Feeding hay from the floor vs from a net

[Casey76]

Pros and cons of both... please

Do horses who primarily eat from nets have worn teeth and wrongly muscled necks?

 

[hnmisty]

Net...
Pros:
Less wastage
Small holed net can make hay last longer, thus keeping them busy for longer

Cons:
Unnatural feeding motion, horses were designed to graze from the ground
Dust etc in eyes
Risk of injury if net isn't tied properly


Feeding from the floor
Pros:
More natural

Cons:
You'll probably end up with a lot of hay trampled into the bed!

Those are the ones that come to mind atm.

ETS: since we have changed a horse's way of life, we're messing around with their teeth, hence the need for the EDT. Good example...haylage is more acidic to hay, so enamel is being rotted away. All horses I have ever observed pull hay from the net, then lower their head to chew it. The pulling might affect their teeth more than picking it up from the floor, but I imagine it would take a while for any problems to become apparent, especially if you are not feeding your horse hay 24/4 (ie 24/7 stabling).

 

[kym]

Net...
Pros:
Less wastage
Small holed net can make hay last longer, thus keeping them busy for longer

Cons:
Unnatural feeding motion, horses were designed to graze from the ground
Dust etc in eyes
Risk of injury if net isn't tied properly


Feeding from the floor
Pros:
More natural

Cons:
You'll probably end up with a lot of hay trampled into the bed!

Those are the ones that come to mind atm.

Same as this ^^^ plus using a net you are able to restirct how fast they eat the hay.

I feed my boy from the floor, because he is not allowed to use hay nets on vets advice. He has a back injury and pulling at a net makes it worse. I dont feed striaght off the floor though, I purchased a extra large tub trug from B&Q, designed for a building site. I have then attached this to the wall with clips so it can be easily moved by me and cleaned but Harley cannot move it. This means I have a lot less hay trampled into the bed.

 

[OWLIE185]

Always feed hay from the floor as it allows the horses sinuses to drain while eating. Always soak hay for at least 15 minutes before feeding to allow the micro-dust to be removed and prevent it becoming airborne which can potentially cause respiratory problems in horses because it remains suspended in the air for the horse to inhale. Micro-dust can not be filtered out by the respiratory system of a horse as it is too small and can travel down the respiratory tract to the blood lung interface thus effecting the performance of a horse.

 

[twobearsarthur]

Always from floor or hay bar. My filly on the odd occasion she has needed to have a net has chewed through it and its ended up in bits luckily no injuries but I know of two horses scarred for life from getting tangled in nets.

 

[Dawng]

I would always choose to feed hay from the floor but my horses diet is carefully monitored at the moment and I find I can weigh their hay easier if it is in a haynet.

 

[Aarrghimpossiblepony]

I would have thought the solution is a tub on the floor with some kind of wire mesh on top that drops as the hay is eaten.

Slows the feeding down and avoids the inherent problem with hay nets being wrong for horses.

 

[ShadowFlame]

I use haynets... purely because all traces of hay would be hoovered up within the hour if it's on the floor

 

[Goldenstar]

Would like to feed from the floor but their is two much waste and it costs a fortune when they mix it with their bedding ,
I won't tolerate any haylage in the shavings .
So I use nets tied into hay bars .

 

[webble]

I 'borrowed' a large crate from work like a giant bread basket for feeding hay. Works great as little wastage and head and neck are at a more natural angle

 

[Toast]

Our pony has a net because if she didn't she'd eat her hay in about half an hour. She has hers double netted.
Oldie has a net because she's too aloof to eat off the floor
Youngster has his off the floor because I believe you should do where possible, it's much better for them for all the reasons stated!

 

[Kat]

I use a haybar for all the reasons stated plus mine is very accident prone and enjoys untying knots...... she isn't restricted on forage, and I don't need to slow her intake so a haybar suits. It saves time too.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Ours eat from haybar/floor and the fatties have added oat straw chaff, so that they are not standing in for hours with nothing to eat.

My first RI would never have haynets on her yard as she had seen apony hang itself in haynet, when she was a child and couldn't do anything about it. She instilled that unsafety into all her pupils

 

[LaurenBay]

I am conseridering feeding from floor or other as my mare has mild COPD. However she will mix it with her shavings and the wastage will be too much

Or she will consume some bedding which I am not happy about either.

Any ideas?

 

[Goldenstar]

I am conseridering feeding from floor or other as my mare has mild COPD. However she will mix it with her shavings and the wastage will be too much

Or she will consume some bedding which I am not happy about either.

Any ideas?

The other issue is once the bedding is in the shavings and Gets damp it starts to rot the last thing you want with a COPD horse so you have to get rid of it all which wastes bedding .

 

[0310Star]

My horse needs double netted hay nets when she is in as she is such a guts and eats it all in 2 seconds flat!
But I would much prefer to feed from a haybar for all of the above reasons. I was thinking of creating something (mentioned earlier) which is a haybar with a net inside which lowers down as the hay is eaten, or something similar which means I can feed from almost ground level...

Does anybody have ideas/pictures or similar things they have created?

 

[Goldenstar]

My horse needs double netted hay nets when she is in as she is such a guts and eats it all in 2 seconds flat!
But I would much prefer to feed from a haybar for all of the above reasons. I was thinking of creating something (mentioned earlier) which is a haybar with a net inside which lowers down as the hay is eaten, or something similar which means I can feed from almost ground level...

Does anybody have ideas/pictures or similar things they have


Ring at the top of the hay bar put net in hay bar and tie normally two smaller nets are easier to handle than one big one.
Have been doing this two seasons now works very well.

 

[LaurenBay]

The other issue is once the bedding is in the shavings and Gets damp it starts to rot the last thing you want with a COPD horse so you have to get rid of it all which wastes bedding .

Your right, this is a concern too. Not sure how else I can feed it.

 

[Beau jangles]

I only use haynets as my horse box walks and hay would end up trampled , he is also a grubber so slows his eating a bit! He is 24 and has never caused building up of the wrong muscles , each to there own but this suits me better and my colt which is coming at the end of summer will also get a haynet.

 

[Kikke]

Net...
Pros:
Less wastage
Small holed net can make hay last longer, thus keeping them busy for longer

Cons:
Unnatural feeding motion, horses were designed to graze from the ground
Dust etc in eyes
Risk of injury if net isn't tied properly


Feeding from the floor
Pros:
More natural

Cons:
You'll probably end up with a lot of hay trampled into the bed!

^^^^ this is why they have started feeding in nets at my yard. With cost of hay rising I can appreaciate that but if I had my way it would still e from the floor, I like the fact that they have their head on the ground when turned in.

 

[Vanner]

my old chap broke his bottom jaw with a net, got it hooked over his teeth was hideous ordeal for him, and me, and my wallet. Have never used a net since, whatever the pros are meant to be ....

 

[Polos Mum]

A home made hay bar with a ring at the bottom to tie a net to would be the best of both worlds
- less likely to get trapped in it if it's inside a hay bar
- all the pros of nets re weighing, soaking, reducing speed of eating etc would be the same
- the benefits of not getting dust/seed in eyes, lungs etc would be the same as feeding from the floor.

A bit of a faf especially if you had a yard full.

with my fatty I used hay and straw in a hay bar, it didn't mix into bedding or get wet and he always had something to eat. In at 6pm ish and by the 11pm night check most hay would be gone and straw untouched, but the next morning most of the straw was gone too. It was obviously just edible enough to be forced down in the early hours!

Those with fatties and double nets - do you know when they finish eating them?

 

[cambrica]

All but one of mine eat off the floor as they are on straw beds so once the hay has gone if hungry they graze on their beds. The pony on shavings has a small hole net which I really don't like but she can't go on straw.
Really I think it does depend on the bedding as to what suits best but for safety I would never give hay to my youngster in a net, he needs a padded cell !

 

[stroppymare153]

Am I very lucky or just cruel

Always feed from floor but have never had a problem with them mixing haylage in with bed - they always hoover up every scrap (unless I've given them too much and then its my own fault!)

Both the current ones prefer to spread their haylage out across their (shavings) beds but come morning, not a scrap left.

At least they are kept occupied for longer searching through the shavings for last strands of haylage

 

[HashRouge]

I have fed my Arab from the floor for years and, certainly with her, would never do anything else. She never ever tramples her hay into her bed, and I feel it is much better for her to eat from the floor. I also feed my sister's horse (who I look after) from the floor as he windsucks on his hay nets. He is more likely to pull hay back into his bed, but I've found that he only wastes it if there is too much for him to finish. So long as I get the amount right, he doesn't waste any either

 

[dalidaydream]

using a net you are able to restirct how fast they eat the hay.

Mine eats slower off the floor. Weird but true - he gets very angry with the net and has to eat it as fast as possible (worrying for his neck ) but from the floor he is relaxed and eats the hay much slower. I've tried all sorts over the years to slow him down never guessing that he would eat slowest by simply putting it on the floor. I therefore now feed from the floor (and he's much too greedy to waste any by mixing it into the bedding).

 

[Montyforever]

I do both ..

She has a small holed haynet with half her rations in so it lasts her longer, and she has a tub trug with the other half in so she doesn't get it through her bed but it's at ground level. Means she spends some time in a natural position but doesn't run out of hay quickly either

 

[babymare]

Havent used nets for years and years. i have never had issues with trampled hay. its more natural on floor and diesnt cause neck muscle issues . also read a study about the actual act of grazing with head down is a stress buster for horses. not sure how true but makes sense to me .

 

[CarolineJ]

I feed from the floor, but the waste is huge, particularly because the pony likes to grab a big mouthful and then go and stand outside and look out over the valley while he chews it. If it's windy, half of it ends up in the gorse bushes.

So my lovely husband is going to be building me a couple of these this summer:

http://youtu.be/kL0o_N_W_w8
http://youtu.be/zvG1pokZPms

You can buy the grate in various sizes from eBay or any shopfitter - search for something called Gridwall.

 

[mulledwhine]

I would prefer to feed from the floor, but little lord fontliroy won't have a bean of it

My old boy did not care less has long as he got hay

In answer to your question though, from the floor is deffinatly more natural and less hassle