Does anyone leave the twine on their hay bales?

LadyGascoyne

LadyGascoyne

Still Fig-uring it out...
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Husband has graciously been doing the evening hay when Super Groom can’t make it, due to my neck not being strong enough to lift bales yet.

Unbeknownst to me, Husband just chucks whole bales into hay feeder. His reasoning is that

A. It takes them longer
B. No, they are not stupid enough to eat the bailing twine

I am suspicious of B.

What’s everyone’s take?
 
I wouldn’t. You run the risk of the string coming out of the feeder when empty and causing an accident. They might not actually eat it but I’ve seen them take it in their mouths, so the potential is there and also the potential to drag it round the field/stable.

Can’t he put it in the feeder then cut the string and remove?
 
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meleeka said:
I wouldn’t. You run the risk of the string coming out of the feeder when empty and causing an accident. They might not actually eat it but I’ve seen then take it in their mouths, so the potential is there and also the potential to drag it round the field/stable.

Can’t he put it in the feeder then cut the string and remove?
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He can definitely cut it. I even have a dedicated knife. He just chooses not to and thinks I’m being neurotic about it.

ETA, super groom always cuts hers, and cleans up the leftover strings from the evening.
 
Considering the length of twine I once fished out of pony's gob (there was only about 6" hanging out her mouth, for perspective), I'd be high suspicious of B too.
 
No loose twine left anywhere near horses ever. Not so much eating, although I'm sure that happens, but its the tangle risk if it was to come out of the feeder I don't like. I habitually over-think the what ifs, but I had a horse that spent 18 months knocking that into me! It takes 10 seconds to cut and remove the twine off a small bale.
 
Nasicus said:
Considering the length of twine I once fished out of pony's gob (there was only about 6" hanging out her mouth, for perspective), I'd be high suspicious of B too.
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I've had that happen, too. I just happened to spot my mare with her head over the stable door mouthing away just as I was finishing off for the night. :oops:. I think that the rogue baler twine had been baled into the hay. I always remove and dispose of twine.

I am not sure it would have ended well if I hadn't been on hand to fish the chewed up twine out - there was a lot of it.
 
My dad has a similar ethos about horses - rather than thinking about the what ifs, he takes the opposite approach of 'that will never happen! Mmm, applied this logic to going in field with quad and leaving the gate open because they were nowhere near...it did happen with 2 horses hot footing it up the road. Fortunately no injuries horse or human but we still have to remind him to expect the worst and take no risks!
 
I have a horror of them swallowing twine so I'm careful about it. And they definitely are stupid enough to eat it ?
 
With small 18kg bagged haylage - many companies re-bag these from massive squares or round bales - so i’ve found round bale netting in small haylage bags aswell as baler twine. Not much at all, probably a couple of pieces per 50 bags - Sometimes i’ve missed it as they’re small 2 inch pieces and i then see them on the floor where horses eat - so i know mine dont eat baler twine and do distinguish in their mouths the plastic and will spit out even when mixed in with hay.

A huge long piece they wouldn’t eat. It’s like them eating their haynets, as it made out of the same stuff as twine, and they dont chew on their nets.

Although i prefer to err with caution with horses, especially with looped twine un-cut - i normally cant guess how they can get into trouble with something, they’re the geniuses on that score!...and as its not a huge job to cut and pull the string off - literally seconds - i do it always when using twined forage and would insist helpers do too, despite knowing mine won’t eat it.
Safety precautions are very necessary with the beasts!
 
Having seen a pony end up undergoing emergency dental surgery due to baler twine left uncut (not one of mine) I'd be getting him to remove it.

When I open a bale, I always cut by the knots and pull them, the strings come away easily, I knot them together and hang in hay store. Then when I have 10 sets, I pop them together in a hank.
 
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PurBee said:
A huge long piece they wouldn’t eat. It’s like them eating their haynets, as it made out of the same stuff as twine, and they dont chew on their nets.
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Not true. They have and do eat twine, particularly youngstock .
Colic operations I've been involved with have seen baler twice as the cause, plus a 30ft length of thin orange electric fence wire removed from a 3 yr old!
 
I do the same TFF. I was taught to cut by the knots as it’s so much easier to remove and then reuse!
I always take the twine off and am very mindful of picking up and bits I find - too much risk of something going wrong!
 
Meredith said:
Friend left some bale string on the ground. He forgot about it. Large breed puppy ate it all. It was discovered on X ray after puppy had been in agony. Puppy was PTS as it was impossible to extricate the string.

I pick up every piece of string I find.
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Oh no that's really sad :(
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
Not true. They have and do eat twine, particularly youngstock .
Colic operations I've been involved with have seen baler twice as the cause, plus a 30ft length of thin orange electric fence wire removed from a 3 yr old!
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Tiddlypom said:
It was a 'huge long piece' that I fished out of my mare's mouth.
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I was referring to MY horses in particular, not ALL horses. As has been stated by many folk on this thread that their horses do eat twine. We only know our own horses behaviour.

Fuller quote in context:
“ so i know mine dont eat baler twine and do distinguish in their mouths the plastic and will spit out even when mixed in with hay.

A huge long piece they wouldn’t eat. It’s like them eating their haynets, as it made out of the same stuff as twine, and they dont chew on their nets.”


anyway, despite knowing mine dont eat twine, i still remove it as a safety precaution!
 
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I don't think they would eat it if they could avoid it, but what about it getting tangled round their legs? Even my OH, who strongly dislikes horses but occasionaly used to get dragged out to help wouldn't do that.
 
I had the vet out the other day to Blue (for something completely unrelated) and noticed a very thin strand of baling twine hanging from Blue's mouth while she was there, the width of sewing thread rather than full twine. There was a good 6' hanging out and, as I pulled it out, probably about 4' in her mouth. I commented I was glad I caught it or I would have ended up with even bigger vet bills, and the vet regaled me with horror stories of baling twine and colic surgeries.

I don't think mine would deliberately eat it (the thread appeared to have got caught on her bit and, as she wasn't able to spit it out, she was 'eating' it to try to get rid of it) but I think my hair had even more white in it once the vet had finished her tales!

PapaverFollis said:
I'm not sure that it is possible to be an overthinker when in comes to "ways the horses might injure themselves". Even the most overthinking overthinker is probably underthinking on that score.
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I still have no idea how Blue managed to whack her head, which is why the vet was out in the first place. It's mystery injuries all over the place with horses.
 
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