Soaking hay, losing the will to live!

[scats]

I have spare brackets if you want me to send you one, I've ended up with 3 ?

Thank you x

 

[Shilasdair]

Haycubes are absolutely rancid after a couple of days - and the boxy corners make them really fiddly to scrub the green slime out. Not all horses appreciate putting their head into a small box either...

I soaked small nets in a wheelbarrow, then tipped it against a wall to empty it, wheeled it to a tie ring, hoisted it up to drain. Then wheeled it to the stable tie ring. Only good for small amounts though.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Never try and lift wet hay out of the soaking receptacle, that's a sure fire way to knacker your back.

I use to soak hay in black plastic dustbins and tip the bin over to empty the water out, leaving the bin upended complete with hay still inside for a few minutes while all the water drains out. Tipping the bin over is easy, and so is then handling the drained hay.

I steam my hay now - which is bliss by comparison!

 

[Poingsettia]

Do your yards not end up like an ice rink in winter? Can the water be recycled, as it seems like a lot of waste, especially if on a meter?

 

[scats]

We have a bar thing that surrounds the tap, which is a pain that you have to duck under it to get to the water but it is handy for hanging nets.
I soak them in a big tub from wicks, tip them up to empty and them haul the net over the bar using the string and pull it up to drain. To transport them to the stable, I used garden wheelie carts.

Hoping the hay cube is going to make life much easier!

 

[cauda equina]

I used to soak in a big wheel barrow - soak, tip water and hay out and leave the hay to drain on the ground for a bit and then hang the net up to drain properly once it's not so heavy
As I've said before, there's a gap in the market for pre-soaked and then dried and wrapped hay

 

[Melandmary]

I know someone who uses a large green wheelie bin with a milk crate inside so thenets don't fall beyond the tap that's fitted. Big stone on top. They aren't too heavy once left to drain when pulled out. @chocolate girl I think from a previous post you are local to me. I had my local suppliers hay tested for sugar and starch content and can give you his contact details.

 

[chaps89]

Haycubes are absolutely rancid after a couple of days - and the boxy corners make them really fiddly to scrub the green slime out. Not all horses appreciate putting their head into a small box either...

This was what my mum found. She’s pretty clean and tidy but just found the lips at the bottom gathered sludge and the horse didn’t want to put his head inside it anyway.

An old bath with a couple of those blue crates that catering food comes in in the bottom turned upside down. Nets go into soak, when done you pull the plug out of the bath, allow to drain and as the nets are on the crates they can drain properly too and sit there until you’re ready to move them so won’t be so heavy.
The catering trays are smaller than milk crates so fit better in a bath.
I had a hay only wheelbarrow that I used for moving it about the yard.

 

[Burnttoast]

I'm another with an old bath. I'm only soaking for two ponies so quantities are not too enormous but the wet hay is mostly handled by my livery, who is tiny, so I put only one section in each net and divide the sections if they look a bit chunky. She pulls the plug when she gets to the field and pulls the nets out when it's well drained. It's barrowed in the nets to the yard and the nets are emptied into boxes there. It's not brilliant but works and she can manage it.

 

[Apizz2019]

I have to soak hay all year around, due to having an EMS pony.

I was using the big gorilla flexible buckets but recently invested in a water butt, with a tap, and life is so much easier!

I got ours from b&m for about £30 odd and it's been a lifesaver, so much easier and less faff.

I feel your pain!

 

[atropa]

So surprised at the amount of people not mentioning rinsing the soaked hay before feeding.

I just soak mine in a feed dustbin, I soak 2x3kg nets a day so not massive. Tip the dustbin on its side to let the water drain, slide the net out, lift the net slightly onto the tipped over bin from where I tie the string onto the tie ring, then remove the bin from under it so the net is now hanging freely. I then rinse and leave to drain for a few hours (horse either in field or already eating previous net at this point) and start soaking my next net.

 

[Apizz2019]

So surprised at the amount of people not mentioning rinsing the soaked hay before feeding.

I just soak mine in a feed dustbin, I soak 2x3kg nets a day so not massive. Tip the dustbin on its side to let the water drain, slide the net out, lift the net slightly onto the tipped over bin from where I tie the string onto the tie ring, then remove the bin from under it so the net is now hanging freely. I then rinse and leave to drain for a few hours (horse either in field or already eating previous net at this point) and start soaking my next net.

I rinse with the hose as soon as they're taken out of the soaking bin.

I think the OP was asking about soaking solutions, hence why many may not have gone into great details about what they do with their hay when it's been soaked.

 

[Penny Less]

Has anyone up thread mentioned steaming ? i used to do this in a plastic dustbin using a wallpaper steamer. I resorted to this as yard wouldnt allow old baths because they made the yard look scruffy!

 

[AnShanDan]

All this talk of old baths has reminded me that ours used to look like this. I thought the basin bit would be handy for draining haynets but they always got caught on the taps so the basin had to go

 

[Cortez]

The water from soaked hay is classed as effluent BTW, and technically shouldn't go into ordinary drains.......

 

[Lady Jane]

I soak in a large tub trug and tip the whole think over when I want to get the hay out. I keep my nets smaller (8lb max) so I can lift them onto a crate to drain and then move to the stable. You need a brick on top of the hay to keep it submerged and if you put the brick in an old feed bucket it balances better. The tub trugs are soft plastic so don't break when you tip them over

 

[paddy555]

So surprised at the amount of people not mentioning rinsing the soaked hay before feeding.

.

I don't rinse it.

 

[cauda equina]

So surprised at the amount of people not mentioning rinsing the soaked hay before feeding.

/QUOTE]

And I expect other people take it as read that it will be rinsed before feeding

 

[Lady Jane]

I don't rinse - but do soak in loads of water (i don't cram the bin full of tightly packed hay and then fill it with water). If the weather is not cold, I either soak for less time or change the water half way through. Unless you redunk in fresh water you can't really say you have 'rinsed' it