Does anyone free feed hay ?

[minimom1]

I feed a really good quality fine timothy hay - I was wondering if anyone on here

free feeds hay. If you do - do you have problems with any horses that just dont seem to want to stop eating.

Would love your opinions

 

[End Level Farms]

My mares in the summer and when I can in the winter are turned out with a round bale.

I do have one mare that can not be turned out on the round bale as she will just eat and eat. I turn her out for roughly 30-45 minutes 3 times a day.

 

[Contessa]

I wouldn't do it. Some of mine would probably do ok with free choice, especially the boys. I have 3 mares that would definately eat until they coliced, I call them the 3 little piggies.

 

[MBennettp]

I do, my horses have hay in front of them any time they want it. I fill their feeders morning and night. I have never had a problem with any of them overeating. They are on pasture during the day and in the barn and lot at night.

Mine will eat what they want but there is always hay in the feeders when I fill them. I have 6 minis and 1 shetland and feed bermuda, bluestem mix.

Mary

 

[shorthorsemom]

I only do it when it is very cold or very nasty weather and I want them to stay in and not roaming around shopping for food. I had problems doing this with timothy, much better with the bland grass hay I got last year.

 

[Bess Kelly]

If they are already used to pasture or good amounts of hay, I find they do not get into trouble. A horse with a feed issue (laminitis, IR, etc.) may be far less of a candidate for this situation.

Yep, they will eat more than usual for first few days (get your pooper-scooper ready!!) but, after that they mellow out. Most depends on what their system is used to -- so one who has been stalled a lot, limited feed stuff, etc., they will balloon on you.

Mine eat and walk away, for the most part. It can be a help to those doing the feeding if you can load up the hay for more than one feeding....and the animal if they weather is severe, can benefit.

 

[krissy3]

I do "sort of " free feed in winter when there is no longer pasture grass, and the only option is snow. my "free feed" is just putting out bits of grass hay out all day long, so they have to have 1 or 2 hour breaks between small meals. I bed in a top layer of straw in winter , it keeps them warmer, and they can chew on it if they need to. This year i have decided to leave the stall barn door open so they can go out and get fresh air ,poop and , keep warm by walking. the nice thing about free feeding is that it seems to teach them NOT to hoard their food, when my donkey and mare got into grain, they didnt not eat more that they usually do, they were not hungry. In this case it was my safety net. I think if some horses are use to always having food there they wont be as likely to overeat.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

When I feed hay, which is not very often, I free feed, irrespective of how much they eat.

I have had horses that I thought would pig out on the feed, but found when I removed the competitiveness form the situation, that they settled down and ate properly.

I use square bales, not round, just ordinary small bales, and my nets take half a bale, so the stallions get two of those between four of them and they just pick at it throughout the day and night.

When they are grazing, after all, I do not limit the amount of grass they eat, so why limit the hay?

Unless there is a medical reason why this method should not be used it is the most sensible, I am afraid I have neither the time nor the desire to go out every ten minutes to give them another handful, it is less labour intensive to feed them a bale and change one haynet every day.

(I used to use racks but they disintegrated eventually and I have never got around to having them mended, they are the best way to go as they hold two bales each, but the small holed nets, correctly tied on the fence, are perfectly safe.)

 

[mad for mini's]

I usually don't free feed, I go out and throw them hay half a dozen times a day. But when I'm going to be gone all day I will give them enough to last the day when I leave and when I return there is usually hay left so I know they haven't stood there and munched on it all day. I also give them extra in the winter but they still will not eat it all at once.

 

[Katiean]

I do not free feed. My little monsters tend to PICK through the hay and waste a bunch of it. It is just the fact that they waste too much and they are easy keepers. They would need a skateboard under their bellies if the had free feed. On the other hand, when they get out where the hay and grain is, they do not over eat nor do they make a mess. My grain is where they can not get at it period. The hay they just nibble or PICK out what they want.

 

[minih]

The only ones we do not free feed hay are the show horses in the spring and summer. But even they are turned out with free choice hay in the winter.

 

[suz]

I used to feed free choice timothy and he would eat it until it was gone - non stop. I then got one of those busy horse snacker feeder bags and put his hay in that. It slowed him down a bit, but he always finished it up and screamed for more. So, to answer your question, if he had free choice hay now, he would eat and eat and eat and never stop! So, that had to stop. He's a little piggy!

 

[Reijel's Mom]

I have done it and all of mine got very overweight that winter.

 

[chandab]

I only free feed hay in winter, but it can also get 20-30 below around here, colder with wind chill. During the warmer months, I do control their intake of hay, or they'd blow up like little piggy balloons. They do get some pasture in summer, but I limit it, as our grass is great for fattening cows, not so great for keeping little horses healthy (the grass would be likely to push them into laminitis and founder if they were out 24/7).

 

[minimom1]

I live in Alberta so it does get very cold here too but I am concerned about one inparticular being too fat. I do restrict thier grass in the summer or they would eat til they pop (lol)

 

[~Lisa~]

I choose not to free feed my horses. It is to hard to keep them fit that way ( I have a hard enough time as it is

)

I like to be able to see who is off feed who is eating less then they should- I stall them at night so I can see who is drinking what who is passing how much manure this way I usually can see an issue before it comes to serious

 

[sundaymom]

Last year I went to the large round bales during the winter. I have 3 run ins with excess overhang and what we did was take two large boards, and half a banister rail and nail together. Then put a board on the bottom to act as a slide up under the hay. As they eat away, we slide it further up. It helps with any waste. Then we take insulation wrap, which is very cheap and waterproof and wrap three sides for protection. We have a barn but they would rather stay out most nights.

At first they did seem to eat a lot like someone else said, then they excepted it would be there and slowed down. It sure saved me a lot of work and cleanup. The winters are not bad here but a wet cold that seems to bother me more each year. I find it's also cheaper than the square bales. As I said this is my second year doing this and no one seems to get overly heavy. The hay and Progressive grass ration balancer is all they get.

It has rained here for almost a solid month and started to turn cooler earlier so I have already set out bales and covered the run ins.

Here is a picture that catches a shot of it in the back ground.

In the picture you see a lot of excess hay but that was due to me putting hay down where the ground was so wet, so the foal would not be wet laying down.

 

[minimom1]

OMG - I WANT your baby - He is adorable

 

[wildoak]

My pasture mares have 24/7 access to a round bale when there isn't enough grass out. Yes, most of them are fat but it's not the hay. They will stand at the round bale and eat when it's cold but otherwise they graze more than they eat hay. We just had to trash a good portion of 2 round bales - put it out too early, it promptly rained for a month and the grass grew again. Mares have hardly touched it and the hay was ruined. (Tarp didn't hold, hay was soaked). My stall/show horses get hay generally 3 times a day, just much bigger portions when it's cold and nasty.

Jan

 

[Matt73]

I wish I could free feed hay. Just have them out in a big paddock with a round bale. It would be much easier. I can't imagine that, though. My guys (especially Royal) would get severely obese. Royal is fed hay 4 times/day equaling less than 2 flakes and he is fed Gro 'n Win (a taste) 2x/day. And he needs to lose weight. He has a nice layer of fat over his ribs and a big thick coat; at least he's ready for winter

My other guys still have sleek coats and are very fit looking.