Right now in SE VA
we’re hitting temps of 105 with heat indices of 120. ?The humidity is so
high that it looks foggy all day long. ?Ick!?
What I’m doing for my horses is
putting a bunch of beet pulp ?and chopped hay (alfalfa/timothy – I get it
bagged from TSC) at about a 1:3 ratio, in a beer cooler, and putting enough
water in it so that it’s very sloshy, and leaving it to soak overnight. ?By
morning much of the water is soaked up, but everything is still very moist.? I
put it in a cooler and use cold deep-well water so that it can’t ferment
or mold, and it is still quite cold in the morning.? They gobble it up, and
slurp up any water that didn’t get absorbed.? I only feed this in the
morning, as they’re also all getting very wet beet pulp in their evening
feed. ?This is in addition to their free-choice dry hay, but I figure every bit
of moisture I can get into them right now helps…
I’m not electrolyting, as I think
they should be smart enough to self-electrolyte when not at a ride, and I think
they’re doing that. ?They’ve gone through about ¾ of 2 of the
little salt blocks in 1 week. ?
I think amounts will vary depending on
what else you’re feeding, but since my guys get free-choice dry hay and a
wet evening meal, I only give them about 8 lbs each dry (which, once it has
soaked up water, weighs about a ton to haul around J).
JME
Sarah
From:
ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Val Nicoson Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007
6:23 AM To: ridecamp Subject: [RC] Soaking Hay
Does anyone soak hay for
their horses in hot+humid conditions?
My horses have not experienced damp/wet hay and I'm not so sure they'll eat it
And then of course I'm worried it will mold in our hot+humid weather conditions
here in the Midwest in Western Central to Southern IL
If so, how long do you soak it, how much do you feed at one time, etc to avoid
the
hay from going bad in these conditions?
