For those who soak hay

I am taking up 6 big containers of water each day [ 3 morning and 3 night] I am soaking field hay in the morning a hay net at a time for half an hour[ 2 to do] and stable hay at night again 2 nets then throwing water away. It is a nightmare but needs to be done. The rest of the water is for them to drink , soak their lucinuts, soak their sugar beet and some for chickens to drink....Nightmare ,roll on spring
 
feeding it soaked at night and dry in morning
our horses get fed by the yard and dont want it to freeze up lying overnite
 
Not been soaking my horses cos the tap has been frozen so no water to do it with! Haven't even considered a colic issue - what's that based on - the water freezing?

Can't say I have ever experienced any of our horses getting colic from eating frozen grass/hay or anything
 
Why colic ,my hay is soaked for half an hour then fed . They are eating some frozen grass in the field anyway and the hay is not freezing in the stable , I drain it well and it doesn't seem to freeze.
 
I'm giving dry hay in morning but soaking still at night - the water is absolutely freezing cold but i've had no colicky signs and i've done it every night this week, something to think about though - maybe i'll steam instead tonight.
 
have been battling frozen taps & cold water bath/troughs that i use for soaking but gave up the battle yesterday and threw dry stuff in......

Can someone explain how you would steam it? I have no idea .....
(This is my first expeirence of having to soak hay when loan horse starting coughing a month or so ago....)
 
Not soaking at the moment
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feeding hayledge instead!! some people are feeding there horses iced hay. can't say have knowen or heard of getting colic from frozen hay. frozen grass yes as the sudden dramtic change in the nutrients (incressed sugars). personally just dont think eatting frozen hay can be that nice but horses dont seem to mind.
 
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Can someone explain how you would steam it? I have no idea .....


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SDH - it is really easy if you have access to a kettle. In the past, I have just stuffed a haynet into a big dustbin and chucked a few kettles of boiling water over it. Cover with something to keep the steam in (dustbin lid, or plastic feedsack etc) and leave for 10 mins. When you take the lid off, it should be steamed through and cool enough to feed.

I have now joined the 21st century and made myself a hay steamer using a waterbutt and a wallpaper steamer. Does a nice job and the hay doesn't get as wet. But you don't need that, a kettle will do just as well really. Steaming will dampen dust and deal with mould spores etc in your hay so should be fine for your horse if it coughs
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Edited as I'm at work and trying to type fast.. badly!
 
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We soak it in a big black garden bin, and ned just eats it straight out the water, so it doesn't freeze anyway.

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But the sugars are still in the water or are you just soaking for dust.
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I have to soak hay for my laminitic
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Luckily I have him at home so it makes it a little easier. I have to pour over boiling water just to get it out of the bin atm as it has to be soaked for approx half a day and gets stuck fast!!
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I chuck a few buckets of water over my hay 20 minutes before I put in for mare. I wet it to cut down on the dust and also my girlie drinks a lot more if its dry hay served...... that and she practically sneers at me if I give her dry hay at bedtime !
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We soak it in a big black garden bin, and ned just eats it straight out the water, so it doesn't freeze anyway.

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But the sugars are still in the water or are you just soaking for dust.
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...and doesn't the water from soaked hay contain lots of toxins??!
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I soak mine in a bin for 12 hours, then hang it up to drain for about at least an hour (it was hanging for 3 hours today). It quickly warms up with a big hairy beasty attacking it and breathing on it.
 
I've joined the steaming brigade and wish I'd done it years ago! I tried the kettle routine, but found it didn't reach the middle of the very large amount that my boy gets at this time of the year when it's this cold! I bought a £17.95 wallpaper steamer from Homebase. I used one of the large plastic bin things that we used to use for soaking the hay, and cut a slot in the top for the pipe from the steamer to go through, then put a plastic sack over the top, then a sheet of board which sits snugly. Steamer takes about 15 mins to heat up, then steam the hay for about 20mins. Perfect, and neddy loves it!
 
I've been steaming my horse's hay for the past week due to frozen taps, it's easier to find just enough water to fill a kettle. I wouldn't want to risk putting very wet hay in at night in any case as everything is freezing solid, even my poor horse was rooted to the spot in her stable this morning!

Anyway she loves steamed hay, every last scrap of it gets eaten overnight.
 
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