Feeding Haylage

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Banana

Banana

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I've been struggling to find a consistent supply of decent hay here as the place where I was getting really good quality stuff no longer stock it, and my other local pet supplies place (a garden centre) only does rather unpleasant brown stuff that doesn't smell great.

We have a farm supplies store across the way from work. They don't do hay but do sell haylage and was wondering if anyone had tried this with piggies? I used to buy the odd bale for my horses when I was travelling them and ran out of stuff to put in a haynet and was impressed by how dust free and sweet smelling it was.

It's not as cheap as buying a bale of hay but much cheaper than ordering hay mail order. Having been used to paying £2.50 a bale for good quality meadow hay when I had my horses, I simply can't get my head round the idea of forking out 30 odd quid for 5kg of hay to be delivered!

For anyone who isn't familiar with haylage this is the stuff I'm thinking about.

Any thoughts?
 
I don't know much about Haylage - it does look good.

have you thought about the 10 bale from dust free hay co? It's £39 and it's loads and loads of kilo's - maybe 30

Still not as cheap as what you're used to though!
 
Is haylage the slightly fermented grass stuff sweet weird smelling? I think you would be safer with just grass or readigrass if you can't get good quality hay, but i think i would rather stick with hay myself
 
I would have thought that haylage would be too rich to put guineas on. Its used in horses as weight gain and keeping weight on I dont think it would be good for a guinea pig.
 
Lisajazz said:
I don't know much about Haylage - it does look good.

have you thought about the 10 bale from dust free hay co? It's £39 and it's loads and loads of kilo's - maybe 30

Still not as cheap as what you're used to though!
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Hi Lisa,

Yes, I have looked at that, thanks. My problem with buying in bulk is that I'd have to store outside in our garage bay and I'd be concerned about keeping the hay sufficiently clean and dry. It is a better price bought that way, working out at about £2 per kilo.

Having said that, haylage doesn't keep that well once it's unwrapped anyway and as I've only got the 2 pigs I doubt they'd get through it quickly enough, so I guess it is a non-starter.

Ah well, back to the drawing board. I need a haybarn!
 
lovelygirl said:
Is haylage the slightly fermented grass stuff sweet weird smelling? I think you would be safer with just grass or readigrass if you can't get good quality hay, but i think i would rather stick with hay myself
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Haylage shouldn't be fermented, that's silage, but it does smell quite sweet. I wasn't sure that the pigs would care for it. They dislike change! I'm not keen on readigrass. I've come across it as a feed for horses, but I found it quite 'sharp' and brittle and I think it would not give the level of teeth wear that guinea pigs require.

annaliese said:
I would have thought that haylage would be too rich to put guineas on. Its used in horses as weight gain and keeping weight on I dont think it would be good for a guinea pig.
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Annaliese, I was looking at the high fibre version which is low in protein and appropriate for 'good doers' as a hay replacement. I used to feed it to my welsh cob and I think it came in at a similar forage value to good quality hay.

Thank you for your responses. I guess this isn't something anyone has tried out.
 
I dunno about the bagged up stuff, we used to just pull it off the bale into a net at our yard as we were on self service. We had our 16hh gelding on it to keep the weight on him over the winter while the turnout was bad. I just wouldnt use it i doubt thier digestive systems could take it, it makes horses a bit loose never mind a piggys tiny little stomach :)
 
I once asked a local garden centre/feed supply store about using haylage for piggies. I was told to avoid it, as it must be used within days of opening - not economical by any means for guineas.

Danni - freeze/heat dried grass is literally just fast-dried grass. Difference between hay and dried grass? Hay is obviously grass left to dry naturally, during which time it loses most of its nutrients. Dried grass is grass dried with heat, and seals in all the nutrients of grass.
 
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