Hay soaking question

I use then largest trig I could find, fill the net, dunk it in and stand on it, like treading grapes, till it’s squished down covered in water..to drain, I have an upturned old metal hay feeder, heave the net onto that and let drain for half an hour..
 
I soak for 8-12 hours and never had any problems. Like others have said it’s a fruitless exercise unless you use enough water. Without testing your hay and soaked hay it would be impossible to tell if enough sugars had come out after a couple of hours, so I play it safe with mine and give it the max time.
 
When I do soak, it’s either overnight or during the daytime.
I have a big tub that I bought from Wicks. I soak underneath these metal bars we have by the tap and then I tip the tub over to drain the water, then hoist the net up over the bar and tie it to rinse off and drip.
My girls barely touch soaked hay though, so I end up throwing most of it away.
 
It's trivially easy to measure the amount of sugar that has dissolved into the water, using a hydrometer to measure the specific gravity; you can get these from any home-brew shop or online for under a fiver.
 
How long can you leave hay to feed after soaking? I was going to soak mine briefly the night before and hang in stable ready for them bringing in in for morning but I guess it will have dried out by then!
 
cheekywelshie said:
How long can you leave hay to feed after soaking? I was going to soak mine briefly the night before and hang in stable ready for them bringing in in for morning but I guess it will have dried out by then!
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As it is a warm right now I would worry about it fermenting in that time. I soak mine for 1-2 hours during the day , then rinse and hang to drip and it is fed that evening , so drips (in shade) for between 1 and 3 hours. I wouldn't leave it over night in these temperatures.
 
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