Can I feed silage to horses?

More and more grass silage is being fed to horses instead of hay. Although well fermented low DM silage can be fed to horses, it is usually baled at a dry matter of 50% or higher when is referred to as “haylage”.  If made properly it is considerably more nutritious and more palatable than hay and there should be none of the health problems associated with dusty hay.  Square bales are usually preferred to large round bales as they are easier to feed in wedges.  More recently it has become possible to make small round bales of around 35-50 kg fresh weight.

More mature grass is usually used for haylage; a ‘D’ value of 60-65 is adequate.  It is more important that the feed should be consistent.  Do not chop the grass short for horses, they prefer it fairly long.