HAY CUBES/PELLETS

[MooreAcres]

Hay is getting pretty low around these parts, so I started thinking about how I could conserve it throughout the winter. I remember some of you talking about how you feed hay cubes/pellets instead of real hay. Where do you get them? How much is a bag? And most importantly, how much do you feed per day? I was thinking about feeding both real hay and hay cubes (if I can find them), plus of course their beet pulp, grain, BOSS, and vitamins. Are there any websites that sell them (thinking I might have to order them if I can't find them around here)?

Thanks guys, Erin :bgrin

 

[Reble]

Here in Ontario we can get it from our local feed store, price per skid for Alfalfa cubes $7.50 a bag & Timiothy and Alfalfa for $9.00

Also TSC stores carry them........... about $8.99 bag for Alfalfa - $9.99 a bag. for Timothy/Alfalfa mix

This price is for a skid which is 40 bags.

We feed by dry weight / 3 lbs a day for average mini 200-300 lbs. combined with other feed......

Hope this helps

:

Like to add no waste, not being over fed, better quality... in our experience........

 

[susanne]

Hey Erin,

Does Coastal carry them? Wilco?

Don't forget, the compressed hay place in St. Helens sells to the public one day a week -- Wednesday, I believe.

We made it through the end of last winter by staying in close contact with Apple Way, Columbia Electric, and Linnton feed stores. While we have very limited hay storage, we kept a few bales ahead so that we didn't have to make sudden changes when different types of hay were available.

Is Bob out of hay?

 

[chandab]

LIke others have said, you can get them at most feed stores. I found an interesting place to get bagged chopped hay product... Do It Best hardware. They have it listed on their website:

http://doitbest.com/DoItBest/Main.aspx?PageID=64&SKU=730921 [if you have a Do It Best locally, they can probably order it in for less than UPS shipping from the website.]

They have straight alfalfa and timothy/alfalfa mix, both with molasses added in 40# bags. I have a bag on order through my local store, so I can check out the quality. [Due to drought this year, my hay supply isn't top quality. I have plenty of bales, but the quality isn't there in about half of them. So, thought I'd check this out for supplementing.]

You could also check into complete feeds; Purina Horse Chow 100, senior feed, pleasure feed, Purina Adult, growth feed, etc.

 

[dangerranger]

Ours would not touch the cubes. We tryed soaking them , they looked at us like we were trying to poison them. untill I ran them through a wood chipper. once chipped they smell like fresh cut alfalfa. our minis will eat them like baled hay. good luck. DR.

 

[TrailersOutWest.com]

Forum readers-

Hello all- I never fed cubes until we got into minis. Now I am hooked and so are the minis. I do feed a handful of hay too, but just a handful sometimes about 9 pm at night when I tuck them in for the evening, or I give them 2 cubes instead. The most important thing to look at in hay cubes is the compaction of the hay cube. The cube should be very easy to break in half with one hand, not 2!!! Also, look for the date on the bag. Hay cubes are only guaranteed for 90 days !!! that is stated by the National Hay Cube Association. But I buy the cubes by the tons and have had them for up to 6 months, as long as you can keep them in a dry place off the ground, humidity is a real factor too. We are dealers for Rocky Mountain Alfalfa Hay cubes from Manzanola Colorado. They are hoping get the new equipement up and going to produce Grass cubes soon. One rule of thumb with hay cubes, never soak them in water, this depletes ALL the nutritional values from the hay. A normal size cube is 4-5 inches long. My stallions, not breeding or conditioning for a show, get about 4 cubes, this is weighed out to be a 1/2 lb. My broodmares get approximately 6-7 of them or 3/4 to a pound., depending on which trimester they are in. I feel it very important to weigh our feed and our hay at every feeding. We feed our minis cubes and a pelleted feed twice a day. A lot of people including vets will say cubes are not good, it really depends on the quality of the cube, you will know a good one from a bad one, just put it in your hand and if it hard as a rock, how do you think the mini can crush that thing in their mouth, it means the hay cutter has chopped the hay too fine. This is where the minis are not recieving a long enough piece of roughage for their digestive system. Hope my little 2 cents of personal use and satisfaction of Alfalfa cubes helps, but I have seen some bags of cubes the horses will not touch. Just use your best judgement and remember too, when you open a bag of cubes, it should be like busting open a fresh bale of hay, the fresh cut smell, should fill the air.

Angela Holmes

www.TrailersOutWest.com

 

[Reble]

Just my opinon, I do know people are worried about hay cubes getting swallowed and choke.

While once moist will break down very easy and fast, we believe even in their throat.....

:

What about horse treats harder than hay cubes and people never think twice about them.

Hay cubes break up so much easier than treats.

Just a thought

:

We have used hay cubes for 3 years now, and just love them.

:

Less work, better quaility with no rain, and buy when needed, no waste, and forgot no dust. Great for horses with respiratory problems.....

 

[cherylsminis]

I buy Alfalfa cubes at Tractor Supply. Huge bag for around $10.00/bag. I just break them apart(sometimes they are pretty big cubes), and feed them to my minis. In my experience, the alfalfa cubes put alot of weight on them so don't give too many.

:

 

[Lauralee]

I feed alfalfa pellets year round. I have fed the cubes in the past but they are, for me, difficult to scoop for my hands.

You can feed alfalfa pellets or cubes pound for pound at the same rate as you would hay. However, they do have a higher protein content than plain grass hay so you would want to streamline it down to just what is necessary. I find most horse owners feed hay just to give the horse something to chew on, and quite often are technically feeding more hay than is actually required by the horse.

Most miniature horses only require 1 to 2 pounds of hay per day. Some can get by on as little as .5 pound a day. Only the hard keepers and the 38" big bodied minis would need the 2 pounds a day.

Also you can add beet pulp to the diet which adds fiber and bulk.

That's my .02. We've been in a dought now for 3 years....and have learned some survival techniques for doing without grass hay.

 

[chandab]

Most miniature horses only require 1 to 2 pounds of hay per day. Some can get by on as little as .5 pound a day. Only the hard keepers and the 38" big bodied minis would need the 2 pounds a day.

2# sounds a little light for a B sized mini, but it would depend on what else is fed.

HOrses need 2-3% of their bodyweight in feed per day (at least half of which should be forage). My B mare weighs about 350#, so needs 7# feed per day. She gets 6 pounds of hay and hay pellets combined and 1/2 pound of ration balancer (she'll be going to just hay and ration balancer pretty soon, as the pellets are running out and I'm not special ordering again, the freight charges are frightening).

My yearling fillies get free choice grass hay plus ration balancer and some hay pellets.

My stallion is a bit pudgy, so we won't discuss his diet; he'll be going on reducing diet come spring.

 

[MooreAcres]

Other than one being a cube and the other being a pellet, whats the difference? I've seen alfalfa pellets before, so do hay pellets look just like that?

Could someone please post a picture of HAY CUBES and then HAY PELLETS? Which is better in your opinion?

How much would you feed to a:

6yo, 36" non breeding stallion?

7yo, 35" open mare?

11yo, 34" open mare?

7yo, 28" gelding?

Both hay cubes and pellets please...

Thanks, Erin

 

[eagles ring farm]

While on the subject do you soak the hay pellets also or just the cubes?

Lori

 

[billiethekid40]

When I was feeding hay cubes I got them at the feed store. I used a scale to measure out the cubes, 3 pounds I think per day plus his beet pulp, grain and boss. I soaked it with his beet pulp and he thought he had died and gone to heaven when he saw ALL THAT FOOD in his bucket! LOL It swells so much when you soal it that it takes them a long time to eat and fills them up nicely. Plus, you make sure they are getting enough water. I only feed it in the colder months, so i don't have to worry about it going sour before he eats it all, he grazes from the bucket for a couple of hours. In fact, it takes him longer to eat than the same (dry) weight would have in hay. And on cold days when it freezes too fast I just split the feedings so there wasn't as much down at once.

 

[Bess Kelly]

I've used pellets and cubes. As mentioned by others, some of the cubes are so hard you cannot break them with your hands so a mini isn't going to be real happy with them -- ESPECIALLY the young and old ones who don't have the jaw strengh & or teeth available for the crunch.

In my area Southern States has a timothy/alfafa cube which is much, much softer and the horses like them but, alas, at $15 + a 50# bag, quite pricey

: Have also used a "hay extender" pellet by Blue Seal. It is a pellet but, about 3/4 of an inch long and maybe as big around as the white chalk that they used to use in school. I soaked a couple of them before feeding to see what size the roughage was and surprisingly found some decent sized pieces in there. So, have feed them along with their grains before. I'll buy a supply to use when I need -- heavy winds sometimes make hay an experience in chasing Of course, my favorite and constant use for additional forage is BP. I use that every day!!! You need to remember to reduce the loose hay when you feed BP.

Many things make us be creative with our methods of providing the roughage these guys need. Weather is normally the blame for most of it with lack of land for grass being second......I'd say expense & storage create a third issue. The bagged pellets and cubes make a huge impact when storage space is a concern! And they are so much neater -- WOW.

I was able to get some very nice hay for about 1/3 less than expected, so I plan to extend that with both the hay extender pellets and some mixed alf/timothy cubes......of course, my beloved BP

:

Let me say this, my horses have not complained or suffered in any way when feeding these roughages :lol:

AND, I can carry 4-500 # of the cubes in the back of my Jeep -- something I cannot do with baled hay :aktion033: So, for those of us who try to beat the clock from work to feed store, this is surely a plus!

You don't have to take the truck or trailer to work with you (I've done THAT before

: ).