Ideas for Feeding Hay in the Field?

3Beasties

3Beasties

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At the moment the horses currently have a couple of haynets in the field shelters which is fine at the moment because they still have a fair amount of grass so the hay is just for when the weather is really rubbish and they head for cover!

Once the grass has gone they'll be needing more hay though so I need something to put it in! One of them likes to empty hay out of what ever its in so I somehow need to stop him doing that as I don't want to get loads of hay trodden in to the ground and wasted.

I have my own hay in small bale form so it needs to be something that will work with them.

There are 2 big horses and a section A, they'll have about a bale of hay between them a day. I would rather just one big feeder that they can share from as oppose to 3 smaller ones.

So, ideas please?
 
For a round bale I suggest a large tractor tyre....with high-ish sides if you can to keep it in
For a rectangular bale perhaps a water trough?, mount it up on blocks or something so rain water can drain out and there's less chance of it being pulled about?
 
I'd carry on with the haynets to be honest - saves on poaching ground.
I have 3 big trees I have got twine ropes round, so I can rack up a good sized net on each if I need to.
This year I'll be haying in the shelter as the current 2 fuzzies will be fine with this arrangement - FLF getting the lions share & TF waiting for the leftovers.....

However, in the past I have lashed 4 pallets together with balertwine and dropped hay into that for 4 or 5 out in the field.

A pair or 3 of tractor tyres lashed together can do the trick for some.

Whatever you do, it does need to be movable in some way as if/when we get torrential stuff, you will be wading through a bog to get hay into the receptacle.
 
I also use tractor tyres, three spread out on one short side. They are big enough that the horses can eat two per tyre. I use small bales, and you can get maybe 5 slices per tyre if you need to.
The one downside is, it can get muddy around them and they are too heavy to move around.
 
Last time tractor tyres were mentioned on here as hay feeders, I looked up the photo of the grey horse that got stuck in one and had to be rescued, so I could post it as a bit of fun and a gentle warning about just how daft horses can be. I actually found several photos of different horses stuck in tractor tyres and sadly some of them had died. Yes - horses can hurt themselves on almost anything, but I would be very wary about using a tractor tyre having seen the photos and read the accounts of the heartbroken owners.

Maybe they can be modified and turned into a safe feeder?
 
I'm glad someone else brought that up. I thought I was being a bit dramatic thinking I wouldn't let my horse eat from old tractor tyres! My horse literally has a fully padded out stable, walls and everything because he's so accident prone and he still managed to kick himself in his stable overnight last week. Doh!
 
I have a large tub trig with a hole at the bottom. Stuff a haynet, put it in upside down and tie it through the hole in the bottom (ive put a shorter string on so he can't get a hoof through it. He then eats it out the top. Although when its full he rolls it like a treat ball and takes the bits that fall on the grass. Stops the ground getting poached and keeps him moving. Did put a whole round in the field but he made himself a nest instead. Literally ate the middle and climbed over tge sides when they collapsed and laid in there munching the sides in between naps. I have a rather strange horse....
 
Quick thought - Big Bale Buddy. If you have 3 they'll get hrough it in a week easy and then you can move it next time - pricey but worth it - tb at the yard has it as he lives out
 
I have a large wooden box, built for potatoes I think, it holds 2 conventional bales at a push and is relatively deep so with only one in it, they don't pull it out all over the place. Works really well as you can just dump a bale in and take the strings out so very little faffying. My two share easily as it's big.
Maybe have a look out for something like that - if you had to you could tie some kind of grill over the top but I think you'd find it big enough to not need to do that.
 
Google Slow Hay Feeders
Do some searches on here about feeding hay, we had some great threads last winter.
If you click on my profile I posted on a thread about this last week. My feeders are a bit fiddly, but once set up a real blessing every winter.
 
I was coming on here to ask the same question - and to see if anyone had used Hay Hutches before? http://www.hay-hutch.com/ They look good - but are quite pricey!

We feed the ponies ad lib hay over the winter and it leaves the field looking such a mess, and we waste so much hay as they just tread it into the mud.
 
I think it depends on the size of the tractor tyre tbh! We have three and smallest horse is 14.2. There is no way any of then could fit in the tyre, trip over it maybe but not in it.
 
Faracat - I've seen you post these before on these type of threads, amazing the grey walked away from that! If I hadn't seen the scrapes they can get into i wouldn't believe it was possible but some are determined to self harm - especially to get to that last blade of hay!!
 
Polos Mum said:
Faracat - I've seen you post these before on these type of threads, amazing the grey walked away from that! If I hadn't seen the scrapes they can get into i wouldn't believe it was possible but some are determined to self harm - especially to get to that last blade of hay!!
Click to expand...
Horses can be so unbelievably stupid. I was also quite taken aback with just how stuck the pony was.
 
That pony is considerably smaller than our horses! :)

I prefer the robust tyres to anything else, I wouldn't trust ours with pallet feeders or a metal feeder, too much for them to break or get stuck in. The tyres have no sharp edges and cannot be moved by the horses really, only downside is one year we didn't move them quick enough and had a mouse family living in the hay remnants in the bottom :D
 
Mariposa said:
I was coming on here to ask the same question - and to see if anyone had used Hay Hutches before? http://www.hay-hutch.com/ They look good - but are quite pricey!

We feed the ponies ad lib hay over the winter and it leaves the field looking such a mess, and we waste so much hay as they just tread it into the mud.
Click to expand...

I have a hay hutch and absolutely love it! Have had it for three years and it's still going strong. I did get the slightly more expensive version- made out of motorway barrier plastic or something apparently. I wouldn't say it reduces waste to the extent that they claim but it certainly stops hay blowing away or getting wet and then trampled around and wasted that way.

I have the one with three 'eating holes' and out two Sec Ds and Sec A eat happily from it together. You can get about two thirds of a small bale in it if you really squash it down. They do need a few heavy rocks or something in the bottom though to stop them blowing away and if it's been snowing or raining really hard, you get a bit of water pooling in the bottom which goes horrible if you don't empty it out.

Overall though, I think it was a good buy.
 
I also love my hay hutch. I bought the bigger one which is really roomy They are expensive but its so nice to put hay out and know it isnt going to blow away or get wet. I only have once horse, turned out in a field next to others so it means I only have to fill it once a week. Others at the yard have also bought one and can definitely recommend them. Being larger (the one for 2/4horses) I have found that it dosent blow away even in our windy fields. Hope this helps.
 
I use a free standing cattle feeder/ manger/ hay rack/ or whatever you want to call it, not very movable but I put wood chippings round. That and the bit of hay that does get wasted on the floor trample in to make fairly decent standing
 
I can't be the only one who scatters sections of hay all around the field in order to encourage them to forage naturally, and keep them moving so they don't become stiff standing eating in the one spot all day?
 
We do scatter it if its a nice non windy day and we want them to eat on a bit that isn't filthy. But some days the wind is awful and without tyres it wouldn't last two mins. The tyres also stop it getting trampled. Ours aren't ad lib in the daytime (4 on 12 acres) and the trough is a good 200m away so they have to walk anyway :)
 
There's haynets and there's HAYNETS. I have a selection and some fit literally 4 times the amount of hay of others. With small holes to reduce spillage (and slow greedy horses). I'm no help as I don't have brand names to offer, but don't give up on haynets just yet
 
We have a cattle A frame feeder (the one with the rounded edges so safe for the horses) - it works a treat for us. Before the boys were chucking it around the field and playing with it then leaving it obviously, but now they don't leave a scrap behind.
 
Tattybox, willow withy box, four pallets lashed together, there are loads of options out there, if it's small bales the above are fine if large I would put the pallets round the hay ale to stop wastage and tie up with twine, easy to pull apart and move for the next one to prevent poaching.
 
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