Hay steamers?

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flintfootfilly

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Starting to wonder about a large hay steamer to reduce dust in the hay fed to my gang of 6 (currently I soak their hay, but on that scale it is pretty messy).

I know that steaming will not reduce sugars in any way, but if it deals with the dust problem that would be brilliant.

What experiences do you have of hay steamers and their effectiveness, reliability, practicality please?

Should they be kept and used in a locked room / outhouse (they are pretty expensive so wouldn't want it nicked!)?

How long does it take to steam a whole bale?

OK to steam hay already weighed out into nets?

How soon do you need to use it after steaming for it to still have everything dampened down nicely?

Anything else?

Would like to get my thoughts in order before contacting any suppliers.

Thanks for any help.

Sarah
 
I know that steaming will not reduce sugars in any way, but if it deals with the dust problem that would be brilliant.

haygain are looking into double steaming and so far it is showing a reduction in sugars

What experiences do you have of hay steamers and their effectiveness, reliability, practicality please?
i find them very effective i have had barely a cough on my yard with the horses that have steamed hay also for one of them we are steaming his straw as he eats it and normally coughs thru this, again no cough

Should they be kept and used in a locked room / outhouse (they are pretty expensive so wouldn't want it nicked!)?
for your own peace of mind yes but on wheels so easy to pull outside to use

How long does it take to steam a whole bale?
about 45mins

OK to steam hay already weighed out into nets?
yes

How soon do you need to use it after steaming for it to still have everything dampened down nicely?
if you leave the hay in the steamer after steaming am the hay is often still dampish and warm pm , once steamed it is palatable for up to 24 hours then they tend not to like it so much . i steam in the morn and put it round the stables and they are quite happy to eat any leftovers the following day
mine are haygain steamers a great team and would be happy to answer any other questions you have

Anything else?
so nice not to have to deal with freeezing water and haysicles in the winter :)
 
Tried the Haygain but as it only takes one small bale and we can only get large bale hay it wasn't that useful. Have had success using a paint stripper, large plastic water tank with lid, timer and metal grid placed on bricks in bottom of tank. Hose goes in under the metal grid and the hay sits on top of the grid. Timer set to go on 3 hours before I get to yard and to run for 2 hours.
 
Tammytoo said:
I have heard of people making their own steamers using a dustbin and wall paper stripper-steamer.
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I made one with a huge wheelie bin and put a milk crate in the bottom and drilled a hole for the wall paper stripper pipe to enter. The hole doubles as drainage too! Holds 2 huge nets - whole outfit including a plug timer cost under £50 so you could make 2 or 3 if you have 6 horse to steam for for £150 :D
 
I have a hay steamer from http://www.happyhorseproducts.co.uk/

Best thing i ever bought for my boys. So much easier than soaking hay. In winter much easier to do and nice to feed warm yummy hay. It takes about 45mins to steam then i feed straight away. Cools quickly when lid comes off.
My boys love it - smells so yum. I got it for my horse who has allergies but they all love it. I steam hay in nets and loose slices - all steams the same and just as well.
Really practical - fill up steamer, connect pipe, turn on and just leave it to do its job. We did put a timer on it on busy days and fill up and connect in morning then timer would switch it on and then hay be steamed for when i got there :-).

Steamer unit is kept in my tack room as it needs to stay dry (electrics) but hay tank is outside 24/7.
de-scale the unit every 6 weeks as i live in a hard water area. I have the stable mate steamer and it so useful having it on wheels. Can then take hay to field and right to their doors :-) hope this helps! Well worth the money.
 
I have a Happy Horse hay steamer, it takes about an hour to steam a bale of hay. I do the same as katiey and have the steamer bit in the tack room and the hay tank outside. I put it on a timer so the hay is ready when I get to the stables in the morning.
 
I use a wallpaper steamer with a very large plastic trunk on wheels, that has a lid which clips down tightly. OH shaped some heavy duty wire mesh to fit in the bottom to sit hay on. Total cost about £50. Works brilliantly. Got the trunks from a DIY store several years ago, but there must be something similar around now.
 
We have a home made steamer at our yard :) (wallpaper steamer)

Large container? We use a water butt! (at least that's what I think it's called!) or you can buy wheelie bins ?
 
The large Happy Horse steamers use the industrial earlex steamer, I guess this is because they can steam for 90 mins, cheaper home made steamers probably don't steam for the same length of time.
 
Thanks for all your replies. Much appreciated.

It's given me plenty to think about, and it's really encouraging to see that all the comments are positive.

Sarah
 
They are amazing, we use a haygain one at work (the small bale one) and its just brilliant. no coughs the horses hoover it up, it smells amazing and i as an asthmatic can shake hay up in the stables without so much as a wheeze!
 
McNally said:
They are amazing, we use a haygain one at work (the small bale one) and its just brilliant. no coughs the horses hoover it up, it smells amazing and i as an asthmatic can shake hay up in the stables without so much as a wheeze!
Click to expand...

It's just shuch a shame the Haygain ones are so prohibitively expensive. Really only feasibly possible as a business purchase. No good for us single owners. :(
 
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