Show me your homemade haybars please ?

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niagaraduval

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Hi,

I was wondering if anyone out there has made their own haybar rather than buying one ?

I have a horse on livery and he just wastes all of his hay (drags it about and then wees/poos on it) so my mucking out consists of taking all of his (very good quality & expensive !!) hay out.

I did use nets which worked well but I don't have time to fill them up, it's quite a daunting task.. I also bought a hay rack for his wall but being a very old building the bricks are not very strong and it was hanging off so took it down, also it wasn't very big and a horrible task chucking hay in it (got hay all over me, in my hair and often in my eyes....) when chucking it in the top... So the hay rack has also gone.

I was looking at this, as a good alternative :

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=...ubLfvoK1czsEkpNj-J0hm0zw&ust=1394016569474770

But as it isn't my horse I don't really want to pay out more money on stuff, as I only charge for feed and bedding and have already rubber matted his stable out for him (at my cost - was hoping to save a bit on shavings).

I was wondering if anyone had made one and roughly how much it cost ? A picture would be excellent too ofcourse !

Thank you :)
 
I actually just use a blue 45 gallon drum with the lid chopped off for my horse who also drags haylage around his stable. Works a treat and I like it because its not fixed to anything and can't cause injury!!
 
carolineb said:
I actually just use a blue 45 gallon drum with the lid chopped off for my horse who also drags haylage around his stable. Works a treat and I like it because its not fixed to anything and can't cause injury!!
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I've tried this - well using a 100 litre black bin and unfortunately he still drags it about and tips it over so I'm looking for something I can fix to the wall and it still be big enough for all his hay (the bin was too small and couldn't hold enough so had to keep re haying).
 
Keep an eye out for second hand ones. Some people still charge a bit cos they're so expensive initially, but I got mine for a tenner (it was a bit battered and had been pulled off the wall but dead easy to make new screw holes). I hope I never, ever end up on a yard that insists on using nets now...
 
I have just bought one from Robinsons for my pregnant mare (dont want foaly getting caught up in nets) and they are on sale for £45, easy to fix and great quality, really pleased with it.
 
lilacjackie said:
I have just bought one from Robinsons for my pregnant mare (dont want foaly getting caught up in nets) and they are on sale for £45, easy to fix and great quality, really pleased with it.
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Are they big ? I would ideally need to get around 20 kilos of hay in it as sometimes when the weather is really bad I have to leave them in and I have people that come and check on them (if I am out all day) but can't really expect them to put hay in for them.

45 quid sounds ok, I was wondering if wood to make a home made one would work out cheaper ? My OH is very handy :)
 
Or another idea using 45 gallon drum is to cut the top off and cut down the middle, bend it into a cone shape and then secure it to the wall with a gap at the bottom big enough for you to get rubbish out and get a broom under. We put hosepipe on the top edge so it wasn't sharp.

I'm all about the 45 gallon drums!!
 
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Im on a livery yard too, our YO's Hubby makes and fits them for £10, my Shetland has one too ( its very small)
 
I have one v similar to the one above, OH screwed two upright wooden battons to the wall, I then found second hand spare plastic planks from monarch internal stable partitions and I slide these down between the wall and the batton to make a corner manger like the pick above, I like them as 1) plastic so can't be eaten like wood, 2) plastic is designed for horses so very very strong and nothing nasty in it, 3) they lift out relatively easily so I can sweep out uneaten hay
The only bad thing is apparently they make perfect nest boxes so I'm forever dropping sections of hay on laying chickens, finding eggs in them or getting flattened when horse rushes over the eat and chicken jumps out at them!!
My big horses one just about takes a whole bale at a time - he eats a lot!!
 
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Hehe, big enough to fit a child in :) There is a gap at the bottom so I can sweep the rubbishy bits out but not lose my hay.



Its been in over a year now and still perfect :)
 
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My pony tosses her hay out of her hay bar on to the floor and drags it about, I'm due to move to new stables later this year so don't think I will be putting it back up
 
haybar1.jpg


I have raised them up a bit since then so they are about 5" off the floor, to allow sweeping out all the seeds that drop. Then the seeds go in the muddy gateways :)
I prefer them not to have their faces (and respiratory passages) immersed in the hay. Some people have done them by screwing cut rubber matting to the wall
 
Abby-Lou said:
My pony tosses her hay out of her hay bar on to the floor and drags it about, I'm due to move to new stables later this year so don't think I will be putting it back up
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Weigh it down with a log. My boy does this and the log has stopped him!
 
I got rid of mine because: A. My boy chucked the hay out, and B. He made tunnels in what was left with his nose so was breathing in exactly what I didn't want him to. We're back to haynets here.
 
Home made are IMHO better than the v v v expensive bought ones because the home made versions tend not to taper towards the bottom so they are much harder to pull all the hay out of. A rubber grass mat would be my material of choice if I didn't have the plastic horse planks, as that would really allow plenty of fresh air in to breath as the hay was eaten down.
 
When Obi was alive I used a large bucket. It could be clipped to the ring on the wall if needed.

Obibuffet.jpg


For The Tank I use a small holed net on the floor - he is not shod, does not paw at the net and his hooves are much bigger than the net holes. The rope is stuffed back inside the net.

groundnet.jpg
 
These would do the job. A bit Blue Peter to construct, but they really reduce wastage. I'm going to fix the smaller ones in my field shelter... when the YO has finished doing the roof... They have the advantage of being portable, so you could take out of the stable to clean, and also tip them over to get out the leftovers.
Maybe you could use a different shape of container. To make a frame with corners you just need a friendly person who would weld something up for you. I purchased heaps and heaps of pond netting for about £30, the same stuff that haynets are made from. Bungee cord is purchased from Ebay by the metre. Cut old clips off leadropes etc and the job's a good 'un.
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There have been several incarnations of these feeders. The best is the one in the picture, bungee cord for the whole of the loop that goes down through the grid on top, cable tied on the outside so that the loop I clip on to doesn't keep falling down in the mud.
 
Actually, in a stable with matting you could just use hay pillows as in Oberon's photo, and as long as you make sure the end of the hay net string is nicely tucked away and tied safely they can be left loose. I believe they aren't recommended for shod horses though, in case they hook the hay net under the end of a shoe.
 
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