Storing hay indoors is the best option for avoiding spoilage. But if you cannot keep all of your hay inside, other strategies can also help reduce spoilage. Reducing spoilage reduces waste, so it is important to remember that the outer portion of a bale contains a large proportion of the total hay in the bale. There are all sorts of temptingly tasty feeding hay and dried grass for rabbits to eat and enjoy and individual bunnies will no doubt have their favourites. Owners should still be careful when feeding hay to older horses, though. Its sugar levels are quite high, which means feeding your horse too much of it could cause it to develop laminitis over time. My horse requires some special management to keep him comfortable due to an underlying condition. Should I be feeding him forage in a certain way to aid his treatment? Hay should always be stored above ground level and preferably with some airflow. It can be kept in sealed plastic to stop moisture getting to it providing the hay is of good quality. However, if the hay is lower quality and hasn’t been dried properly, sealing it in plastic will cause it to go musty and mouldy. This is another good reason to ensure you only buy the better hays.

Good-quality guinea pig nuggets are formed from a range of ingredients – including grass meal and wholegrain wheat, beneficial dried herbs such as mint and oregano, along with other nutritious ingredients like dried nettles and dandelions. These make up a typical forage-based diet and provide a natural guinea pig food. Burgess Excel feeding hay comes in a choice of fully recyclable cardboard boxes or easy-open bags – both of which will keep each batch of hay fresh until it’s all been eaten up. Why not mix and match to see what varieties your buns like best ? The ideal scenario is to replicate a horse’s natural environment as closely as possible. Recent research suggests that 20% of a horse’s grazing time is done at head height with front feet parallel, which counters the stance of the grazing horse, which generally sees one leg forward. With this in mind, owners can do the following… The numbers refer to when it was cut but, more importantly, the cutting will change the texture and content of the hay. The first cutting is a lot more fibrous and has more flower heads. The second cutting (the one we recommend for guinea pigs) has a good balance of fibre and flower heads whereas the third cutting is softer with more leaf and less stem. What is alfalfa hay and is it good for guinea pigs?Another thing to consider when weighing up whether haylage is better than hay is respiratory health. Hay is a larger source of respirable particles compared to haylage. Respirable particles are very small particles that are invisible to the naked eye and are a combination of things that could potentially be harmful to your horse’s respiratory health including mould spores and bacteria. Another option for overcoming this issue is to steam hay using a hay steamer e.g. Haygain, or a high temperature dried forage replacer such as Dengie Hi-Fi Senior or Pure Grass as high temperature drying produces a consistently clean forage source. When can I feed this year’s hay or haylage? While hay should make up the main component of your rabbits’ diet, you should also include small amounts of other nutritious foods. The same goes for beef cattle: the best way to feed beef cattle is probably with a raised cattle feeder. It’s important to also gauge how much hay to feed cattle in the winter. Here’s a great article that talks in detail about how much hay to feed cattle in the winter. Is Grinding Hay a Good Way to Feed Hay to Cattle?

LITCHFIELD, Minn. — Whether there is an excess of hay or a shortage in your system, efficiently feeding your hay can drastically affect the success of your operation. Although they make up only a small portion of a guinea pig’s feeding needs, high-quality nuggets are really important. The carefully balanced vitamins and minerals they contain support healthy eyes, skin and coat and promote a healthy digestion.The grass that is used to make haylage is cut quite early on. After that, it is only allowed to wilt slightly, and not completely dry out. Then, around 24-48 hours after it gets cut, it gets baled and then wrapped in polythene to be preserved. Fresh Water: Fresh water should always be available. Change it daily and ensure that it hasn’t frozen in the winter months. Excel Feeding Hay & Grass: High-quality, dust-extracted hay for rabbits or fresh grass should make up 85-90% of your rabbits’ diet. You should make sure that it is freely available and replaced with fresh hay every day. While this won’t necessarily slow your horse down, this feeder is installed in a corner of a wall or fence and encourages your horse to adopt a more natural feeding position.

Young guinea pigs or mother guinea pigs who are nursing their young need additional calcium in their diet, so Alfalfa Hay can be fed to these guinea pigs. Can I use feeding hay for bedding? When shopping around for hay, some may not say it is dust extracted but may be hand sortedor hand selected. The hand sorted hays are fine as the process of hand sorting eliminates most of the dust. Plus, don’t forget to supply your piggies with a constant supply of fresh, clean water in a bottle with a solid sipper tube, attached to their accommodation. I’ve always heard that ad-lib forage is the best way to feed horses, but mine is a good-doer. How can I balance feeding him ad-lib without overloading his calorie intake? Haylage is a lot easier on the stomach, as it is very easy to digest due to its higher moisture contentGuinea pigs have very delicate digestive systems which need to be treated with care. These small rodents need a really high-fibre diet, so feeding them unlimited high-quality hay or fresh grass is vital. Alongside this, you should provide high-quality guinea pig nuggets and the occasional treat. Biomechanically and environmentally, horses are designed to feed with their heads down for 80% of their active feeding time while maintaining near-constant motion. This head-down position has evolved to open the horse’s airways and the feeding apparatus, allowing his nasal passages to drain and producing sufficient saliva to assist with chewing and provide a barrier to stomach acid. enrich your horse’s environment by replicating foraging by using treat balls or hiding carrots in his bedding, for example

Daily feeding is best; smaller amounts require more feeding times, which equals more work; causes less waste (completely free method); do not have to invest in a feeder In general, cattle waste (remove but do not consume) about 25% of each bale fed in a round bale feeder. When selecting a hay source for your horse, don’t make assumptions about the cut – for example, many people think that a later cut is considerably lower in sugar content and calories, but that’s not necessarily always the case. If you want to reduce sugar levels, soaking hay is a good step. The longer you soak it for, the more nutrients will be stripped out. You can soak your hay for up to six hours in the summer months or up to 12 in winter, when there’s less risk of fermentation, for the best results. Alternatively, speak to your feed manufacturer about low-calorie hay replacement options, which you can use in tandem with a smaller hay ration or in place of it entirely. Apart from the nutritional value, there are a couple of important reasons why hay is vital for guinea pigs. Hay is genrally higher in sugar than haylege per kg (think of a rasin Vs a grape), so feeding your horse too much hay can cause it to develop laminitis. To prevent this, you should either reduce the amount of hay you give your horse or switch to haylage.

In summary, although a bunk feeder is fundamentally the most efficient way to feed cows hay, a blended approach such as feeding chopped hay in a cattle feeder may work best. Which Feeders Are Good Ways to Feed Hay to Cattle? As an example, a 30-cow herd would consume one 900-pound round bale per day. To feed a 30-cow herd, we could use one hay ring that is filled daily. But a better alternative would be to use three hay rings that are filled every three days. This gives every cow in the herd an opportunity to get the hay she needs, in addition to cutting labor costs. Similar calculations can be used with other types of hay feeders. Figure 3. Group large round bales on 20-foot centers in a corner of a pasture and enclose them with a movable electric fence. Feed the bales in hay rings and move the fence and rings as needed. If a guinea pig doesn’t have enough hay or stops eating hay it can result in serious illness. What to look for in a good guinea pig feeding hay One myth when it comes to feeding hay is that last year’s hay is safer for a laminitis prone horse or pony. Post-cutting and baling when the grass has finished respiring there will be no further losses of non-structural carbohydrate, which is the sum of water soluble carbohydrate and starch added together, just through storage alone. The level of non-structural carbohydrate in any forage can be highly variable and is dependent on grass types and environmental conditions during growth and at the time of harvest. The only way to know what a forage provides and therefore how suitable it is for your horse is to get the forage tested. Can I use haylage for a horse with ulcers?