How long do you steam hay for?

Finn

Finn

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Hi everyone, Just after a bit of advice really regarding how long to steam hay for.

My mare suffers with COPD and has been moved to an outdoor stable etc etc but the yard is on no turn out shut down at the min due to the icey ground and she has started coughing slightly eating her hay. She wont eat it soaked and I really didnt want to be giving her haylage as its taken me nearly a yr to get her weight down from over 700kgs to 553 so dont want sugar etc bringing back into her diet. So, I was thinking on steaming her hay to see if she would eat that but Im not sure how long to steam it for.

Any advice anyone could give me would be greatfully recieved.
 
I'm in a similar situation as my boy started coughing, and won't eat soaked hay. I got an old bin, put a kiddies sized shavings fork in the bottom of it and put 3 slices vertically in it, then I pour 2 full kettles of boiling water on top, put the lid on and leave for about 15/ 20mins, sometimes 10 if I'm in a mad rush - it comes out smelling lovely, warm and not dusty at all - so far so good - a bit of a faff but far better than soaking net (I feed from the floor anyway)
 
Thats brill!

I was going to try a bin and put my hay in then find a lid of some sort then pour a couple of kettles of hot water on it but I wasnt sure how long to leave it for.

Thankyou so much for the advice, lets hope all our extra work helps both our horses out.

xx
 
If you use the bin & kettle method the water will cool really quickly (especially in this weather) so in reality you will only get 1 or 2 minutes of steam at a very low pressure. I use a wall paper steamer into a hole near the bottom of an old wheelie bin. YO put a connector in the hole so there are no leaks & I have a thin layer of spongey stuff under the lid & a weight on the lid to seal the top. Cheap timer from B&Q & I put on to steam for about an hour or so before I get to the yard. It gets really hot & 15lbs of hay is thoroughly steamed.
 
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