Soaking hay cubes??

[jbrat]

Hi all,

I bought some hay cubes today only to use as a supplement and/or treat.

I feed grass hay ( not great hay but it'll do) but I thought a small amount of alfalfa cubes would be good for them this winter, extra water and nutrition.

I put about 4-5 big cubes in some water today and made alfalfa soup,the boys weren't impressed but they did end up eating it after I drained all the water off.

So my question is how much water should I use or is it one of those I just have to keep trying till I get it right?

I want it more like oatmeal texture, right?

If I drain the water off after soaking it, am pouring out some of the nutritional value too?

Thanks

 

[love_casper]

I only use cubes for my big horse, but what I do is put 2x as much water as cubes. With her, I fill half a bucket with cubes, fill it to the top with water. Also, it takes a while (I let it sit for half an hour) to swell up.

Not sure about what happens when you drain it, but I never have. Well, not unless I'm running late and it has too much water for me to sit and wait.

 

[disneyhorse]

If they don't like "soup" i suggest adding just enough water to cover. That way they will be soft for eating but still maintain some shape.

Andrea

 

[jbrat]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I mainly got it to supplement my old QH, he seems to drop more weight each year so I wanna give him a few extras this winter.

He's always been fed dry food so he's not to sure about the soup, but if I can thicken it up I think he'll learn to like it.

The little guys will only get a bite or two so they don't feel left out.

 

[chandab]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I mainly got it to supplement my old QH, he seems to drop more weight each year so I wanna give him a few extras this winter.

He's always been fed dry food so he's not to sure about the soup, but if I can thicken it up I think he'll learn to like it.

The little guys will only get a bite or two so they don't feel left out.

I fed some alfalfa cubes to my senior half-Arab gelding last winter and he doesn't like soup either, but... I added enough water to cover the cubes to soak and they came out the consistency of about fresh cut lawn grass, then he really liked them.

 

[Jill]

Yeah, pretty much just experiment with the amount of water until you get it just right. I know when we used to feed cubes, there's a big difference in how different brands soak up. There was one brand we'd get sometimes and they were compressed so hard into tight bricks. Those took an age to soak up. This time of year, if you can, hot water is great and will soak the cubes through much faster than cold water.

 

[sams]

i definatly agree with jill, hot water is best it warms their stomach in the winter and soaks faster. start with just enough to cover the cubes, you and always put more water in after if you need to

 

[MinisOutWest]

Saying goodbye to the forum- I give true advice and ripping people, like me, for doing it is unacceptable in my ethics and values. so good bye to all.

 

[whitney]

I have no proof but would NEVER feed cubes without soaking them first. Have you tried to break those puppies in half? IMPOSSIBLE. Can you say CHOKE! You might run this by your vets but if you feed the liquid and the soaked cubes wouldn't the nutritional value be floating around in the water? I also soak with hot water it takes about 7 minutes for them to breakdown, in cold water at least an hour or more.

 

[Lucky-C-Acres-Minis]

We've been doing soaked hay cubes as well... I always add enough water so there's an inch or two above the cubes.. Usually soak them for 15-20 minutes, if I have some extra time after they've soaked for 5 minutes or so I break them into smaller cubes so they soak faster.. Like someone said earlier the different brands soak differently, we have one brand that takes in water fairly well and are easily to break apart after sitting for 20 minutes or so, we used one other brand that did not take water in hardly at all, didn't soften up enough for the minis but were ok for our trail horses.. Our vets (Ohio State and Local vets) recommended soaking the cubes as they are too hard for a horse to just bite into and some of those cubes are huge... If I have too much excess water I'll dump some out but I usually leave some excess on it and when it's time to feed it the horses usually have a little grain left which soaks up the water.. Works for us and the horses aren't complaining

 

[CHARLOTTE & JOHN]

We crumble our hay cubes and mix them with their sweet feed twice a day. Most of

them will crumble using your hands. The tougher ones are easily handled using a

pliers. Of course we only have the 4 minis to do this for. We use Pro-Hay premium

alfalfa Cubes.

 

[HGFarm]

I soak my cubes because of the choke factor as well. I didnt with the big horses, but with the Minis I do. I cover them, as they really suck in the water.

The water soaks IN, it is not dumped off or wasted, thus I dont see nutrients lost- as it is still all there. With cooked veggies, nobody drinks the water they are cooked in. (I like mine steamed best too, or grilled, Mmmmm)

For your old guy, in case you are not already, you might add some beet pulp as well.

 

[Reijel's Mom]

why are you soaking cubes? that takes the nutritional value out of them, It is just like boiling your own veggies or steaming them, it takes the nutrients away, eating raw veggies is better.

I'm curious about this - if I decided I wanted raw carrots for lunch, put them in a glass of water, ate the carrots, and then drank the water - where is the nutrient loss?

If a person isn't going to drain off the water that they soak the cubes in I would think all the nutrients would still be there?

 

[jbrat]

For your old guy, in case you are not already, you might add some beet pulp as well.

I've thought about that, but haven't seen it - never really heard about it till I joined LB. But I do know it is in the buckeye SR grain I feed him.

Maybe I could ask questions about beet pulp on here too.

How is bp packaged? -shredded/cubed?

How much water to add?

Alfalfa cubes vs. Beet pulp?

Which would be the most beneficial if only being feed as a supplement, also feeding good grain and grass hay.

Thanks for everyone's time and input!

 

[Tatonkas Dream]

I've played with soaking mine and about gotten it down pat, my guys like it at about 2x, and just like Jill (and others) mentioned different brands take different times. I soak for min about 30 mins. Some do either alfa cubes or beet pulp overnight... I'd ask your vet if they think its worth that amount of time.

my guys love it - almost all of them eat the alfa first then there grain mix, and in the begining if it was too soupy for there liking most of them would fling there bucket enough to try and dump out the contents OH!

I would consider a mix of both beet pulp and cubes for an older child.

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

I just went to a nutritional seminar last night presented by Buckeye. It was about how to manage the winter with many having little or no hay. It was two hours long, but to summarize, they suggest beet pulp as the best "forage" supplement, then hay cubes were second...BUT...she said ALWAYS soak them ESPECIALLY for minis. Just use about 2x water to 1x cubes.

 

[HGFarm]

You can use the cubes and beet pulp. I buy mine in the shredded variety with no mollases (soaks quicker and the horses love it- bought the BP pellets and they would not even eat it). Everything I have read says do not use BP as the only forage but it can replace SOME of the hay. I would add maybe 50/50 of each to his diet, on top of what you feed now.