Replacing hay with cubes

[JaniceZ]

We are having a hard time finding hay this year. My horses are at a coop boarding facility. Hay is included in the board, but we have been told that we will probably only have enough hay to last until November. Christmas at the very longest. So my mom and I are searching for our own hay for our two minis. So far we have had no luck. Everyone in Ontario seems to be holding onto their hay for there own animals.

I do know some people who live about 8 hours north of us who has some extra hay, but it is "cow" hay. How would I be able to tell if it is high enough quality for our minis? Or should I just accept that the hay this year will be lower quality?

I am also trying to look into some other options such as beet pulp and alfalfa cubes. Anyone have any luck or experience with feeding alternatives? I usually feed my 4 year old mare 1 flake of hay and 1 cup of 13% pellets morning and night through the winter (she is an easy keeper), and my mom feeds her 2 year old mare 1 flake of hay and one cup of 13% pellets and half a cup Masterfeeds Finishing Touch morning and night.

Any advice would be appreciated!

-Janice

 

[happy appy]

Where in Ontario are you located?

 

[MajorClementine]

I feed my minis grass pellets a lot. They love them. I just feed the same weight in pellets that I would feed in hay. I would not feed "cow" hay to my horses. The nutrition just isn't there. If it was good enough for horses it would have been sold as such because you can get more $$ for horse hay than cow hay. A lot of times it will have weeds in it or have been rained on. It may also be oat hay.

People around here say to feed about 2% of your minis body weight so a 200lb mini would get 4 lbs of feed a day. A little more for cold hard winters

Just keep an eye on your horses and make sure to feel their backs and hips since winter wolly hair can hide a lot.

Bottom line IMO is that pellets or cubes are a great alternative to baled hay and is WAY better than just accepting low quality hay. Good luck. This hay/food shortage is getting to be a world wide problem.

 

[JAX]

LOVE soaked beet pulp and alfalfa cubes as well, they are a good way to sttrrreeeeeeeccccccchhhhhhh your hay supply. I would not go the route of cow hay.

 

[JaniceZ]

Thank you so much for your quick replys!

Happy Appy: We are in Beamsville Ontario, About halfway between Hamilton and St. Catherines

Major Clementine: Very useful information! What exactly are grass pellets? Where could I get them?

Thank You!

 

[rubyviewminis]

Janice, I have 3 very small easy keepers and in years past here we added to stretch hay during winter a mixture of beet pulp pellets and alfalfa or alfalfa/timothy pellets (the cubes take so long to soak) and just added enough water to soak good and then added in the pelleted feed and other supplements morning and night. They were still fed hay but not as much and the quality was not real good so this worked well for us and the winters those years were pretty bad.

During summer we just added in the soaked hay pellets, no beet pulp. I usually just add enough water to them to cover and by the time I get everything else done and mixed in they are softened just enough. This summer following Marty's advice I added a LOT of water and let it soak an hour. I alway worry the littlest ones will choke on hay cubes or pellets that are too hard or if they are eating too fast. One of them has done this previously. The mini cubes are just as hard here.

you can google Standlee Hay in Idaho and it gives you an idea of the hay pellets to go on. Hope you can get them, I am VERY lucky this year to have found a good hay supply finally after 5 years.

 

[chandab]

Since you are in Ontario, you may have good luck finding Ontario Dehy products: http://www.ontariodehy.com/

they have a nice selection of cubes and pellets, and I've heard nothing but good about the company.

 

[happy appy]

Happy Appy: We are in Beamsville Ontario, About halfway between Hamilton and St. Catherines

If you were closer to me I could give you names of suppliers up here. I live about 1.5 hrs east of Toronto down the 401.

 

[JaniceZ]

Thank you for the helpful advice everyone! I appreciate it.

Happy appy, I have asked people as far as owen sound. Any contacts you can give me would be fantastic!

 

[ohmt]

Hay cubes can safely replace hay/forage, but pellets can not and should only ever be used as a supplement. I feed cubes to my show horses because it's easier for me to get the quality I want with more consistent nutritional content and it's easier to weigh. I soak mine for 2 hours and put enough water in to go over the tops. I also feed beet pulp. It can replace up to 30-40% (i think-about that) of hay safely. I do 20% with alfalfa cubes to bring the protein content down. If I was feeding grass cubes I'd feed less so as not to bring the protein level down too much. Hope this helps!

 

[JMS Miniatures]

I've fed cubes before in the past as a hay replacement and mine were great on them, didn't even soak them, they had no trouble eating them, they didn't like them soaked. The pellets are fine if I needed to give them a little bit more forage to their diet but wouldn't use them for your only source of forage, I would pick the cubes for sure over the pellets.

 

[rubyviewminis]

I am using cubes right now but hope I didn't mislead anyone into thinking I fed hay pellets instead of hay or as a large percentage of their roughage in times of shortages of decent hay. I just found that the pellets soaked were the best way for us to get their salt, flax, and anything else that comes down the pike here (always rescuing something) into them without waste. Then I just blend in either their ration balancers or Safechoice. During summer it gets a lot of extra water into them and they slurp it up. I have tried all the other suggestions from everyone but I have very picky children here. Like I said a few are dainty and have choked on the dry stuff or larger stemmed hay, so now I throw it in a mulcher if we end up with that kind of hay again. Our choices are so limited here, I have just never run into this before.

 

[dreamcatcher]

I have been feeding cubes for almost a year now. I also use a complete feed in pellet form. My little man has a great coat and energy and loves his cubes. I pour water on them to get them wet. He wont eat them otherwise. I have to admit I was leary at first, but am a true believer now. He has never been healthier.

 

[Magic]

We'll be buying hay cubes this year in order to have enough hay to get us through til next year. We've fed it in the past, just not to the extent that we will be now. I was stressing badly over the shortage of hay around here right now from the drought, but now that we've found hay cubes (at a GREAT price! it helps to have connections!) and we've sold four minis with more possibly being bought, I can rest easier that my herd will be well fed this year. Whew!

 

[rubyviewminis]

TheHorse.com has a lot of forage articles this week including fiber susbstitutions for hay that you might find interesting.

 

[MajorClementine]

I get the grass pellets locally. I like them better than the cubes. They are the same thing just pelleted. You can usually get bermuda or timothy pellets. They come in 50lb bags and are easier for me to get and manage around here.

 

[Marty]

If someone tells you its cow hay, stay away from it. That usually means it is loaded with weeds and junk, not fertilized, and too coarse for a horse to eat it.

I don't like hay cubes and won't feed them at all. Soaked or not, they can choke on them.I have two in my barn that will tell you all about it. I am a firm believer in long stem forage. That horses are grazers and need that grazing factor going on. It also helps them buffer the acids and helps to avoid ulcers. They need something to do with their mouths and feeding cubes doesn't last too long anyhow to comfort them. I don't do what is easy for me, I do what I feel is best for them. That's just my humble opinion of it all. We have had drought years like everyone else and what we do is DRIVE. Out of state, anywhere we have to go to get hay bales they can eat and believe me, we've driving a LOT of miles for hay. We don't wait until the last minute to go on a hay hunt. Now would be a good time. I also don't mind pellets, or alfalfa pellets and I usually keep some bagged hay in the tack room too from Tractor Supply for emergencies, but hay is my primary forage.

 

[Shari]

When I had to board my Arab gelding in San Diego, all they fed was cubes. Three years of 100+ horse's being fed cubes, and no issues with them.

Have also fed cubes off and on, over the years, again, with no issues.

Now my DS's shetland pony mare always choked on pellets, so we stopped feeding those to her. Cubes she was fine with.

Have had a number of other livestock that have had problems with Pellets, but not cubes.

Pellets are not the same thing is cubes. Pellets are more finely chopped and do not have enough, fiber/forage/roughage in them.

For hay, I am going 1 1/2 hours one way.

I have to rent a trailer and because my Pilot as a low tow rating, we had to make two trips a couple of weeks ago. Makes for a very long day.

And I still do not think I have enough hay to get through the winter. Anyway, that add's a lot to the cost of the hay, to say the least.

Here, I have been asking around both for hay cubes and the Triple Crown Safe forage chop in a bag... ton prices. But here, first place I have lived, they don't give a ton discount! How scary is that?

Just wanted another option, just in case I can't get hay later.

Nothing wrong with checking around to see what is out there. ;O)

 

[JaniceZ]

After a few stressful weeks of searching all over Ontario We found hay!!!!!!! And it's close to home! I am Very happy

enough to last our two minis until next season. Thank you everyone for your help and advice. Good to know for future droughts!

 

[rubyviewminis]

Oh yes Marty, I hear you. I washed hay by hand in a large seive my husband made for me all last winter and the winter before. In the bathtub if it was too cold and it froze on me, I have also used my horse hair dryer to dry it because the only hay within Utah, Idaho, California, and lower Nevada was either cow hay = mold & trash in it, or decent hay but dirty thus I washed it. They were compressed 50# bales and were $20 each, but my little ones had clean hay mixed into their dwindling other hay from the previous summer. And until we had the money to build a hay barn, we used our garage and I trudged through snow and slimey mud from parking outside the garage. They are worth every penny, and every effort.

I still have 18 large bales left from last year and just bought 60 more at 3 times the price of before, just to make sure we do not run out in the next 12 months for three miniatures. All because we finally found someone in the next town who grew decent wonderful hay.