Soaking hay

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bex1984

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I need to increase the amount of hay my ponio has and therefore need to start soaking it for 12 hours.

I'm worried if I leave it in a bin full of water for 12 hours at the moment it might freeze completely! Ideally I want to leave it overnight. It will probably end up being in there for almost 24 hours, as I'll have to put it in to soak in the evening before I go home at about 7pm, and get it out at about 5pm.

Any ideas for clever ways to soak haynets for 12 - 24 hours without it all freezing?! Or is there a better way to do it? I don't ahve any time in the morning to sort out a haynet!
 
nope can't think of one! Except if it's a deep enough bin and you put something heavy on the hay so it stays at the bottom of it? don't know if that will work though. Remember if you're soaking it for that long all the nutrients will seep out
 
I soak my hay in plastic bins with the lids on and they never seem to freeze completely just the top bit if weather really bad.

Or if yours does freeze put hot water over the net 15 minuete before giving to your pony

LB x
 
I don't think it'll stay any warmer in the feed room - my carrots have been frozen for days!! and I can't really get a bin full of water in and out of the feed room, so I think it'll have to go outside. I really am quite worried about feeding him frozen hay!
 
I'd stick it in a dustbin with the lid on and pour hot water on it 15 mins before feeding, as suggested above. (you should be able to get hot water from the office - just take a bucket)
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What about a lower feed value haylage, I use the blue marksway one for my 2 natives & they do just fine on it, no soaking, bliss!!
 
I soak Daisy's hay for 24 hours before she eats it to get rid of dust and calories. I just put it in a big tub trug and leave it outside her stable (in a barn) until I need it. You don't want to be lugging wet hay along distance in this weather. I'm not that far from you so I doubt the temperatures are that different and I have to say that my hay bucket hasn't frozen yet. This morning everything on the yard was frozen including all the taps yet her hay bucket was fine. My guess would be that changing the water by sticking hay in it changes the freezing point
 
Good to know that your hay bucket hasn't been freezing, hopefully mine will be OK, but if it does freeze I'll pour some hot water over it. I think mine will be soaked for about 20 hours.
 
Recent studies have proven that 25 - 40 minutes is the optimum soaking time for hay unless you have a lammi pony then it's about 1 - 2 hours.
 
I soak my horse's hay as he's a bit of a porker and has had laminitis once already. I've always soaked for 24 hours (only went to yard once a day, so had no choice, it had to be 24 hours or nothing).

However, the other day, I was reading (on another forum) that Dr Derek Knottenbelt (brilliant laminitis expert) now recommends soaking hay for 48 hours (24 hours, change water, then another 24 hours). Research has shown that this removes the maximum amount of sugar from the hay, so ideal for fatties and lammis!

Of course, you'd need to replace the nutrients by way of a good quality feed balancer, and I'm not sure just how appetising 48 hour soaked hay would be to most horses!
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Tracey x
 
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