Feeding haylage off the floor?

[Jesstickle]

I have a 2yo who really oughtn't to be eating from a haynet. However, she is a haylage monster (absolutely love love loves it) and hoovers it up at a break-neck rate.

Is there any way to feed it from ground level without just putting it on the floor. She currently has a small holed haynet and even that doesn't stop it disappearing within a couple of hours.

I think even in a hay bar it would be inhaled as there isn't much to limit the rate of intake is there?

Any genius suggestions. OH is handy so if anyone has a blue print I can DIY to my hearts content. I am just lacking the grey matter to think of something

 

[zoelouisem]

You could tie a haynet in a haybar, then shes still stretchingdown but it will not get hoovered up quite a quick.

 

[cptrayes]

Buy a sheep hurdle (about £30) and ask OH to weld some extra bars top to bottom on one side of it, then mount it vertically in a corner of the stable with the additional bars at the bottom, on hinges on one side and eyes on the wall to tie it shut on the other (so you can open it to clean it out - load from the top without opening). Line with strong chicken wire (the welded grid type is best, not the twisted hexagons) using cable ties. Hey presto -ground level feeder very difficult to get haylage out of, can't get a foot trapped, should keep her amused all night I've got them, they work.

 

[Doncella]

There is a mesh device that can be fitted over a large bucket so that the horse has to draw the haylege through the holes. The device is designed to sink as the haylege level drops.
This is all I know as I just feed from the floor any way.

 

[Jesstickle]

I like all those ideas.

cptrayes do you have a picture that I can follow? OH might say no to that level of work and leave me with the haybar and haynet option but I can ask can't I?


Shame my lovely step daddy died as he would have done that in two minutes. He used to weld racing car chassis so that would have been easy for him. Poor old OH finds welding hard

 

[maggiesmum]

Just a thought but hoover or not shouldn't a growing 2yo be allowed ad-lib?
Of course if she piles on the weight with it and it becomes a welfare issue then fair enough.
Just a thought.

 

[Jesstickle]

Just a thought but hoover or not shouldn't a growing 2yo be allowed ad-lib?
Of course if she piles on the weight with it and it becomes a welfare issue then fair enough.
Just a thought.

You're right but she is fat already! She doesn't have an off switch where haylage is concerned Piggy pony. She'd happily eat half a mid sized bale of an evening if I gave it to her. She is nuts for the stuff!

 

[maggiesmum]

Fai enough then, my friend has a mare who's the same, she can eat more food through a muzzle than both of mine can without one!
I too would love to see a piccie of cptrayes's hay feeder.....

 

[Jesstickle]

Fai enough then, my friend has a mare who's the same, she can eat more food through a muzzle than both of mine can without one!
I too would love to see a piccie of cptrayes's hay feeder.....

It really is outstanding. She eats far more already than my big brown horse who is working. He has a few wisps left in the morning and she, whatever I put in, has an empty net. Fatty boom boom that she is

 

[cptrayes]

PM me your email address and I'll send you some photos tomorrow when it's light enough to get them You can get away without welding if you use strong enough mesh, and you can tie both sides to eyes on the wall so OH won't have to make hinges.

 

[cptrayes]

Ha, just realised that there was a picture way back in my blog and hit the right date first time! Scroll down to 28th September.

http://smartiesdiary.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html

Mine aren't meshed but I mesh the gates outside and one hayrack which I used for an insulin resistant horse who had to be very restricted in what speed he ate. I can get you a photo of it if you want, but you can buy it at agricultural merchants in squares of varying sizes, and cable ties will fasten it easily (to the inside of the hurdle, so that the hurdle bars support the mesh as she pulls against it).

 

[Jesstickle]

Ah thank you

I can probably imagine mesh for myself but that's just super.

What happened to your poor old pony for all those staples?

 

[cptrayes]

It's a tie-back. Inside that lump he has a knot of fishing line which is looped into his throat and holding the left hand side of his vocal cords out of the way because he couldn't breath. It's been a life-saver, he couldn't even trot properly he was so short of breath. He has no scar or lump now and you would never know that it had been done. If you scroll down a few more days you can see the scope pictures of the paralysis of his vocal cords - fascinating. It's a very, very common problem in big horses.

 

[Dolcé]

We feed in small holed haynets, string removed and top tied up with baler band so no loops (to get feet in) and just leave them in the field on the floor, this is for our 2yo welsh A's and we have 4 eating from 1 8K net most of the time. I can't see that this would cause any problem in a stable if she is in. I have also just spent ages making paddock pillows but it is just too wet after all the rain to use them, again I would think these could be used indoors if needed. We are feeding all ours by weight this year so this is the only way I can control the amounts that they are getting fairly accurately.

 

[Jesstickle]

I should read properly hey? We had a couple of race horses which had it done. Glad he is all fixed now bless him.

 

[Ali2]

Fatty share pony has a haynet tied in the base of a haybar. We double netted it in the summer. He has his balancer pellets in a ball too. Works well, keeps him occupied for a good long while.

Plenty of ideas, which you may be ale to adapt, here:
http://paddockparadise.wetpaint.com/page/Slow+Feeders