Re: RideCamp: Feeding while travelling

["Duncan Fletcher" <dfletche@gte.net>]

Apparently the key is keeping the air out and controlling the pH (3.5 to
4.5). It is I think fairly widely used in England under the tradename
HorseHage where it is actually vacuum packed. I have never seen any, but am
aware of someone on Vancouver Island, British Columbia feeding haylage grown
and packaged there.

Duncan Fletcher
dfletche@gte.net


-----Original Message-----
From: Liz Carpenter <cvsec@south-01.novell.leeds.ac.uk>
To: ridecamp@endurance.net <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Thursday, February 25, 1999 1:08 AM
Subject: RideCamp: Feeding while travelling


> > ad lib haylage (semi-wilted grass)
>
> Haylage - whoa, I thought semi-wilted grass was a no-no to feed horses?
> Or does this only apply to semi-wilted lawn cuttings?  What's the diff?

OK, I'm no expert, but apparently haylage is cut
from 'normal' hay fields (ie. not lawn cuttings)
and is left only a short while on the ground
(isn't cured for days like hay). Then (a day
later or so?) it is baled into bags and is double
bagged (airless - unlike the stuff for cattle
which is single bagged and fermented). A bag with
a hole in is a no-no as it will start fermenting
and growing dangerous moulds, etc. The bags keep
for ages.

It produces a dust-free (for horses with COPD or
heaves) forage which is palatable (you can also
feed it if your horse is healthy but you prefer
a dust-free regime). It has a higher moisture
content than regular dry hay which means you have
to feed more by weight than hay to get the same
fibre-content in the ration. It also has more
digestible energy than dry hay so you usually
need to decrease the grain part of the horse's
ration.

It is very commonly fed here in the UK instead of
grass hay (rye, timothy, etc) hay which is often
poor quality and very dusty as we have had very
bad crops over here for the last few years
owing to the near-constant rain. As the 'hay' cut
for haylage doesn't sit around in the field for
long (to be rained on!) they have a better chance
of producing good stuff. Sorry that my
explanation is so poor. Maybe someone else can
explain better?

HTH?

Liz and Basil The Nag
--



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Dr E Carpenter
Institute for Cardiovascular Research
The University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
+ 44 (0113) 2334169/2334803 (voice/fax)
+ 44 (0498) 783129 (mobile)
e.carpenter@leeds.ac.uk
http://www.netlink.co.uk/~snaffle/rogues/scun1.gif
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=