How much hay overnight....?

Mr Ed

Mr Ed

Active Member
Mar 1, 2009
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Ed is stabled as of yesterday, from 4.30pm to 8.15am each day. A couple of days he's turned out on plenty of grass for the day. Other days he's ridden, so is probably only out in the field for 5 hrs.

He's a good-doer, 14yo, Welsh Sec D. 14.2h about 450kgs, quite fit, good health and currently a nice weight. He is only fed a scoop of chaf in the evening as a treat and to carry his supplements (vits/mins, joints).

So how much hay do you think he should have? Whatever he has it's always in small-holed haynets, as he's adept at devouring a haynet very quickly :giggle:

His haynets are: Shires Haynet measures 40" (100cm)and the mesh size is 2"(50mm)

Opinions welcome :biggrin:
 
5-7.2kg or therabouts depending on time in.

If at a nice weight, then to maintain is about 2% bodyweight per day. So if he is in for 16 hours he is in for two thirds of the twenty four hours, so would require 1.3% bodyweight in forage = 5.85kg... If only out for four hours, he is in for five sixths of his day, so would require 1.6% bodyweight in forage = 7.2kg... This is ignoring the chaff, assuming it is a small scoop really.

As for the hay, I find feeding it from the floor better for speed - though it doesnt work for everyone. Alternativley, cut the hay down and get something like dengie mollasses free hifi lite and fill a treat ball with it - it is chopped hay/straw with mint - low sugar and starch and can be used as a hay replacer.
 
or double net with the inside net being a haylege small hole net and the outer net a normal hayledge net!

our pony is fine, he has a haybar and doesn't eat it all in the first hour he's in but our friend's pony - he will demolish his whole haynet in approx an hour!

so we double net and that has slowed him down :devil:
 
Thanks all. Completely forgot the 2% body weight info :unsure::unsure::frown: That all makes sense - think I probably ought to purchase a hand-scale gadget so I can be accurate about it.

Ed already has small-holed nets, as he can demolish loose hay VERY quickly. Back in the Spring when his weight was an issue we doubled up nets (whilst he was on bark-chip overnight).
 
If it helps I've just bought a little hand-held weighing scale (one which has a hook to hook the haynet on) and a slice of our hay is fairly consistantly 1.5 - 2 kg.

It does vary and the little scale is very useful to be accurate. It also means I can weigh the bucket feed she's getting, and be precise. But I'm pleased that I now know roughly how much a slice weighs, so if I forget the little scale I can quite accurately guess!

Shame we can't weigh the amount of grass being eaten!!
 
Billy said:
Shame we can't weigh the amount of grass being eaten!!
Click to expand...

No measuring device known to mankind would be adequate for measuring the amount of grass my lot eat! :giggle:

Weighing scales are SO useful! :)

If it helps, Fella is almost idential height and build to Ed, but is 23 years old and retired. He is stabled from midnight - 6.30am every night, and out the rest of the time on around 25 acres of good grazing, with 5 other horses. He has (now) about 4 kilos (around 8 1/2 lb) of hay overnight (on the floor, as he has to eat with his head low down.

In the worst of the winter weather, this amount is practically doubled, and Lucerne added at about 4kg. This keeps him at a good weight.

(He also has a small hard-feed when he comes in at night).

When we have 3 feet of snow, they have huge amounts of hay in the field too.
 
I don't have any scales (altho a friend of mine at the yard mentioned getting some so I might go halfsies :giggle:) but my chubby welshy (roughly 14hh) gets a slice and a half from a small bale per night - I think she probably does get through it fairly quick but once I went back to check on her at about 9pm (been in since about 5pm) and there was still about half of it left so I think it lasts her most of the night. I'm only going to increase it if I see some significant weight loss on the weightape tho!
 
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