for those of you that.......

[Stinkbomb]

soak hay............. Whats the recommended soaking times these days? My hay supply is getting a bit c**p at the moment so i am thinking of soaking it as i cant find a better supplier and dont want to use this years hay. They dont eat much a night so dont really want to waste it, so once its soaked how long does it last before it "goes off?" If there was any left would it be ok to leave it in till the next night or should i just throw away?
One last one.... If its soaked and allowed to dry off overnight for the morning does that defeate the object of soaking?

Thankies

 

[madhector]

I soak mine for no longer than 20mins, and throw any left in the morning away

 

[brighteyes]

I only soak good hay as the object is to swell any fungal spores which otherwise would be inhaled. I take it your hay isn't actually cr*p! My pony gets away with a good spraying from a hosepipe on hers; I don't actually need to do more than a dip in and out again, then drain it. I wouldn't feed any soaked stuff after 12 hours out of water. In the heat (ha ha) it goes off quicker.

 

[flohelf]

My vet says 6 hrs minimum for my boy who has a serious allergy problem. Doesn't go bad. It soaks overnight for the next morning and it's fine.

 

[jumpthemoon]

I think the recommended time for soaking is 20 mins - this is the optimum time for desired eefect without removing too many nutrients from the hay. However, if you soaked it overnight like blackeventer, it would still be fine, it would just have lost most of it's goodness (which can be a good thing for some fatties

)

 

[Thistle]

I soak for laminitics so at least 12 hours.

For hay that is just a bit dusty for the others I do about 30 mins.

 

[CastleMouse]

I soak mine for about 20 minutes

 

[not_with_it]

I just spray mine with the hose pipe and wet it through. I only soak it because the hay isnt as nice as it could be. We're near the end of last years hay so its got a bit dry and lost its colour. Gin usually eats all her hay but if there is any left I throw it out. She wont eat it if I leave it in her stable.

 

[Evadiva1514]

I soak mine for an hour for my recovering laminitic and a quick squirt with a hosepipe for the others. My vet advised me to soak the hay for an hour for laminitics in order to take out some of the sugars and nutrients.

 

[kerrylou123]

I saok mine between 20 to 30 mins, depends how dirty my horses stable is!

 

[Christmas_Kate]

I soak mine in the morning, ready for the evening. You could pop it in soak the night before and just leave it soaking for the next night, that way it won't go 'off'. I've done this and never had a problem.

 

[Toyboyroxhissox]

We soak first thing in the morn and give it to them about 8pm at night.