Haygain are back under new ownership, and with interesting new products

[Landcruiser]

As the title says. I'm very interested by the timed hay feeder, which dispenses 3 lots of hay (up to 2kg a time), at timed intervals. It's expensive, but less than a scope and a course of Gastroguard would be. Has anyone by chance taken the plunge? My worry would be that my exceptionaly clever mare would find a way to open it and scoff the lot straight away - or she'd trash it in frustration. I'm too skint to be seriously in the market for one at the moment anyway, but I'd love to hear a few reviews, in case they are worth saving up for.

 

[smolmaus]

Oh I hope someone has.

Its a lot of money for 6kg of forage to be dumped on the floor.

 

[Exasperated]

As the title says. I'm very interested by the timed hay feeder, which dispenses 3 lots of hay (up to 2kg a time), at timed intervals. It's expensive, but less than a scope and a course of Gastroguard would be. Has anyone by chance taken the plunge? My worry would be that my exceptionaly clever mare would find a way to open it and scoff the lot straight away - or she'd trash it in frustration. I'm too skint to be seriously in the market for one at the moment anyway, but I'd love to hear a few reviews, in case they are worth saving up for.

Tell you what I’d be worried about, and that’s the durability of their timer. We’ve had several, expensive, timers burn out after some months (possible fire risk?), and now got one inbuilt into a special electrical socket - that requires a maths degree to programme, so I wouldn’t advise that, either.

 

[Red-1]

I'd be worried about durability too.

My boyfriend was looking at a timed hay dispenser for Rigs, as he is EMS and on a restricted diet. He was going to have a lifting lid initially, then we thought about dropping a net. He had it all designed, with release that worked off an app. I have CCTV so we could have watched to make sure the app released the net.

We stopped doing it when he designed the slow grazer as it has really worked to slow him down. The first day, he went for it, kneeing it, striking with a foot, using his huge head to try to lift the lid. It is robust and he gave up. He no longer gets frustrated, as he can see when it is full and when it is empty. It has proved to be a godsend as it really does extend his eating time.

I didn't like the Parallax one, despite it being cheaper, as I can only see that Rigs would paw and climb inside and I have heard of horses getting their foot caught with a partially displaced Parallax grid.

I was initially taken aback by the price of my boyfriend's one, but he showed me the costs and he isn't milking it at all. It is solid and robust and that takes materials and labour.

I like the idea of regular dispensing, but this one is hugely more expensive and I can only imagine the kicking Rigs would give it if he knew there was still food inside. I think he would be relentless and it would be disembowelled!