Physical work soaking hay

[Yardbird]

I have a 15.1 cob. typical good doer and only sound enough for light hacking. I used to soak his hay to preserve his respiratory health, but I had trouble with my back. I was in pain at work by 10.30 am and taking pain killers to continue. I thought then that the job was the problem all the standing. but when due to tiredness I stopped soaking hay and just damped it with a watering can for a week my back pain went and I found I could get througha day at work with no pain lkillers.

During the freezing weather I fed dry hay as disposing of the water is so hard when it is freezing in our yard set up.My back was good but then I noticed that in the mornings my horse had deposited a blob of white snot in his fed bowl in the mornings.

I then went back to properly soaking his hay and my back coud not cope and stiffened up. I can move and function today after resting it but I have taken that as a message I can no longer soak hay. The problem point is, I think, dragging the hay out of the water. I cannot tip the container as to help as already I have divided the hay into 2 nets and need the water tosoak the 2 nd net. Use of water at the yard is an issue.

I am worried how much my cobs weight will increase if I use haylage .Also the cost would inrease by a lot if I bought small bale haylage. Has anyone any ideas please. Thank you

 

[9tails]

Wheely bin with a tap on the bottom. Soak your hay, let out the water then wheel your hay into the stable.

 

[Yardbird]

Can you buy these?Sounds good

 

[SEL]

A small waterbutt may work like a wheely bin and I bet you can find some on freecycle or similar.

But I think you can buy the taps in B&Q. I was planning on having a look because I soak all year round and hauling wet nets out of trugs is hard work. If I can add a tap on the bottom then they can drain while I do other jobs.

 

[MyBoyChe]

Ive got a trug with a tap on the bottom which sits in one of those little garden trolley things. I drain the water but can also lever the hay net out by using a winch set up, trolley is parked next to a fence and I pull the hay net up using a fence strut, then just the pull the trolley away to let the net drain. Obv depends on your yard set up but could you do something similar. I also use the trolley to pull the net to the stable.

 

[LaurenBay]

you need a Haycube

Best thing ever for sore backs!!!

 

[Nasicus]

Is it worth investing in/making your own hay steamer?

 

[poiuytrewq]

Hay cube! For definite

 

[Yardbird]

Thank you for the ideas at the moment I am favouring the wheelie bin /tap idea. I did think about hay cubes a while ago but I was in a different part of the Farm one day when one(hay cube) came flying out of a stable followed by a very wound up horse that appears to have kicked it out of her stable !!! That made a lasting impression on me (horse unharmed)so I just want to put wet hay in the stable. no apparatus.

 

[Tiddlypom]

No one should ever haul wet hay straight out of water, it's very heavy and asking for trouble. There have been several similar threads, so worth a search I reckon .

Easiest and cheapest solution, which I used successfully for many years, is to soak the hay in a black plastic bin which you then tip over and leave to drain. Leave the bin inverted over the hay until just before you feed it, this prevents the drained hay from drying out too much. I have a knackered back (4 slipped discs a few years ago necessitaing 6 months off work) and I could manage this fine, though since getting my new Haygain steamer recently I no longer need to soak hay, hurray .

 

[Beth206]

We soak ours in massive trugs, tip them out and leave to drain. We have a little wheel cart which we put them on and pull them across the yard to fasten up

 

[Yardbird]

No one should ever haul wet hay straight out of water, it's very heavy and asking for trouble. There have been several similar threads, so worth a search I reckon .

Easiest and cheapest solution, which I used successfully for many years, is to soak the hay in a black plastic bin which you then tip over and leave to drain. Leave the bin inverted over the hay until just before you feed it, this prevents the drained hay from drying out too much. I have a knackered back (4 slipped discs a few years ago necessitaing 6 months off work) and I could manage this fine, though since getting my new Haygain steamer recently I no longer need to soak hay, hurray .

Problem is that I need to soak about 16/18punds of hay to last through the night as I have to bring in at 4 when I work.I split the hay into 2 nets to make it lighter ad so it fits in the container but if I tip it I do not have water left for the 2 nd net. Water usage is an issue , it is on a meter and I am at a livery yard,
and also I have to bucket the water from the tap to the place where I can put the container .I can physically do this ok but it is time consuming before work.

 

[ElleSkywalker]

Look for Ths hay soaker on ebay. I have two from them and they are awesome. The smallest one holds 5/6kgs of hay and the biggest a full bale in nets. They are basically bins with taps and come with a step to put them on for easy drainage and a plate inside to stop the bottom of hay resting on stinky hay water

 

[Tiddlypom]

Ah, I missed the bit about you having to conserve water, OP, that's awkward. In that case, I really do recommend a steamer if you can stretch to one. You'd need access to mains electricity of course, don't know if that is an issue at the yard? Mine costs c20p per cycle to run. Or steam at home and transport to the yard when needed?

 

[Sussexbythesea]

You could offer to pay a bit extra to cover the cost of the Water?

Water is around £1.50 per cubic metre. A large tub trug is around 75litres so you’d get about 13.3 for £1.50 so if you do say 14 a week (2 a day) that would be roughly £1.50 a week of water.

I’m not sure if you would have to pay a sewerage charge on top of that. If so it may work out about £3 extra a week in total.

 

[irishdraft]

I feel your pain I soak 2 bales a day at the moment, I put a whole bale into a bath when soaked take out the plug when its drained I can lift out sections for nets and then repeat. I do enough for the next morning in cold weather it keeps fine. I have some big water containers set up to catch rain water so keep water usage down but its hard work, I dont think there is an easy solution

 

[sport horse]

Plastic wheelbarrow. Drill hole and fit tap ( need drill and two spanners!) Soak hay, park barrow over drain and turn on tap, leave to drain. Wheel hay to stable and tip out. QED

 

[Boulty]

Is there the space or budget for a hay steamer? I've never used one but a friend does and finds it works well (and I think can do a fairly large quantity at a time... let's put it this way she has 3 horses on adlib steamed hay) as as hers won't eat soaked hay and she has one that doesn't get on with haylage. Obv there's the initial outlay but would still be cheaper longterm than haylage, waste less water and would save your back! I on the other hand have gone for the option of low sugar meadow haylage as I'm allergic to hay and again soaking it was killing my back!

 

[Orangehorse]

A full sized field water trough with a plug would be large enough. I wondered about a steamer, which I agree would be good but very expensive, but OH said that water is a lot cheaper than electricity, so soaking is the way to go. But mine don't like it soaked for very long, so I tend to let it get completely covered and then drain, in effect washing it. I know the experts would say that this doesn't destroy the pathogens, but it works for my horses.

 

[Yardbird]

Thank you for the ideas. Because I am at a livery yard I cannot put anything that has to be in a fixed position. I mean I cannot continuously occupy shared space. So the idea of a wheelie bin with a tap sounds good but I am wondering how heavy and difficult to manoover a wheelie bin will be when filled with 18 pounds of hay and enough water to cover it.Also, if it freezes I cannot let the water run down the slope( no drain) as it will become icy where people and horses walk so have to manouver it into a field gateway to let the water out. How does anyone manage to move a wheelie bin full of hay and water? we are a bit basic so any solution using electricity os out. I think that I may have to use haylage after all.

 

[alibali]

Thank you for the ideas. Because I am at a livery yard I cannot put anything that has to be in a fixed position. I mean I cannot continuously occupy shared space. So the idea of a wheelie bin with a tap sounds good but I am wondering how heavy and difficult to manoover a wheelie bin will be when filled with 18 pounds of hay and enough water to cover it.Also, if it freezes I cannot let the water run down the slope( no drain) as it will become icy where people and horses walk so have to manouver it into a field gateway to let the water out. How does anyone manage to move a wheelie bin full of hay and water? we are a bit basic so any solution using electricity os out. I think that I may have to use haylage after all.

You cant move the wheelie bin when full of water unfortunately you need to drain it first, then its easy to move.

 

[SEL]

When water usage was an issue at my old yard I fitted a water butt under the guttering. Obviously that meant we headed into weeks of boiling weather an no rain, but it did fill up quickly once it rained again.

 

[chaps89]

I fill a big bucket up with water and simply immerse a slice or two of hay at a time and put it loose straight into the barrow, keep going until I've done as much as I need then barrow it to the field where I put it out. Immersing isn't as good as a full on soak but substantially better than just dry hay. Maybe a better compromise than dry hay given restrictions on how much water etc. Having lugged heavy fully soaked haynets about all summer I can promise this is so much easier!
This link shows more detail.
https://ker.com/equinews/benefits-soaking-hay-horses/

 

[Yardbird]

I fill a big bucket up with water and simply immerse a slice or two of hay at a time and put it loose straight into the barrow, keep going until I've done as much as I need then barrow it to the field where I put it out. Immersing isn't as good as a full on soak but substantially better than just dry hay. Maybe a better compromise than dry hay given restrictions on how much water etc. Having lugged heavy fully soaked haynets about all summer I can promise this is so much easier!
This link shows more detail.
https://ker.com/equinews/benefits-soaking-hay-horses/

Thank you plan to try a version of this tomorrow but wonder what to do to drain hay if it is freezing as it goes into a stable and i do not want ice on the floor

 

[Tiddlypom]

Soaking hay and freezing weather is never a good mix, especially when you have limited facilities. Prior to getting the steamer, I used to abandon soaking and instead feed the hay dry during a prolonged cold snap.

It sounds that investigating low energy/ high fibre haylage is the way forward for you.

 

[Yardbird]

Thanks for all your ideas and reading through it all I have found something that seems to work. Barrow down hay from the barn to the yard. Stuff the hay in my soaking container (I weighed how much hay I could stuff in and it is the 16/18 pounds I want to feed).Fill container with water and leave to soak. Wearing rubber gloves move the wet hay from the soaking container to my wheel barrow which has holes in it.Leaveto drain. Barrow hay to stable. So at no point am I lifting more than a lump of wet hay. Thank you for all your replies.