Hay or Haylage?

[solomon]

Following on from my earlier post. What does everyone feed and why?

[maximum]

I will be using haylage
more palatable
better consistancy of quality
easier to store ( i.e outside!)
less likely to cause coughs etc.

of course it smells and heavy to move about. If you don't have enough horses it can go off.

[dannyboy]

Although Murphy is out in a field, the quality of grass isn't that good so I give him hay. Its very good quality, not dusty and at £2.50 a bale its reasonable. Downside is it takes up a fare bit of my double garage.

[zara]

AJ has haylage and he loves it. He has it for a few reasons:
a) I don't tolerate hay and suffer for hours if I fill a net.
b) AJ seems happier and more content
c) maintains his weight
d) needs less hard feed
e) he doesn't cough
f) don't have to soak hay and therefore I don't get wet when its freezing cold!

However Tordi will be on hay as he isn't used to grass or hay at all and I will need to change his diet slowly.
Zx

[haffyfan]

Mine have hay

*round bales store fine outside with a cover (on their sides though like on the fields not stood up ) and won't go off once opened if you don't use it as with haylage

but my my main reason -
* years ago now my friend almost lost her pony to botulism...she was very lucky too as he recovered thankfully, although it was very touch and go, as the company (yep not a small/local concern) in question killed a fair few of horses that 'season', obviously something contaminated that batch (dead animal in baler?) ! No names but a lot of people will remember and know the company in question.

needless to say it has made me very wary of using haylage ever since...

[fimacg]

YUCK Haffy!

I use hay as it doesn't go off and cheaper than haylage... cant get through a big bale of haylage except in winter with snow on the ground and when I bought small bales of haylage I kept having to throw away half of it due to mold!

[jane]

Hay every time, easy to keep, easy to see and smell for quality. I feed more or less ad lib.

I use small bales and although more expensive than large bales I can measure it out fairly accurately, hardly ever use nets as I feed on the ground and can work out how much each load that is delivered will last.

Paid £5 a bale recently, large high quality bales, but I have a load coming soon that is £3.50 a bale.