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Post by rosiemay9 on Oct 26, 2015 20:59:22 GMT
Hi,
Our horses are now in for winter what can I feed as a grass replacer? I've heard of grass nuts but never used these are these good replacement? We only have hay on our hard so don't have the choice to feed haylege. So feed is important for the horses.
My horses weight are ok but not great and dreading winter so want a feed in place I know will keep them going happy.
Thank you
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Post by Philippa on Oct 27, 2015 4:38:49 GMT
There are lots of companies who sell dried grass now. Not something I've fed as I'm not a keen dry feeder as I fear choke with pellets and impactions with chop. Both of which I've experienced 1st hand. Are you not able to purchase your own hayledge in the small bales and feed as a top up??
Google dried grass for horses and it will bring up lots of different brands for you to browse through.
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Post by leevale on Oct 27, 2015 4:39:22 GMT
Ad lib hay will replace the grass, plus Spillers Hi fibre cubes if they need more than hay.
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Post by Philippa on Oct 27, 2015 5:48:21 GMT
I also only feed hay and small amounts of Simple Systems feeds.
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Post by rosiemay9 on Oct 27, 2015 6:53:04 GMT
Hi
Thank you and no we not allowed to buy in haylege unfortunately
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Post by diadem on Oct 27, 2015 7:23:40 GMT
You can't buy in? Not even small bales?
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Post by sjw87 on Oct 27, 2015 7:40:59 GMT
To be honest, if they are in 24/7 then hay is better for their digestive system than haylage anyway so long as it's good quality. Haylage can be acidic and eating it 24/7 is a prime situation for ulcers to develop.
Are you restricted in the amount of hay you can feed? Ad lib is best and ensure that your horse is getting some form of suitable exercise daily (be careful to warm up and cool down properly) as otherwise standing in will cause muscle wastage which can give a false impression of weight loss.
Feed wise, a decent balancer as a base ia a good place to start and alfalfa (if no allergies to it) is ideal for providing protein without adding cereals.
Sent from my GT-I9195 using proboards
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sarahp
Happy to help
Posts: 9,510
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Post by sarahp on Oct 27, 2015 7:45:54 GMT
If you can't buy in haylage how come you can buy in grass nuts? If you want to replace the hay they will need an equivalent amount of whatever you replace it with. In your place I'd add a balancer to supply essential micronutrients and maybe soaked unmolassed sugar beet or alfalfa/oil chaff for extra calories if needed, or there are various brands of high fibre and/or starch free cubes around now. All hay varies in what it supplies - the gold standard would be to have it analysed but few of us go to those lengths!
Philippa - you could always pre-soak any pellets you might want to feed if they worry you.
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Post by Philippa on Oct 27, 2015 10:58:41 GMT
Thanks Sarahp. I feed a small amount of Lucie Fibre Cubes but only in am @ pm feed with Lucie stalks, balancer & speedibeet but I'm aware people feed grass nuts & readigrass dry in large quantities. Brrrr makes me shudder!!!
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Post by cg on Oct 27, 2015 12:01:54 GMT
I have used grass nuts as a replacement for grass particularly when travelling horses abroad and they are in the horsebox for long periods of time. I soak the grass nuts and add a little bit of molasses to them. We never have tucked up horses coming off the box after a long trip. Maybe buy them a mineral lick to help boredom and supplement them
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Post by rosiemay9 on Oct 27, 2015 18:22:17 GMT
Thank you very much everyone and no not allowed buy any bales in, I am thinking s about a balancer definitely so I will read all comments now
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Post by orangetails on Nov 1, 2015 11:42:57 GMT
Fortunately I am no longer at a yard where turnout is restricted, however I have been in the past (and occasionally in the past my sensitive-skinned arab has had to stay in if very wet due to extreme mud fever issues :/ ) I feed hay predominantly, and always feed 'ad-lib'. If they are stuck in for any length of time, I feed a mix of soaked, steamed and dry hay, and sometimes small bale haylage (the Horsehage ones are expensive if your only method of feeding forage, but as a tasty 'top up' at about £6/bale which lasts me a week fed at one slice a day on top of the normal hay ration) it's a brilliant way of giving some variety in the diet and a forage a little closer to their natural grass. We don't have massive amounts of storage, but the Horsehage bales are double-wrapped so can be stacked outside, and then the one 'in use' I keep in the feed room with the rest of my bins As others have said, haylage as the sole forage when stood in all the time would not be as good for the gut as hay, however I do like to feed a little bit for variety, and to encourage their appetite (I've not yet met a horse who doesn't go mad for it, it smells so lovely!) My arab absolutely loves steamed hay, I don't have a steamer, I just use a dustbin and loosely shake the hay into a net, then pour over 1-2 kettles of boiling water to steam while I muck out. It smells (and evidently tastes!) very nice I soak a bit of hay too, as it helps reassure me that they are getting enough water in their gut (grass is something like 80% water/20% dry matter whereas hay is closer to the other way round!) Bucket-feed hay replacers include dried chopped grass (for example Spillers Readigrass, but there are many other makes, I prefer the Baileys one), soaked sugarbeet/fast fibre or similar, and things like grass nuts. Many chaffs/chops such as HiFi, Happy Hoof etc are also marketed as hay replacers - but I'd rather just feed different varieties of hay to be honest! I feed a balancer all year round anyway.
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Post by orangetails on Nov 1, 2015 11:44:50 GMT
Whoops - forgot to add, whenever mine have been in for extended periods, I also hand-cut grass for them myself (a tub trug or so a day/twice a day) it doesn't take very long if you have a resting field with quite long grass.
I also do things like hiding carrots in the haynets - encourages them to browse, and again is a valuable source of water content, which is a concern for me in the winter, having known horses (none of mine, thankfully!) get impaction colics due to not getting enough water either through their diet or drinking enough.
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sarahp
Happy to help
Posts: 9,510
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Post by sarahp on Nov 1, 2015 12:11:42 GMT
I'm a tough mummy and if I have any in full time - only due to illness of any sort, usually foot abcesses here - they just have hay + suitable fruit and veggie peeling chucked over the bedding to be rooted for. I work on minimum effort for me as I'm old and crocked and just chuck wedges of hay over the door. But if I was feeding as orangetails is - a very good idea - I'd put the different varieties of forage in different corners of the box. I've seen a proper scientific study done that showed that doing that encourages them both to eat more and to get more exercise by moving between piles/nets or whatever.
As for fruit and veg - any prone to lami get mostly cabbage and cauliflower trimmings, leaving apple and root veg peelings for those who can eat anything because of the sugar content. I haven't done it, but a turnip hung up for them to go at is a good distraction, especially if tied in the middle of the box so that it swings away when they try to bite it.
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Post by honeypot on Nov 1, 2015 12:35:37 GMT
I'm with sarahp. We are on clay and I have ten in stabled or in old cattle sheds for most of the winter if its wet. They have a round bale of hay and a round bale of straw to eat. The ones who are on diets, and that should be most this year, will be on their portion of hay once a day and then they fill up with straw. I have used haylage but its hard to find meadow haylage They do not need much entertainment because they have each other, but the ones that are in a stable on their own if they can not go out, get hay, straw, grass pellets, and chaff , apples all in various places.
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Post by rosiemay9 on Nov 1, 2015 18:06:27 GMT
Thanks very much all for your help
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