Hay steam

Blazingsaddles said:
I knew of someone who bought a home made steamer off eBay. It was just a wheelie bin with a wallpaper steamer attached. Worked very well.
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The normal wallpaper strippers aren’t powerful enough I don’t think. The professional units are the dogs b*llocks so I would recommend one of them. Always some on ebay secondhand but I got a new one for £200.
 
Thank you all so much for this info, the pony with asthma is on vetipulmin at the moment
My mare is not coughing now but sometimes her breathing h is heavier but vets not worried, I was soaking hay before, now just spraying it like the others. This idea is more of a prevention, she is eating 2/ 3 sections a night depending if she eats it, as recently left about a section so reduced from 4 - 3.


Can you put the net in the haygain already made up, does it make the net wear out more with the heat. Do you put the hay in then just turn on or what. Sorry for the questions, never used one before or had one on the yard. Only the slow feeder one for a livery

so you recommend the haygain 1?? as most 4 sections would be max. In the 70's I used to love the small of scalded hay

To add I have a dust allergy and it gets my throat.
 
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Haynets are fine in there; if we put haynets in we use TrickleNets and 'normal' nets. Apparently they shrink over time, but I've not noticed that with either of our types. If you've got the big metal rings at the bottom of your haynets though I imagine they'd rust. Haygain sell haynets but in my view they're probably not necessary.

I don't work for Haygain/have no affiliation at all to them (they've got no idea I exist) and I don't mean to sound like an advert, but they're very helpful over the phone. I rang them several times as and when questions occurred to me!
 
NLPM said:
Agreed:



I just looked up what the spike was as OP asked about running costs - I thought having a rough idea of how much electricity was used might help them calculate running costs on their own tariffs (plus it's not actually something I've looked at before, so was curious).

ETA as its plug has a 13amp fuse and pulls power from a normal 3 pin plug, it can't run on more than 3.1kW - it looks like it is close to that for most of the time it's running. On our tariffs (15p kWh) that works out under 45p.
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Thankyou for this info NLPM very informative should hubby moan about the running cost (which he does with things here)

Can you put the hay in loose and then fill nets that way save the nets getting damaged as they are my late mare's, though they are rusty already.
 
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mule said:
I find it great. Mine gets sinusitis from dry hay over the winter. I usually give him haylege to prevent this. Unfortunately that wasn't possible this year so I set up a contraption with a wheelie bin and a wallpaper steamer. You just put water in the steamer, turn it on and it's done in about 40 mins. It's not as convenient as haylege but it does the trick. It also smells lovely and seems to be really tasty.
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We did something similar to this! Put bricks on the bottom of the wheelie bin so haynets didn't sit on the bottom. The boiled the kettle and poured that in. Time consuming but not too bad if you actually remember to pour the boiling water in. But with 5 horses needing seemed hay 3x a day and only one wheelie bin it just wasn't time efficient enough
 
Just checked ebay and no one local has the haygain one, only in wales :(

Just notice a descaler from haygain, how in the world does that work and how often i wonder?? Does it matter if the section is loose or one of the heavy compact type? does the steam penetrate throughout it so I would not have to break section up
 
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ILuvCowparsely said:
Thankyou for this info NLPM very informative should hubby moan about the running cost (which he does with things here)

Can you put the hay in loose and then fill nets that way save the nets getting damaged as they are my late mare's, though they are rusty already.
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You're very welcome.
Yep - I tend to throw slices of hay into the steamer, then weigh into haynets afterwards. Husband does haynets first - one fewer step but it means he's shaking out and weighing dry hay which I try to avoid.

ILuvCowparsely said:
Just notice a descaler from haygain, how in the world does that work and how often i wonder?? Does it matter if the section is loose or one of the heavy compact type? does the steam penetrate throughout it so I would not have to break section up
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Mix descaler with hot water, put into steamer (the boiler bit, not the hay bit!), leave for a few hours and then rinse out.
 
NLPM said:
You're very welcome.
Yep - I tend to throw slices of hay into the steamer, then weigh into haynets afterwards. Husband does haynets first - one fewer step but it means he's shaking out and weighing dry hay which I try to avoid.



Mix descaler with hot water, put into steamer (the boiler bit, not the hay bit!), leave for a few hours and then rinse out.
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Ty so much, now just got to look out for a second hand haygain 1 :)
 
Just to say I bought mine from a seller in the south of england. The courier was £50 iirc so if the one in wales is a decent price it might be worth investigating couriers/asking seller if they'd let you arrange a collection
 
ILuvCowparsely said:
Does it matter if the section is loose or one of the heavy compact type? does the steam penetrate throughout it so I would not have to break section up
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Thanks to the metal manifold spikes the steam penetrates even the closely packed sections. I run the steamer on a timer which is not included, and I recommend that you get one. Each 1 hour cycle uses about 1.75 litres of water (half the steamer capacity).
 
TPO said:
Just to say I bought mine from a seller in the south of england. The courier was £50 iirc so if the one in wales is a decent price it might be worth investigating couriers/asking seller if they'd let you arrange a collection
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thats a good idea I might do that ty may I ask what courier you used and did the seller wrap it for you


this one I seen is in Pontyclun

or this one looks in better condition but more expensive North Walsham but newer
 
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ILuvCowparsely said:
thats a good idea I might do that ty may I ask what courier you used and did the seller wrap it for you


this one I seen is in Pontyclun

or this one looks in better condition but more expensive North Walsham but newer
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I think it was UPS but it was the seller who arranged the courier.
 
If the seller still has the original sturdy cardboard box that the Haygain came in, then that could be reused. It would definitely need to be well packaged to survive the tender mercies of most couriers, it wouldn’t take kindly to being dropped unless very well packaged.

Some more pics. This is the metal manifold with five 12 cm tall spikes in the base of the Haygain that helps the steam to penetrate the hay.EF5F4E66-AEC4-4013-95C6-34EC6E8C7A18.jpeg

Freshly steamed hay
AC9AB7C3-5C08-4DBD-9F3F-C705322B64CA.jpeg

And the same hay after being emptied into a large (120 litre) wheelbarrow, showing the amount you can steam at once. It would fill two large haynets.

2EBC837B-2F0B-4B1F-9A84-2EC93A9C6775.jpeg
 
Tiddlypom said:
If the seller still has the original sturdy cardboard box that the Haygain came in, then that could be reused. It would definitely need to be well packaged to survive the tender mercies of most couriers, it wouldn’t take kindly to being dropped unless very well packaged.

Some more pics. This is the metal manifold with five 12 cm tall spikes in the base of the Haygain that helps the steam to penetrate the hay.View attachment 38639

Freshly steamed hay
View attachment 38640

And the same hay after being emptied into a large (120 litre) wheelbarrow, showing the amount you can steam at once. It would fill two large haynets.

View attachment 38641
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That is so helpful TP really appreciated all the help you gals have given me. I will email the seller.
 
NLPM said:
I can live with that. My horses are worth that, plus if I can keep myself out of hospital then it saves the NHS a lot of money too.




Whilst I agree with your last sentence for a lot of things on the market, I think the financial and time costs of the Haygain probably mean your generalisation is unlikely to be true for the vast majority of owners with steamers. I still buy the nicest hay I can find, and obviously 'poor management' is not something anyone aspires to. However, I buy 100 bales a year and after a few months of storage in a wooden barn (off the floor) it gets dry. If you have storage suggestions to avoid this, I'd be genuinely interested in hearing them and taking them on board.
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There are three types of dust in hay . Soil particles thrown up by haymaking machinery (modern machinery throws up a lot more than 40 years ago) it is harmless secondly . shatter .This is Plant material due to drying in the field and in the stack. It rarely causes a problem . The third one is the nasty one. mould formation due to too high a moisture content at baling. Principally Aspergillus moulds . Both horses and humans suffer from aspergillosis(also known as farmers lung. ) It is nasty and a few expoures to it can lead to sensitisation. I only need to walk into a barn of the stuff and I will react .My skin feels itchy and my lungs start to restrict. Imagine being a horse forced to eat this stuff . Yet I see this stuff being fed time and time again . Mould in hay is not a result of storage (Iluvcowparsley please note) it is due to the stuff being too damn wet when put in the barn. Once it reaches 12% moisture content mould formation is almost nil. It will dry out further in storage increasing the shatter but a quick douse with a hosepipe can deal with this. Soil inclusion has led to many horses dunking hay ,It was almost unknown 50 years ago yet is now quite common. The dander is reletively minor and I am unaware of any links to sand colic.
 
I feel 'Haygain' are far too expensive for what they are so I built my own and a large one at that. I got an IBC & cut a door in the top of it. Then I purchased a used professional quality wallpaper steamer off Ebay. New they are aropund £450, I paid £60. I cut two bread trays to a size that fitted in the bottom of the IBC. I then ran the hose from the steamer into the bottom of the IBC & attached the steamer plate. The bread trays were then dropped over the top. I put 5-8 hay nets in the IBC & turn on the steamer & drop an old rug on the top to stop any steam escaping through the door cut in the top. I steam for an hour & then turn off & leave them the sit in the IBC until I need them. The hay is steamed well in a steamer that cost me about £60 to make. The IBC was free, the rug was an old one & I can't remember where I found the bread trays. I'd recommend anyone to make & use one of these.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Thanks to the metal manifold spikes the steam penetrates even the closely packed sections. I run the steamer on a timer which is not included, and I recommend that you get one. Each 1 hour cycle uses about 1.75 litres of water (half the steamer capacity).
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What timer do you use TP? I tried a bog standard timer plug for my ascotuk steamer, but it trips everything whenever I use it!
 
I’ve got a basic idiot proof timer :D. There are fixed timing periods of 15, 30, 60 mins and up to 8hrs. It doesn’t have a 24 hour count down timer like some fancier models do, but I wouldn't trust myself with one of those. I’ve been using it since I got the Haygain. (Note the home made arrowed TP proof sticker to remind me which is the 60 mins cycle).

Ansmann AES-1


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Bob notacob said:
Fact. you have to put in a lot of energy to steam effectively. 3 to 5 kwh sounds about right. cost about 80 pence an hour . My horse is worth that to me. I confess i am seriously ott about hay . I have been a hay merchant for many years. well made hay does not create alergies and lead to copd. So why do people feed crap hay . Once you have sensetised your horse to the moulds in hay ,you have an ongoing problem. Hay steamers are a good answer to poor management.
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Some of us are obliged to buy hay off our Livery yards and don’t have a choice about quality unfortunately.
 
Bob notacob said:
Fact. you have to put in a lot of energy to steam effectively. 3 to 5 kwh sounds about right. cost about 80 pence an hour . My horse is worth that to me. I confess i am seriously ott about hay . I have been a hay merchant for many years. well made hay does not create alergies and lead to copd. So why do people feed crap hay . Once you have sensetised your horse to the moulds in hay ,you have an ongoing problem. Hay steamers are a good answer to poor management.
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Maybe you could explain to me why I have 12 horses on exactly the same (premium quality) hay-11 of them are absolutely fine on it, but 1 has developed severe RAO (so needs to have steamed hay). I am not convinced that poor management is to blame here!
 
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