hay bars

crazycoloured

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I am thinking in investing in a hay-bar. I just wondered if anyone had tried them and what they were like.I dont like using haynets as they can be quite dangerous.
 

crazycoloured

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she paws the haylage/hay into the bedding and mixes it up and then soils it.it is too expensive to waste so i though a hay-bar would do the trick.
 

Chico Mio

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[ QUOTE ]
she paws the haylage/hay into the bedding and mixes it up and then soils it.it is too expensive to waste so i though a hay-bar would do the trick.

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I sympathise - one of mine is a bit like that! I quite like the look of the hay bars too - I'm sure someone posted a picture of a pink one the other day
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chevs

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Hi

I've got them in both my stables. The large ones hold loads, enough to keep my 16.2's busy all night with a little left in the morning. Both very greedy. Very safe and horses like them too. A sound investment i would say.
 

Kallibear

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I have home made ones. The real ones are WAY too expensive!

haybar001.jpg


haybar002.jpg


Dead easy to make and fit - made from 1" thick plywood so very tough and they'd have to be seriously determinded to break it. The sheet was just over £10, the runners just spare wood. These ones are fitted to the ground but when we moved they were fitted higher up, with a foots gap at the bottom.
 

Kallibear

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[ QUOTE ]

How would you go about using soaked hay in a haybar?

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It just makes a puddle and seeps out under the bottom! The wood is varnished so doesn't get damp. I don't feed it often but when i do it goes into a haynet to drain whilst I faff about with the horses and ride etc. By the time I empty it into the haybar it's not dripping anymore.
 

Theresa_F

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As neither myself or my OH was DIY inclined or skilled, I bought my hay bars. I have the horse sized ones for Farra who is 16.2 and Chancer is just over 15 hands.

They have been great. I put 1/2 a bale in Chancer and 3/4 in Farra and that lasts them the day when in. No more struggling to hang up heavy hay bags.

On days of no t/o Chancer does pull out some hay still, so I find with him that if I give him a 1/4 of a bale at a time, this stops him playing with it. Farra being the sort of mare that loves her food tends to hoover up any that does get onto the floor.

For me, I have really happy with them as I don't like nets and it is far easier than making up lots of hay bags. Plus, the factor of more natural feeding than from a bag.
 

Perissa

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I feed soaked hay and simply have a rubber feed skip in the bottom of mine, fits perfectly and catches all the drips. Also makes clearing the bottom out of seeds etc MUCH easier!!!!!
 

Box_Of_Frogs

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I've just bought one for Sunny. He was endoscoped on Weds following a long and worsening summer cough. His respiratory system is totally clogged with disgusting thick sticky yellow mucus that he can't shift by coughing. One of the changes I'm making in his environment - as recommended by the equine vets who are saving his life - is to eat at floor level as nature intended. Eating like this encourages secretions to drain down harmlessly. But if I feed it loose on the floor, Sunny too stomps it into a mess and then poos and pees on it! Saturday is his first trial so fingers crossed! There's another one on the market now isn't there - Ezy-Hay or something. Nicer colours!
 

maybedaisy

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I have two and they are great. The only problem is one of my horses will eat her whole nights rations in less than an hour so I have to put hers in small holed nets. She is overweight and just eats non stop.
 

Gingernags

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[ QUOTE ]
I've just bought one for Sunny. He was endoscoped on Weds following a long and worsening summer cough. His respiratory system is totally clogged with disgusting thick sticky yellow mucus that he can't shift by coughing. One of the changes I'm making in his environment - as recommended by the equine vets who are saving his life - is to eat at floor level as nature intended. Eating like this encourages secretions to drain down harmlessly. But if I feed it loose on the floor, Sunny too stomps it into a mess and then poos and pees on it! Saturday is his first trial so fingers crossed! There's another one on the market now isn't there - Ezy-Hay or something. Nicer colours!

[/ QUOTE ]

My mare is horrible for messing haylage up, so when she was in foal I bought a hay bar as I thought it would be safer for when she foaled, its great but the moose still used to pick it out and mess it into her bedding. I swear its to annoy me as I've got OCD about hay in shavings beds!

Anyway, was going to say you are really doing the right thing. I've had some bowen therapy on my mare for muscle issues, and the therapist hates nets with a passion. She says, and its SO true when you think about it - she can't believe people always complain about horses with sore polls - when if you think how heavy a filled net is, especially haylage - and then when a horse has to pull haylage out through those tiny holes, they are lifting the entire full haynet with their heads and teeth.

So I can understand why she says its way better off the floor. But
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new yard is narrow stables with the door in the middle so they aren't wide enough in the corner!!!!
 

Patches

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I've got a haybar in P's stable.

Only thing that annoys me is she'll still pull haylage out of it and eat it from the floor. Also, I struggle to reach the last few bits out of the bottom which will go mouldy if you don't remove them.

Other than that, they're great and definitely an improvement on chucking it loose on the floor. I've started leaving a small tub trug in the bottom of mine to collect the loose bits/grass seed etc and this is proving to be the easiest way of emptying the leftovers.
 

Holly831

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[ QUOTE ]
There's another one on the market now isn't there - Ezy-Hay or something. Nicer colours!

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I have these!! I ordered a couple to try them and now have them in all 10 stables. They are brilliant. If you set them a couple of inches up off the floor then the seeds and rubbish just sweep out. They are available in coloured plastic but I didn't like the idea of plastic which is why I searched for somehing else.

Photo of my old boy enjoying his! (they will hold a whole small bale)

http://www.eezhay.net/Premier.aspx
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