Alternatives to corner hay bar

[fornema]

I have an older lady who has decided it’s much too hard work to eat her hay out of nets, who has her whole life been a greedy , but now on completely ad lib hay has given up the piggy ways. She has hay in a loose out in the field, has decided the loose hay is her preference and otherwise she’s not eating as much as I’d like overnight. We have one wooden wall and one metal in the corner, but don’t think I have the ability to drill something into metal (wouldn’t know what drill bit is even required ), so my options are limited and I need some cost effective ideas to try to contain loose hay in its allotted area.

I cannot leave it in a pile on the floor as she will mix it into her bed which is exceptionally expensive to maintain without hay added. Can’t put in the tile crates, nor perhaps just a plastic box as she will break it.

Note, it has to put up with soaked hay and being treated roughly as she enjoys a good rub on the nets or whatever is in her stable! Any ideas?

 

[KittenInTheTree]

One of those big blue plastic drums, with a few holes drilled in the base to let any excess water in the hay drain out.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

One of our horses didn't get on too well with a corner Hay Bar. We removed it & just put a large plastic Trug in the corner stuffed with hay, he seems to get on fine with that.

 

[GinaGeo]

Not budget option would be a Hay Cube. Plus you can soak the hay in it.

Budget option would be a big trug tub. But they can make more mess.

 

[twiggy2]

Years ago a lady I worked at had some 2 x 2 screwed to the wall so that you could drop some 8 x 1 rails in behind it across the corner of the stable, the rails could be lifted in and out for cleaning. You could also make it taller or shorter by ageing or removing rails, making it less messy for horses that chucked the hay about and easier fir little ponies or goats as she had goats too. Great idea and much cheaper and easier than a hay bar

 

[humblepie]

I put hay in a trug - he has two of those. It is soaked hay so I drain it well before putting it in.

 

[Sossigpoker]

I've got a straight wall metal hay manger at his chest height , so it works like a hay bar but it's not in a corner and it cost me £10 off Facebook.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

I know the first two photos I found online are of a metal tub, but I know there's similar sort of tubs in plastic, and I assume you could just as well drill a few holes in the sides of a plastic tub to install something keeping the grid in place + maybe a few more holes in the bottom for extra drainage. By the look of it, I'm guessing they've bought some type of trellis, and cut it to the right size to use as grid:

The grid used in the DIY photos looks to me to have bigger holes than in some of the haynets I've seen, but if you think your horse would still view that as too much hassle to be bothered eating as much as you would want her to eat, maybe you could make some extra cuts in the trellis/grid to make the holes even bigger.

I've also posted before about having seen some nice ideas on e.g. Pinterest of DIY hay feeders made in wood, in this model you just slide in, and out the grid using the opening on the side:

And in this DIY wooden hay feeder, which I took screenshots of from a YouTube video about DIY feeders, someone had made a DIY grid to keep the hay in place by drilling some holes in a wooden frame, and pulling some sisal rope through the holes:

If you choose the Plastic Drum/Garbage Can solution, already suggested by KittenInTheTree, but think the square/round holes I've usually seen cut out towards the bottom are too low down, perhaps you could cut out rectangular holes:

 

[limestonelil]

I've done very similar to what twiggy2 describes. Easy and works well. If the wood battens were heavy enough, could just drill onto wooden wall, and use something else heavy to support on metal side eg maybe breeze blocks, whilst you sort out drill.

 

[MereChristmas]

I think I’ve read somewhere that a metal grid wears the teeth and can cut the gums. Does anyone know for sure?

 

[dottylottie]

hay cube, or an eazigrazer!

 

[Fransurrey]

These actually are open at the top, so when you fill them the horse can eat ad lib unless you tie it closed (I fixed a zip to mine, to allow ground feeding). It works brilliantly as I can soak hay, let it drain, then hang with two double ended trigger clips. In my case it allows cob head to eat proper mouthfuls (and therefore more), whilst pony trickle feeds from the bottom (it's in a shelter). My cob can actually reach right down to the bottom, but I find he scoffs his face, then nibbles through the holes once the initial stuffing face process is complete!

Hay net "Slow feeder" - Harry's Horse

This strong hay net is a "slow feeder", due to the small openings (3x3 cm) it slows down consumption so the hay last 2-3 times longer and replicates

www.harryshorse.com

 

[FinnishLapphund]

I think I’ve read somewhere that a metal grid wears the teeth and can cut the gums. Does anyone know for sure?

I've found some blogs saying that haynets can cause damage to a horse's gum, and metal grids used in DIY feeders can cause damage to the enamel on horse's teeth, but on just my quick look I didn't see any references to that what the blogs said was based on scientific facts. Either way, given how some horses seems to be able to harm themselves on anything, I have a feeling that if I suggest that using a grid made of plastic, or sisal rope are a safer option, someone will reply about how they used that, and their horse still got hurt.

 

[Abacus]

Just a heavy wooden planter type box in the corner, if you don’t need to limit her intake. I have some of these in the fields and stables and they work perfectly. You could tie a hay net inside if you do want her to slow down.

 

[Annagain]

Drilling into metal is easy - much easier than brick / stone. You'd need a HSS drill bit which are very widely available. If it's corrugated sheeting you would probably need to use a nut and bolt, so you'd need access the outside to get the nut in place to secure it as it would be too thin to simply screw into it. For extra strength you could even put a wooden support on the outside and use a longer bolt to go through that too.

 

[Lucky Snowball]

‘Borrow’ a DIY man / person to fix a hay bar!

 

[HeyMich]

We have a couple these in stables where corner haybars aren't possible. I stole this image from eBay - just do a Google search for Flat wall rubber haybars or similar...

 

[nikkimariet]

Bastardise an old pallet? Front of mine lifts up for easy cleaning too.

 

[cariadbach10]

I’ve been using a secondhand child’s travel cot with bricks in the bottom to weigh it down. £15 off Marketplace. Working brilliantly!

 

[thefarsideofthefield]

This was origionally a caged water tank . Mr F cut it in two and re -welded the top bars on to the shorter container on the right which is used for feeding hay . The larger one on the left was used for feeding straw and I use a nylon small holed cargo net attached to the top with baler twine , which drops down inside the container as the straw is eaten , but you could use it without the net . The plastic ' tank ' itself is made of very thick rigid plastic with no ' give ' at all , it's totally solid so the horses can't get a hoof stuck through the cage .
You often see them lying abandoned in the corner of farm yards because once they've split or sprung a leak they're no longer of use . We got ours locally for that very reason ! They are quite light so we weighted them down with a paving stone in the bottom .

 

[fornema]

Bastardise an old pallet? Front of mine lifts up for easy cleaning too.

View attachment 130492

This is what I was thinking along the lines of. DIY is not my strong point, how do you keep the pallet from falling into the corner? Is it attached on both sides?

 

[fornema]

We have a couple these in stables where corner haybars aren't possible. I stole this image from eBay - just do a Google search for Flat wall rubber haybars or similar...
View attachment 130489

Are they any good longevity wise? My concern would be she gets her leg in and rip the thing out the wall?

 

[fornema]

Drilling into metal is easy - much easier than brick / stone. You'd need a HSS drill bit which are very widely available. If it's corrugated sheeting you would probably need to use a nut and bolt, so you'd need access the outside to get the nut in place to secure it as it would be too thin to simply screw into it. For extra strength you could even put a wooden support on the outside and use a longer bolt to go through that too.

It’s an old sliding door now fixed into place, so no chance of getting behind. To borrow your expertise, would a wall anchor/expanding rawl plug be a sensible option for fixing? The job would be a little easier if it were a normal wall it has to be said.

 

[HeyMich]

Are they any good longevity wise? My concern would be she gets her leg in and rip the thing out the wall?

Ours are still fixed to the walls, despite the best efforts of the 2 hungry welshies... One of them does like to poo in his though, so make sure you leave enough space at the bottom to wash it through!