Feeding hay in the field in summer

[kamikaze]

Do you feed hay in the field in summer? My guys have about 10 or so acres for 4 horses out 24-7. This has been great and the grazing is good and they ahve all put on weight, but just recently it is looking rather dry and yellow. All 4 of them could loose someweight but in Minto and Sultis case not very much beofre I would worry.

I KNOW I will have a fight on my hands with farmer trying to feed hay so is it actually worth it? Or just hope for rain?

[sarak]

Well, having a horse who doesn't keep weight on easily, this is a subject close to my heart.

At previous yards, no-one else wanted to feed hay during the summer months, and I can't say that I blamed them as they had good do-ers. At one time the grass yellowed completely, and there was literally nothing for the horses to eat. I had to bring my horse in for half a day so that he could simply get enough hay to keep the weight on him.

I have now moved to a yard where the horses are kept in paddocks separated by electric fencing. I had loathed the idea of keeping Jo this way, but it has been the best thing for him. I have just over an acre of land, and because I am resting part of the paddock for the grass to grow, there isn't a lot of grazing, so I supplement his diet with hay.

He is looking fabulous now and has put a lot of weight on. He used to get bullied a lot by the herd, and moved on whilst eating, not allowed near the water trough, etc, so I think it suits him no end to have his own space.

It is hard when others don't want to feed hay, but if you have two horses who might lose some weight then I would recommend supplementing with hay.

[honey]

Yeah well if your horses need hay feed t to them. We graze ou lot during the day and bring them in at night when they get haylage, hard feed, bread, veg, and hand picked grass from the grass verges and they are all in tip top condition

[woolly]

I suppose the question is, are the 4 horses all yours?

If not, then the other owner/s would have every right to get shirty if they didn't want to put hay out, and you went ahead and did it. If you want to feed in this situation, you need to set something up where you can separate yours, and give them the hay.

Why would it be a fight with the farmer?

I feed hay in summer...I have one area that I do it in. If my horses need extra feeding, they'll get it. But I am in a paddock where it's just my two...so it's entirely my own decision. And it was so enormously helpful in the massive drought we've just been through...I could leave them with whatever I thought appropriate (lots and lots of roughage for the drought situation) and leave them to work their way through it.

Before that, they were in a group paddock, and everyone took their horses out of the paddock to feed. Meant you couldn't leave them with something like hay.

If you think yours need it, then they should get it. And hay is the very best supplementary feed, generally speaking. But if the other people don't want to feed hay (if this is the situation), then you'll have to separate yours to feed.

[carol]

I'm feeding mine hay too. Ironically not because the grazing is poor, it's the opposite, my fields are just too rich. I had my hay cut from the fields in early July, and the grass that's coming through is far too much for them, I've already had one with suspected laminitis.

So with 500 bales of lovely new hay sitting in the barn, I then had to go whizzing around the area looking for old hay to give them, and section off a corner of the field for them to live in.

It seems quite mad to be doing this when I look at my lush fields, but they are all good doers and better safe than sorry.

[varkie]

I've never had to feed hay in the field in summer I don't think, but then mine are mostly good do-ers. I do feed it in the winter sometimes, and if I needed to in the summer, I would. Whatever the season, if they need hay in the field, they'll have it.