How do you feed hay in the field?

chickeninabun

chickeninabun

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Sorry, it's a little early to be thinking about the dreaded 'W' word (winter!
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) but am thinking of leaving my horse out this year so would be feeding hay in the field (don't normally as they have much grass and are in over night with feed and hay).
So am wondering what you all use to feed hay in?
My boundaries are mainly hedges, so only really the gate to tie a haynet to and then there's the mud to consider around the gateway!
Any ideas?!
 
I'm lucky in having a large field and two horses who don't trash it, so I can leave it in piles - but always in different places each day.
 
We have a small hillock where we put the hay. They just eat it off there and don't trash it. At the last place we had circular hay hecks which are used for livestock. They stopped the hay being blown all over the field but you had to keep moving them because they got very muddy round the outside.

I wouldn't use haynets as I've heard too many horror stories about horses getting caught in them. If you were just tying them to the gate or fence you probably wouldn't be able to tie them high enough for them to be safe.

I love keeping them out and feeding hay, they much prefer it and it's so much easier than bringing them in every night.
 
As the other posts really.

We have plenty of post and rail fence, so two years ago we put up some steel mangers, these have worked brilliantly, but for the five or six previous winters we have always left piles of hay on the ground, one for each horse and moved on a regular basis.

In addition, we have always cleared up the worst of the waste in the early spring, as it helps the grass to grow back quicker.
 
I put mine in a few trugs around the field. The hay normally ends up on the floor, but I feel better not putting it straight on the ground if it's wet or muddy. I don't like tying haynets in the field even if it does have good fences, too risky for one of them to get caught in as fences tend to be lower than a haynet hook. Feeding off the floor is meant to be more natural and won't encourage muscules in the worng places.
 
I leave mine in piles on the floor. One more pile than there are horses. A neighbour puts an unstrung round bale on a pallet under a roof in the middle of the field and let his lot get on with it.
 
My OH made a hay trough from three old pallets, one for the base and the other two cut in two for the four sides. Its mobile so the ground doesn't get churned up around it and I put the hay in and then cover it with a hay net to stop it blowing away. It keeps the hay off the floor but it takes him a little while to eat it through the hay net. It works very well for us.

Re the hay net, I cut a haynet up so it lays flat and then tied it all round to the side of the trough. No danger whatsoever to horses as it is secure.
 
That's a good idea! Plus it'd keep the hubby busy for a while! Not sure about the hay net tho. Would the mesh not be a bit close to the ground, hence close to the dippy-mare's feet!
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I use a thing that's designed for feeding big bales to sheep - smaller than the tombstone feeders for cattle and much cheaper and lighter. I had three big horses and a yearling using it last year with no fights. Mine all just trample haylage into the ground if I feed it in piles, so the feeder stopped that happening and it comes in two so is very easy to move when the ground around it gets poached. I think it cost around £100 and it works just great.
 
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