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 Tried and True
Posts: 21185
   
Location: Where I am happiest | We so far are heading into a drought. Haven't had any significant rain or snow and neither have the mountains. Irrigation water is very questionable as it looks right now. Everybody is getting really nervous and hay right now is looking to be scarce and already getting hard to find. Those who normally have ALOT to sell are sold out or not wanting to sell because they have animals to feed also and are preparing for the worst. So we are looking for ways to stretch what we have and what we will be able to get our hands on. So are wondering which would be better hay cubes or pellets? I worry about choke and them being able to eat it? We have all ages from baby's on up to seniors. What else can or should we feed to keep weight up and also not set the baby's back? We will also be feeding hay but we can't free feed like usual or we will really be in a bad spot. Thanks for all the help. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 542
| Cubes are better than pellets , technically they are counting them as long stem roughage these days. You can feed beet pulp to help stretch hay too. Just make sure all your feed ratios balance out when feeding the babies. Instead of soaking I misted beet pulp and then stirred it up with some flax oil, aloe, or vit E depending on why I was feeding it to that horse....basically just making a sloppy mess I stirred up and they slurped down.
When hay is scare or price is goin up I always make sure to make each flake count. I keep it in slow feeder hay nets tied outside the stall and I cut my good alfalfa with a quality grass hay. Buying the best quality hay will actually help it stretch longer. Example buy best quality alfalfa feed it at a 25-40% ratio of daily hay depending on the horse and use good clean regular whatever grass hay is native for your area for the rest of the ration. |
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| We don't have a hay shortage out here In CA, but prices have really gone up. I asked my supplier and they mentioned quite a bit was being shipped out of state. THis happened a few years back and they told me the premium hay was being bought by race horse trainers in the Middle East/Dubai. I love a free market system but dang! LOL I pay 29.00 a bale for timothy hay that has to be shipped from Washington. Of course its the only grass hay my horses will eat.. To answer your questions I would go cubes for the longer stem forage. |
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 Ms Bling Bling Sleeze Kitty
Posts: 20904
Location: LouLouVille, OK | TC, I recently took all my horses off the grain I was feeding and switched to Omnis Omega Plus cubes and love them, horses love them... It's been a couple months and they are all doing great. What do you have access to?
Edited by cindyt 2018-02-12 12:11 PM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 851
Location: West Texas | Either is fine. In a straight hay product, I like cubes better. In a mixed product, I like pelleted better. I feed both straight alfalfa cubes along with an alfalfa based grain pellet.
Where are you located that has this hay shortage?
Edited by Tdove 2018-02-12 5:06 PM
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Blessed 
Location: Here | Cubes
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 Expert
Posts: 3815
Location: The best kept secret in TX | Cubes. Cubes. Cubes. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1631
Location: Somewhere around here | I'll be the odd man out and say pellets. We used pellets for years when I lived with my parents before we had a few older horses that had missing teeth or other issues and the pellets were great with them. We mixed grain in with the pellets and also soaked them first. Literally the first bag we used on cubes one of our horses choked and we had to get the vet out to help him. I don't know if it was just an unlucky day but that made me weary of cubes ever since. |
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 It's not my fault I'm perfect
Posts: 13739
Location: Where the long tails flow, ND | I liked pellets, especially right now when I can get them wet before as they will freeze instantly. We don't have access to Omni's and the cubes we can get seem scary hard to me. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 889
| I would rather do cubes. But my mare that gets them, for some reason, has had a few episodes of choke with them. Yes, I soak, soak, soak. I don't know what it is? So I do pellets and she has no trouble with them. |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9991
Location: Kansas | I don't have a hay shortage, but I've recently been soaking beet pulp for my little herd. I read a few articles that it has good fiber in it for the GI, and helps extend hay (which I have noticed they aren't eating quite as much hay since I give them soaked beet pulp twice a day). I also soak alfalfa cubes in with their bp, and half a scoop of alfalfa pellets each feeding |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 629
| I'll say pellets too. I don't have time to wait for cubes to soak and break up to make me comfortable enough to feed them, and I don't prefer to soak them the night before and leave them to soak over night so I can use them in the morning. Something makes me fear that they will ferment and get gross. I have a horse that dunks her hay in her water bucket and between feedings, from doing this, her bucket gets disgusting and the hay gets fuzzy like it already has some type of algae on it. I just feel better to use the pellets because they soften up super quick.
Though, that being said, the same mare quit drinking water for 24 hours one day last week and I fed her cubes soaked like crazy with water, because I was primarily concerned about fiber and water. :) I also feed cubes as treats sometimes, BUT, as a daily long term feeding component, I'd select the pellets. |
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Gettin Jiggy Wit It
Posts: 2734
| I have two horses within respiratory problems. One with heaves and one with just inflamed airway. They can not be on hay. I feed mostly cubes due to long stem in their diet. They get about 4 lbs of alfalfa pellets and 15 lbs of cubes. I do mix in some Chaffhaye. I soak the cubes in hot water because it helps soften then faster. |
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