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Expert
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| I feed free choice grass hay and throw flakes of alfalfa. I bought a hay chix net for my grass hay bales (big bales), and was wondering for convenience about buying one for a big bale of alfalfa. I don't know if my horses would gorge themselves or not.... I figure after a while they would realize it's not going anywhere and chill out. The alfalfa (small and large bale) comes from the same farm, so that's not an issue. I'm just thinking 1. convenience and 2. would probably cut back on my feed (grain) consumption. I would rather my horses have a higher forage diet anyways. I just don't want them over-eating the alfalfa. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1056
| that is the way my vet feeds.............hay chix net over bale for slow feed...............pasture baled alphafa |
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Expert
Posts: 2685
| I wonder where you vet lol. Mine does too for all of their recips minus the hay net. These horses (recips at the vet) obviously don't get grain and most of them are F-A-T. We also buy our alfalfa from the same farm. I think I might do it when I come back from vaca. I need to order another net.... |
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 Hugs to You
Posts: 7551
Location: In The Land of Cotton | We do. We get the 1,000 bales. My horses only get maybe a 1/3 lb of whole oats twice a day along with it. That is to add loose minerals (because they tip a bucket and waste them).
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Expert
Posts: 2685
| 3canstorun - 2018-03-02 7:13 AM
We do. We get the 1,000 bales. My horses only get maybe a 1/3 lb of whole oats twice a day along with it. That is to add loose minerals (because they tip a bucket and waste them).
this is kinda what I was thinking. Feed enough grain to add their minerals & MSM too.... |
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Expert
Posts: 3514
| Alfa Pro from Hi Pro Feeds and Cube It Alfalfa Cubes. Or feed Alfafa Hay instead of the cubes. |
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Hugs to You
Posts: 7551
Location: In The Land of Cotton | RoaniePonie11 - 2018-03-02 8:15 AM 3canstorun - 2018-03-02 7:13 AM We do. We get the 1,000 bales. My horses only get maybe a 1/3 lb of whole oats twice a day along with it. That is to add loose minerals (because they tip a bucket and waste them).
this is kinda what I was thinking. Feed enough grain to add their minerals & MSM too....
We cut off two or three of the wires on the outside of the bale. When they get closer to the middle we cut the rest. Easy to do and no waste. |
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Expert
Posts: 2685
| 3canstorun - 2018-03-02 7:50 AM
RoaniePonie11 - 2018-03-02 8:15 AM 3canstorun - 2018-03-02 7:13 AM We do. We get the 1,000 bales. My horses only get maybe a 1/3 lb of whole oats twice a day along with it. That is to add loose minerals (because they tip a bucket and waste them).
this is kinda what I was thinking. Feed enough grain to add their minerals & MSM too....
do you use a net or hay ring at all? |
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Hugs to You
Posts: 7551
Location: In The Land of Cotton | RoaniePonie11 - 2018-03-02 8:57 AM 3canstorun - 2018-03-02 7:50 AM RoaniePonie11 - 2018-03-02 8:15 AM 3canstorun - 2018-03-02 7:13 AM We do. We get the 1,000 bales. My horses only get maybe a 1/3 lb of whole oats twice a day along with it. That is to add loose minerals (because they tip a bucket and waste them).
this is kinda what I was thinking. Feed enough grain to add their minerals & MSM too.... do you use a net or hay ring at all?
No, it is put in a dry shed where no rain can get on it. A 3 sided run in. We have a big plastic pallet to keep it off the ground and they can't get caught in it like a wood one. |
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 Off the Wall Wacky
Posts: 2981
Location: Louisiana | To those that are already doing this...how many horses do you have and how fast do they eat a bale?
We throw flakes off a 1000 lb bale and it lasts us about 10-14 days feeding 6 horses...they only get it at night and have pasture and a plain ol crap round bale the rest of the time.
We've been thinking about building a shed to free choice it, but worried our feed bill may double lol. |
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Hugs to You
Posts: 7551
Location: In The Land of Cotton | dashnlotti - 2018-03-02 9:44 AM To those that are already doing this...how many horses do you have and how fast do they eat a bale? We throw flakes off a 1000 lb bale and it lasts us about 10-14 days feeding 6 horses...they only get it at night and have pasture and a plain ol crap round bale the rest of the time. We've been thinking about building a shed to free choice it, but worried our feed bill may double lol.
Our 1,000 lb bales are too compressed for flakes. They last 3-1/2 weeks with two hardworking horses - ridden 5-6 days a week. They cost $190 ea. I feed 1/3 lb whole oats, twice a day. We have a round bale out of Tift 85 that munch on. It has been in their pasture since December, late in the month. |
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Off the Wall Wacky
Posts: 2981
Location: Louisiana | 3canstorun - 2018-03-02 9:30 AM
dashnlotti - 2018-03-02 9:44 AM To those that are already doing this...how many horses do you have and how fast do they eat a bale? We throw flakes off a 1000 lb bale and it lasts us about 10-14 days feeding 6 horses...they only get it at night and have pasture and a plain ol crap round bale the rest of the time. We've been thinking about building a shed to free choice it, but worried our feed bill may double lol.
Our 1,000 lb bales are too compressed for flakes. They last 3-1/2 weeks with two hardworking horses - ridden 5-6 days a week. They cost $190 ea. I feed 1/3 lb whole oats, twice a day. We have a round bale out of Tift 85 that munch on. It has been in their pasture since December, late in the month.
OK so it sounds like a bale would last us about a week. Which makes sense being they're currently rationed to once a day and it lasts 2 weeks. Thanks! |
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 Can You Hear Me Now?
Location: When you hit the middle of nowhere .. Keep driving | Right now my girls are getting spoiled with the bales that are from a field with a high amount of Alfalfa... They are gorging and I am going through twice the amount of hay as normal and they have a bucket tied to the fence by their water with free choice loose mineral in it! I can't wait for summer... LOL
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  Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4557
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | I have 4 horses on a 900 pound round. they free choice and lasts about 8 days. it's in a ring and they do toss a lot out the sides to get to the leaves..I had less waste with the twine left on cause they couldn't just toss it everywhere.they will eat themselves silly for awhile,then they just get board with it.mine have made their own schedule.most of the time they just lay down or chase each other around. |
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