| Why use Haylage |
| The low moisture content of hay ( about 10% ) means the mould spores become airborne and may cause an allergic respiratory disease called 'Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease' ( COPD ) - commonly known as 'broken wind', 'dust cough' or 'dust allergy'. Up to a fifth of horses suffer from sub-clinical dust allergies. |
| Once a horse has been affected it will never recover and will always need special attention to minimize exposure to 'dust' in order to control the disease. |
| The quality, availability, cost and convenience of Haylage feeding is undergoing a radical overhaul as both producers and customers fully appreciate the benefits of this marvelous feed when compared with hay. |
| Haylage is a feed made from grass that is dried as quickly as possible after mowing. |
| It is then baled and wrapped with 10 / 12 layers of top quality stretch film. |
| An inoculant can also be applied to help the fermentation process take place quicker and reduce the risk of waste. |
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| Feeding Haylage |
| Once a bale has been opened it should be used as quickly as possible as exposing it to air means there is now the potential for moulds to develop. |
| If you find a bale has gone a bit mouldy it should NOT be used for feeding horses. |
| Provided the molding is not severe it can still be fed to cattle but if it is very mouldy dispose of it. |
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Changing from hay to haylage |
| The large intestine contains bacteria to help digest the fibre in feeds. They are very sensitive to changes in the diet so make the switch gradually, say over a week, to allow the bacteria time to adapt. This should prevent stomach upsets. |
| Haylage contains higher quality nutrients than hay but because of its higher moisture content the nutrients are more diluted. |
| Remember that the same weight of fresh hay and haylage are not equivalent in term of nutrient value. |
- An average 500 kg horse ( eg. 16hh riding horse) requires a minimum daily fibre input of 1% bodyweight, i.e. 5 kg, but due to the wetter nature of haylage this should be increased to 1.5% or 7.5 kg fresh weight to give a similar dry matter intake.
- Haylage dry matter has an approx. 10% higher nutrient value so feeding an equivalent amount of dry matter as haylage means that less supplementary feed will be required to meet its energy requirements.
- A 7.5 kg pile of wet, solid haylage will appear much smaller in volume than 5 kg of light, fluffy hay - take care not to overfeed. Weigh the haylage until you get used to judging it
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