I had learnt by now!!

Anybody elses get silly on it? And why??? Is it higher protein? I had understood that hay was actually higher in sugar than haylage.
 
Haven't given any to Raf for a long time but yep it made him very silly and spooky. That's haylage, micronized linseed and alfalfa that all seem to have the same effect. Is haylage high protein? Linseed and alfalfa both are so it would make sense that haylage would affect Raf if it is.

Must admit when he had it before I quite enjoyed the extra energy it gave him, he didn't get quite so OTT as he did with the linseed and alfalfa, but the spooking at everything, especially on the roads, was a bit wearing!
 
I know horses that do get silly on it but its just an individual thing I think. My horses don't get silly on it but mine is always quite a bit drier than usual. I do however use horsehage occasionally and it has no effect.. food wise nothing gets my horses silly...

I used to have a CB mare and haylage was her drug... loop the loop if ridden whilst she was getting used to it...after a few weeks she was fine:happy:
 
Alfalfa does the same to us as well - haven't tried linseed - won't be on my list of to buy either!!!
 
I need to start feeding Minnie in the next couple of weeks, want some weight on her before winter but not for her to go nutso in the field..so I may be eating my words about certain food sending them nuts!
 
nat17 said:
I used to have a CB mare and haylage was her drug... loop the loop if ridden whilst she was getting used to it...after a few weeks she was fine:happy:
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Don't think I would have a few weeks to live if Tobes continues on haylage ............!!!! Hay all the way for him now with NO deviation!!!
 
I am so lucky nothing seems to effect my boys. They have heaps of carrots in their tea, in winter they have 200ml of linseed which I think is gods gift to TB's, alpha a with oil and haylage when we get it.

I am actually looking for something to give Ginger a little something
 
Our farm haylage doesn't seem to cause any great issues for my two, and they were on it all winter spring and I only switched to hay recently because the bales were going off too quickly. However I had a bad experience last year when a friend picked us up in her lorry to go on a ride and supplied a net of haylage from her yard for the trip - I had a similar experience of uncharacteristically loopy horse. So I do think how potent it is depends on how and where it was made, some is fine for most horses, some isn't.
 
Funny cos I would have said rich haylage and certain feeds effect mine but they are on alfafa (unmolassed) and wee cup pf pure linseed a day and are best behaved ever :giggle:
 
We swapped to haylage three years ago and cut down on hard feed but everyone from RS kids ponies to competition horses have looked fantastic and performed well.

Our haylage is about 10% protein whereas the hay was generally about 6% so needed boosting with hard feed.

If your horse is going loopy on haylage look at the feed /exercise balance and have the haylage/hay tested.

Another thing to consider is how much you are feeding...we mix haylage with straw for small ponies/cobs as to keep them 'grazing' while in ...on haylage alone the quantity needed would give them a protein rush...a bit like kids on E numbers!!
 
I buy a locally produced bagged hayledge for Chloe as she has mild copd - and it is less dusty than hay. She is never silly off it - but I don't believe it is particularly rich either. It says on the bag it is suitable for good doers and horses at rest.
 
Hmmm I was thinking of swapping to haylage (less waste, easier to store, higher protein) but it didn't occur to me it might send Pops a bit nuts. That's put me off a bit.
 
eml said:
Squidsin, you can get it tested but general rule of thumb if going from hay to haylage cut back on hard feed!
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It might still work out for us - she doesn't have much hard feed anyway as she's only in light work, just chaff and a balancer, although our grass is poor and she's lacking energy so I've just started adding conditioning cubes back in. Do you think haylage could work better for us over winter than adding speedibeet to her hard feed, as I did last winter?
 
When we had it on our yard there was only Raf and one other pony I think that were adversely affected - the other pony was much worse than Raf. The other four or five that had it were ok with it. YO occasionally uses it to give poorly horses a boost and tempt their appetite but she does complain that it goes off quickly.
 
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