soaking hay-water run off destroying yard, alternatives?

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Prince33Sp4rkle

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we have 2 on soaked hay, one over summer only and one year round.

we have no open drains on the yard, the water from gutters etc runs in to proper drains but these are sealed over to stop debris going down by accident.

we havent ever had a problem prior to this-the yard is gravel and the land sandy and well draining, rarely get sitting water and the drains never block/over flow.but then we never had soaked hay either....

however, as of April last year we had to start hay soaking (for weight control/lammi control, one horse is VERY at risk). we have just been tipping the water in one corner of the yard (its a pretty big yard) where there is an area of open sand/soil (that side of the yard isnt 100% finished neatly as there is still a lot of work to do on the house/garden).
For 10months its been fine but we are now getting a build up of gunk, algae and the water isnt draining, its starting to bog up the gravel and run down in to the area of the yard we DO use/walk over/drive over etc.

if we dont do something its going to end up a stinky, mushy, icky bog all over the yard come summer.

I am struggling to find alternative spots to tip the water as everywhere else is too near the house, too near the garage etc.

the only open ditches are half way up the field boundary and its far too far to walk carrying water or wet hay.

my only option (i think) is to soak the hay in nets rather than loose, and bucket the water on to the muck heap and hope the muck heap can soak up the daily water-does anyone else end up doing this?

i dont think digging down in to the soil in its current place will help much, i think it will just get gunked up and end up a trench of standing stagnant fermenting hay water?

what one earth does everyone else do?

if the water gets tipped in to the hedge surely its PH will kill off the plants? or is that the way to do it, tip it where the plants use the water rather than on open gravel/soil?

any genius ideas gratefully recieved.

why does no sell pre soaked and re-dried hay?!

ETA we are SUPER careful with tipping the water-no hay is being left to go manky on the yard, only the water is drained out.

I cant think of a cost effective hay replacer either, replacing 100% of their forage with bagged short chop is going to be ridiculously expensive.
 
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Can't help with where to tip it, but when it's frozen I resort to buying the little plastic blue Marksway haylage, which is guaranteed low sugar content. Not quite pre soaked and re-dried, but as good as it gets I suppose!

My friend is a vet and she buys it for her very laminitic elderly pony, and swears by it. I only buy when I can't soak i.e. when the pipes are really frozen, but I always have a couple in stock.

You could do half and half to make sure yours are ok on it.

The muck heap might work up to a point, as the heat will evaporate some of the moisture. If not, I would look at getting someone with a digger to dig you a proper soak away - you don't want algae growing everywhere!
 
thanks, hadnt considered the heat / evaporation angle either so that sounds like it might work, ish.

i think if that doesnt work then father will get a proper open drain put in with one of those removable filters to catch all the hay/hair gunk. He neeeeeeeeeeeearly had one put in 2 years ago but decided we didnt need it and then typically, a year later we had to start hay soaking! law of sod.

will look in to the marksway haylage too as now our farm shop can get it it.
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
thanks, hadnt considered the heat / evaporation angle either so that sounds like it might work, ish.

i think if that doesnt work then father will get a proper open drain put in with one of those removable filters to catch all the hay/hair gunk. He neeeeeeeeeeeearly had one put in 2 years ago but decided we didnt need it and then typically, a year later we had to start hay soaking! law of sod.

will look in to the marksway haylage too as now our farm shop can get it it.
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I think that's the only way to go tbh. We have gravel and avoid tipping anything on it as much as possible because it does have a tendency to bog up! I try to use waste water for soaking beet, rinsing buckets out with etc. We have a filter on the drain that takes all the water out of the washbox, it gets tipped out everyday and it makes life 1000% easier. :)
 
What about soaking in a water butt with a tap on the bottom and running a hose to one of your existing drain areas or even putting a section with a connector into one of your standing pipes if you want it to look pretty. You'd still have to dump the dregs of the water butt every now and then to get the bits out but that shouldn't be a huge job.
 
I have seen a wheelie bin with a tap fitted in the bottom they then put a hose on the tap and stuck it down a drain it did take a while to empty ( perhaps you could have two ) they had to stand on something to get the hay out.
Might this idea work for you ?
It made a fair bit in one go.
 
thanks both.

i am hoping father is pushed in to sorting out a proper drain.

Tarrsteps will let him know your suggestion and see if he feels happier about that way of getting it down the drains.
 
We soak ours in a bath with the plug connected to a proper drain. Easist way to drain it as well, you can fit a bale and a bit in and just pull the plug when done.
 
We use the low-sugar Horsehage too for EMS/laminitic ponies - it's expensive but when working out costs per day remember to account for the cost of extra water volume required for soaking and rinsing - we were shocked at the increase in our water usage when soaking. If you can store it's usually a bit cheaper to purchase horsehage by the pallet-load.
 
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i thought that hay water run off was classed as effluent and you weren't supposed to just run it off onto the land - might be wrong though,
 
hmmmm, if you are right then that might be the final straw in getting a proper drain in! will go and google.

have sent him all the options and thought i could even strain the water through an old sheet over the drain to catch every tiny seed etc. I can see why he worries as our draining system is ancient!
 
On the wheelie bin thing I was talking about the tap was about three inches from bottom this meanlt the gunk settled to the bottom and could be cleaned onto the muck heap where they could easily pull the pin.
 
What about steaming it instead? My friend had this problem so built herself a steamer. She only needed it to damp the dust down so doesnt steam for long but if you steamed for longer it would give the same effect of long soaking but with less water, i think.
Not sure how much it cost her but a lot less than buying a purpose made one and seems to be working well for her.
If not then i would say something with a drain and attach a hose to it and run it to a drain is your best bet.
 
having done nothing but read about hay/soaking/sugar/swamps all weekend, i *dont think* steaming pulls the sugar out in the same way (someone may correct me if im wrong)????

farthersparkle is going to try and set up the water butt/hose/drain option to see how that goes.
 
If you cant get Marksway horsehage/if it works out too expensive you could get a haylage supplier to supply you with 2nd/3rd cut haylage? I feed a lammi prone one haylage as he is inclined to cough and I can't be doing with all the endless soaking and faffing about. I have it analysed and it is 8% sugar and fine for him.
 
Steaming definitely does not decrease the food value of hay, it's to address respiratory concerns.

I might even wonder if it increases digestibility!
 
Having a similar sounding yard - not concrete and no proper drains I have a wheelie bin as someone else has suggested with a tap in the bottom which I connect a long hose too. The hose is always in place and go's down the nearest drainage ditch. It's great and has worked all year but some days I do have to leave it til the afternoon when it's very cold.
 
This is genuine curiosity but would leaving hay spread out on some sort of grid, open to the elements, not be an easy way of decreasing food value? I'd never run across the practice before coming to the UK but we did used to prioritise older bales, especially if they had been in the sun, for fatties.
 
TarrSteps said:
This is genuine curiosity but would leaving hay spread out on some sort of grid, open to the elements, not be an easy way of decreasing food value? I'd never run across the practice before coming to the UK but we did used to prioritise older bales, especially if they had been in the sun, for fatties.
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in theory it would work but in practice wouldnt it blow away?!
 
Having a tap at the bottom of the soaker which is piped into the nearest "proper" drain is how we do it. I had previously created the Great Bog of Despond in one corner of our yard, so know exactly what you're facing. Steaming does not remove sugars, and exposing hay to the elements in this climate will likely just result in blown away rotten hay.
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
in theory it would work but in practice wouldnt it blow away?!
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Not if you built a wire sandwich frame, that could be flipped over, moved under shelter etc.
. . .hmm, i love a good mad invention!

I'm still trying to get my head around soaking hay. And chaff. And DIY. It makes life interesting though!
 
Buy a wheelie bin and put a small tap in the bottom, then when you need to drain the hay you open the tap and water drains out :) It means that you can easily take the hay wherever you want to drain it out, and the water doesn't go everywhere when you do.

ETA: typical - the one time I don't read the whole thread! :rolleyes3: I put the hay in nets before putting them in the wheelie bin so easy to get out :)
 
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Surface water drains (those taking roof or yard water) go direct to soakaways or watercourses. Hay soaking water should not be emptied into watercourses due to it's polluting nature. I would think a soakaway to land would be preferable. Otherwise if there is a foul water connection you could try contacting your local water company to apply for a trade effluent consent, whereby you may be able to send the water to foul for treatment in the sewage treatment works. Essentially any emission of anything other than clean un-contaminated water is an offence of causing or knowingly permitting a discharge to water. I'll admit hay soaking water is a nightmare!
 
My retired brood mare got laminitis (turned out to likely be related to a later PPID diagnosis as she was certainly not a typical case with any obesity) in September and I entered the nightmare that is hay soaking - waste water everywhere creating a bog (we have no drain on our bottom yard where she lives and far too heavy to haul the water up the hill to the drain on the top yard); and a mare who lost far too much weight from the water soaking out all the nutritional value whilst I waited increasingly desperately for the hay analysis to come back. I used Dodsen and Horrell and their service was excellent.

I was very lucky and it turned out that our wrapped hay that we buy from our haylage supplier is only 6% sugar so she's happily eating that now and it's safe for her. I'd definitely see if your haylage supplier can supply something like this in bigger bales as it's obviously cheaper than the small bales of low sugar haylage.

Good luck :-)
 
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