Round hay bale nets - opinions?

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MagicMelon

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I need to get a feeder of some sort to offer a round bale of hay in the field (on hardcore so will be kept clean). I know a lot of horse people say to avoid the usual farmer ones like tombstone feeders so I'm looking at other things. Can't cost much though as just got one of my horses back from loan so have a 17.1hh to add to my winter bills as it is ;) I was looking at the big nets that fit over the bale, there's several on Ebay? Do these work? Can they still get hay easily once the bale is say only 1/4 left and I assume the net goes saggy? It's only for 2 horses, neither shod so no worries with getting shoes caught on it. They're a bit funny about wet hay though so I wondered if it was worth shelling out a bit more and getting a Big Bale Buddy as I assume that keeps the hay a bit dryer? Only worry is that my 2 might fight over getting their heads in the hole in the top (may be less fighting over them being able to access whole bale so they could have 'their side').
 
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My hay racks take bales lying lengthways and to stop the hay blowing away I tie a piece of fishing net over the top. It is heavy gauge net with holes about the same size as a small mesh hay net. Far cheaper than anything you'll get off Ebay if you have a fishing port anywhere near you. In fact, if you smile nicely, you'll probably get what you want for nothing.
 
We don't use big bales in the field. What we do have is two large tractor tyres bolted securely together and then placed on a wooden pallet to keep hay off ground. We can either put a small bale in, or just fill up haynets from large bale and empty them inside.
Briliant for the horses as the heavy duty rubber prevents injury and the size allows for a couple of horses to use it at a time. Best of all, the hay doesn't blow away, so very little wastage.

A friend's husband gave and delivered the tyres for free as they are a bit of a pain to get rid off apparently! The wooden pallet we already had on the farm. So it cost us the price of the heavy duty metal bolts to keep them in place and the time it took to drill through the tyres.

See if you have any friendly farmers wanting rid of old tyres :)
 
Thanks Pixie sounds like a great idea! Sadly though I'm trying to find a low-maintenence type hay feeding system. My problem is that I can't store much hay (50 square bales - can't fit round in the shed) so I'm worried about how many square bales I'll get through and have to keep going to pick up 50 more each time, 50 doesn't last very long when one of the horses is an always-hungry 17.1hh WB! They live out 24/7 with access to open stables. I figured just getting the local farmer to come and deliver a round bale every fortnight or so would be a lot easier?
 
I've been using the big bale buddy for a couple of years now for my 3 in the winter. They work extremely well, no wastage to speak of and no problems squabbling to get at it as they are so big. The only downside I found is they get through it very quickly but maybe my lot are extra greedy and the other worry is they seem to bury their heads in it as it goes down in the m idle, so are breathing in dust and spores. This year I'm going to try the net version to slow them down and they won't be ablet o bury their heads in it.
 
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