Haynets and foals...

charliesarmy

charliesarmy

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When and how do you introduce foals/youngstock to them?? since before and after birth I have not used nets but my young colt seems to go out of his way to wee on my mares hay...so when do you introduce them to the dangers of nets?? or are there some other alternatives that I need to know about??
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How about a hay bar it's a triangle shaped thing u put in the corner of stable for hay to be put in got to be safer than a net!!
 
I have haybars fitted in my stables and i love them, very safe and the foal can reach in to grab the hay too.

Saves a lot of waste.

I personally hate hay nets too
 
My colt does the same thing too.
Personally I just wouldn't bother with nets. He was out in the yard the other day & wandered over to a liveries net...he knew to eat from it but then began pawing at it...with such tiny feet I just wouldn't risk it. Fly eats the piddled on hay anyway so just too bad!

Sue
 
I don't do haynets, far too idle to go to the bother of filling them, mine hang in the barn purely for decoration.

The moment I throw down fresh hay the colt digs a nest and lies down for a snooze. C'est la vie, I live with the waste, I just rake up the left over stuff and throw down more.

Perhaps a haybag would be bit safer?
 
I ended up using them - mare wouldn't eat from a hay bar and if it was on the floor it got pooed and peed on and she wasn't getting enough to eat...

So I went back to small hole haylage nets tied very high and it was fine. Holes were smaller than feet, and I used 2 smaller nets rather than one large - which helped keep it off the floor, foal picked at the stuff in the hay bar as he'd got more sense than his mother...

I also replace the haynet strings with a thinner rope that snaps more easily, rather than the thick plastic ropes they come with - just in case.
 
I dont use haynets anyway, just because it exercises the mucles I dont want, so they get fed from cut down barrels. You may get the waste but you dont get that fat muscel under the kneck.
 
I wouldnt use them especially with youngsters. I had a few horses get stuck in them and be stood in the morning with huge legs, or stuck in the corning still with the leg stuck. We have previously always used small holed nets to avoid the problem but it has still happened.

The majority of older horses are fine but youngsters just dont seem to be able to help themselves. I dont use them at all now at the end of the day horses should eat from the floor so thats where our hay goes!!!!! I now put up with the waste and can judge how much each wants to try and prevent to much getting thrown away.
 
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