Hay Soakers- smelly hay warmer weather and drying out!

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Conniemara1

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Hello I soak hay because my horse has COPD, haylage isn't an option. I'm concerned that my soaked hay is going smelly in the warmer weather, is it safe to feed and why is it doing this? Is it sweating, or the time spent in water? Also the hay is soaked overnight and removed am for pm... It is drying out which is making soaking redundant is the only way to stop this to do it later? (Silly q I know). How do you soak your hay in summer for fatties (hence the long soak) and dust?
 
Are you rinsing it well? That should stop it smelling and TBH mine prefers it dried out a bit. I have a net soaking, another rinsed and draining/drying and one being eaten, change-over twice a day, like you say. But mine is to remove the sugars for a fatso - for COPD surely you just need to soak for half an hour, rinse well and feed there and then?
 
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You should rinse it thoroughly anyway - have you seen the colour of the water it has been sitting in? That's the sugars, and that I assume is what smells.
 
How long are you soaking it for? For COPD you should only need to rinse or steam to dampen or remove spores. Wouldn't he be better out in the open air 24/7?

I would suggest not putting it in large Haynets, rather, splitting into smaller batches or feeding from a bucket from the floor. Feeding from the floor will also help with the condition as it allows the sinuses to drain properly.

Also, if you need to soak to leach sugars, Katy Watts (safergrass) did a study which showed there was no difference in sugar levels in soaking water between half hour soak, and a 12 hour soak. Sugars leach out so easily so you can practically soak a net when you get to yard, muck out, hang up and drain, and it will be fine. Also, when you soak it for less time, you lose less of the other goodness grass contains too. 12 hour soaking in the summer would be like brewing beer!
 
Yes he would be better off being out 24/7 COPD wise but unfortunately he doesn't like it! Also he is on restricted rations being a good doer and he would be enormous if out 24/7. I don't use Haynets because as you say it is more natural and better for COPD to feed from the floor. I'm soaking it for 12 hours under vets advice to reduce the nutritional value on purpose we have good quality hay and he doesn't need the calories! I will take a look at the article though. I wondered whether smelly hay was safe would you chuck it or rinse and then its ok?
 
The water that comes off it is like raw sewage so it needs to be properly rinsed off as people have said. I also avoid soaking hay in direct sunlight as that seems to make it ferment more (tricky at my yard as we don't have running water).
I feed straight after soaking rather than hanging up to drain as the vet told me that once it dries out the spores become airborne again and can start to cause problems. To this end, I put loose hay in a giant tubtrug, fill that with water, tip it out when it's done (hay doesn't really spill out, refill to rinse (no hose for me) then it doesn't matter if pony gets it with an inch or two of water at the bottom.
Also, can I just ask as this is my first year of having a copd pony and I have only ever soaked hay for footiness, what do you do in winter when it gets cold? I have always been able to say screw it, there's nothing in the grass in December before and give dry hay but that won't work for copd.
 
I soak it still but I bring it in and store it in a thick plastic water bucket with a lid to keep the cold off! I was even considering putting insulation around bucket but I didn't need to, just need to keep the air off it!
 
Conniemara1 said:
Yes he would be better off being out 24/7 COPD wise but unfortunately he doesn't like it! Also he is on restricted rations being a good doer and he would be enormous if out 24/7. I don't use Haynets because as you say it is more natural and better for COPD to feed from the floor. I'm soaking it for 12 hours under vets advice to reduce the nutritional value on purpose we have good quality hay and he doesn't need the calories! I will take a look at the article though. I wondered whether smelly hay was safe would you chuck it or rinse and then its ok?
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The calories are in the sugar you soak out.... whats left is just fibre and some protein.

Our vets don't recommend soaking for more than half hour, so I guess it depends who you have.

The alternative would be to feed soaked pellets which we have also done. Forage replacers do work out expensive but better for the horse. You could also try those forage blocks. Halleys feeds do them.
 
There are plenty of vets advising soaking hay for around 12 hours. My friend has 2 cobs that get overweight very easily. 1 is retired and enough exercise to keep weight down is not possible.

The disgusting mess they were fed was ridiculous.
She did a lot of research and discovered that as others above have said, 30 to 45 mins soaking is enough to remove the sugars.

I guess some vets are a bit stuck in their ways.

I have brood mares and youngstock and feed haylage. But in summer they are out 24/7 unless heat and flies are too bad when they come in for a few hours. Then they will have a all haynet. None need restricted diet and none have any respiratory issues but I personally don't like feeding dry hay to any horse. So I literally plunge the net for 2 minutes and drain, just to dampen any dust.

There are many people causing their self hassle and feeding vile sludgy hay because on veterinary advise they are trying to do the best for their horse.

I would advise anyone to do some research on the scientific facts re soaking times.

The "professionals" don't always keep up to date with these facts.
 
Thank you for your advice and help, calories don't = sugar. I think what you mean is that sugars make up the majority of calories. I already use replacers, but thank you for the suggestion. I will have a look into it further but i dont find my hay is a vile sludgy mess after a 12hr soak so maybe it depends on your hay? I more wanted to know about how people tackle it drying out and their routine soaking due to COPD and also it going smelly in warmer weather... Rinsing seems something to try!! Thanks for your suggestions though all good advice and aside from soak times and 24/7 turnout all things I do myself :D
 
I soak for my COPD mare.

I split the hay into 2 small haynets, put them in a bin each and fill with water, put bricks on them to make sure they stay under the water, soak for around 30-40 mins and then let then drip for 10 mins.

In the winter, I do the same, The hose can sometimes be frozen in the morning, so I fill up the bins the night before and then just crack the ice in the morning. I give it a longer dripping time too as I don't like it dripping in puddles on her stable floor as it becomes icy (If I am in a rush though I put a bucket down to catch the water) it also doesn't dry out in the winter.
 
I have an elderly mare with copd. I don't soak her hay, but have made my own hay steamer for less than £65
You need to buy a patio cushion box about £40 (I have a Ketter one) Bend a piece of metal to form a shelf at bottom of box. I used builders reinforcing grid.
Cut a hole in bottom of box, below grid.
Next you need to buy a wallpaper steamer, about £35 Connect the steamer pipe through the hole in the box and your steamer is complete. I have my steamer on a timer unit. If anyone wants further details PM me I can assure you that this works. This is the same as a well known hay steamer company created as the first steamers they invented. I know this because a friend bought one from them for hundreds of pounds only to find out what she had bought was readily available in most DIY shops! I just copied it
 
I thought that the spores don't rinse off but rather they attach to the stem when wet so they are ingested rather than inhaled. Therefore if you allow the hay to dry, it defeats the object (for COPD)?
 
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