Is a hay steamer worth it

[dixie]

My horse has been coughing all winter despite soaking his hay. Now he’s out 24/7 with the exception of an hour or two he’s still coughing.
He had improved but it’s still niggling especially when we canter
It’s not horrendous but it’s frustrating and I would like to knock it on the head.

I’ve used a number of different type of hay to No real effect and haylage makes him a bit silly.

So just thinking now a steamer might be the way to go but are they worth the money.
Also not sure how I can steam the hay for an hour before I bring him in when I don’t live on site, but that’s another issue.

 

[asmp]

Regarding having it ready for when you get there, we used to use a timer. One of the reasons we stopped using it was the worry that it was costing the owner of the DIY yard (an elderly farmer) quite a bit in electricity and working out how to pay for it.

 

[HopOnTrot]

I have one and have a wireless plug (£12 from Amazon) so I can turn it on from bed! Stables are on our home electricity so no worries about cost.

I’ve switched our asthmatic pony to meadow haylage as she was still coughing with steamed/soaked.

She also now has inhailers too which helped get on top of it.

 

[Ceifer]

I love my haygain.

I know I’m an old bore but haygain advised against using timers on them. Yes I know loads of people do it with no problem but a client of my farrier nearly burnt her yard down as it melted the plug and didn’t shut off.

For such an expensive piece of kit you’d think it would have some safety device to turn it off but it just has the alarm that rings and it keeps boiling.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

My horse has been coughing all winter despite soaking his hay. Now he’s out 24/7 with the exception of an hour or two he’s still coughing.
He had improved but it’s still niggling especially when we canter
It’s not horrendous but it’s frustrating and I would like to knock it on the head.

I’ve used a number of different type of hay to No real effect and haylage makes him a bit silly.

So just thinking now a steamer might be the way to go but are they worth the money.
Also not sure how I can steam the hay for an hour before I bring him in when I don’t live on site, but that’s another issue.

IMO no they are not worth it, at first it was ok, but then she still coughed even with the steam, the only thing that stopped the cough was haylage