How do you handle your hay?

[marion95]

Hi guys,

just wondering what you all tend to do with your hay/haylage in the stable.

I have started putting piles of haylage in the corner on the floor, 'cos my horse eats/needs loads of haylage, and there is nowhere safe enough (high enough) to tie haynets. Also I've been told it's better for them to eat from low down as it's their natural grazing position.

Problem is - she is so messy and always manages to integrate her haylage and shavings!

Does anyone have any other ways of keeping their hay under control?

 

[Happytohack]

Haybars! Invested in them for our lot last year and have been really pleased with them. Clean them out each morning and fill them up each night and the neddies love them.

 

[Parkranger]

I chuck it on the floor - cause my boy is blind in one eye he tends to stick his head right in the haynet and gets runny eyes - doh!

 

[JAK]

We chuck it on the floor - if they want to mangle it up in their bedding, tough! Though ours don't - they're too darn greedy for that!

 

[AmyMay]

You could try giving less hay - i've always found that that helps.

 

[Rabea]

Put the hay in a big bucket or in a big wheel.

 

[K9Wendy]

Exactly, that's what we did, if there is any mulched into the shavings in the morning then there was too much there to start with! If she trods in hay and is hungry later on she will pick it out! It's amazing how they can find every pick of it when they need to! Must keep her occupied for ages..

 

[KatB]

Yep same with my boy, got it so hes just picking last bits out in the morning....

 

[JAK]

Agree with amymay & Wendy - though ours don't generally trample their forage into their bedding, if they did it more than once or twice, I'd be cutting it down! LOL
(LBO will do this occasionally, if he simply doesn't want it!)

Only other thing is, does he do it all the time?
LBO has haylage in winter & if it gets more than a few days old, he won't eat it, as it's starting to go a bit 'off'! Horses have good noses for such things & I always trust his judgement before mine when he says "C'mon now mum, time for a new bale here I think!"

 

[marion95]

Sounds good - where did you get these from? Haven't seen any around.

 

[JAK]

[ QUOTE ]
Yep same with my boy, got it so hes just picking last bits out in the morning....

[/ QUOTE ]
Yep, I don't want to see piles of the stuff in the morning but I don't want to see virtual tongue marks on the concrete either! LOL
A few strands here & there is about right, no more than a handful or so left over!

 

[KatB]

[ QUOTE ]
don't want to see virtual tongue marks on the concrete either! LOL


[/ QUOTE ]

PMSL! Yes top doors are very useful for chewing on if hayledge has run out....

 

[JAK]

[ QUOTE ]
PMSL! Yes top doors are very useful for chewing on if hayledge has run out....

[/ QUOTE ]
Fat Orange One says: "Or you can pull all your rugs off the wall in boredom & sh*t on them........that always piddles her off & makes her think twice about her stingy hay rations!"

 

[KatB]

Oh yes, a shitty rug nest is a great idea! I have to store all rugs in the tack room.....

 

[Parkranger]

Nope, pooing in the water bucket is our idea of fun!

 

[KatB]

Yeah we had one that did that in an automatic waterer......

 

[sharni]

Hay Stations are very good.

 

[filly190]

I think you might be giving too much, hence the wastage. Cut down on the amount until you get it right.

 

[Happytohack]

I got my haybars from our local feed merchant/saddlery. www.haybar.co.uk have all the info.

 

[Theresa_F]

Cairo does not like eating hay from the floor - he often leaves a lot, whereas the same amount in a net, not a scrap left. Any hay that is found on the floor is removed - he knows if you try putting it back in his net.

Chancer used to be fed from the floor, but he would chuck it everywhere playing with it and then refuse to eat it.

I use a haybag for Chancer - they don't have to be so high and there is little chance in them getting caught up.

In the good old days, we used to have hayracks.

I have in the past used a very large skip bucket tied with breakable rope to the wall in the corner which worked well.

 

[chestnut cob]

I feed hay/haylage in a large Tub Trug. Keeps it more or less in one place, although my horse tips most of it out, eats the bottom bit then eats the rest

 

[flyingfeet]

We are on straw so I just incorporate it into the bed - I cannot stand to waste things, so btter it gets used as bedding rather than being chucked away.

Our liveries (that don't pay for it) chuck out unused halyage as "they like a tidy bed".

 

[red marksman]

I like to feed our horses haylage on the floor but i do worry that when some of it does get mixed in wirh the shavings- especially if it is a new fluffy bale-that they will eat some of the shavings along with the haylage and get impacted colic. Is this a real possibility or am I just worrying too much?

 

[Twiglet]

feed half in a large holed haynet, and half from a massive tub trug on the floor.........minimal wastage from my greedy boy!

 

[barkinghorse]

Mine just pulls it out of whatever i put it in and dunks it in the water bucket!
Annoying as well coz we have water feeders and when he dunked it in that it caused it to over flow, so had to go back to buckets!! oh, and he has wet haylage anyway!
Jo xx