Steaming Hay

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katherine1975

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Have been thinking of buying a hay steamer for this coming winter, does anyone use them and which one do you think would be best for two horses? Also, can you steam the hay in the morning then put it in the stable for them to eat in the evening or do you have to feed straight away?
 
what one are you going to buy? There is a new one with arms that go right in to the hay to spread the steam. Apparently steam, like water, take the nearest easiest available route so a lot of them just steam the outside and the middle is still dry.
I know someone who uses a wallpaper steamer. there is a hole in a bin for the pipe to go in and then lid on bin and leave to stea. Much cheaper way of doing it i think. You can steam it to use it later, you don't need to feed it right away.
 
I have had one for about 2 years, the company had a stand at HOYS.

All we do is break the bale open and put the indiviual slices in upright.

We tend to use it through the summer/autumn when we only have 1 or 2 horses in, because in winter we use big bale haylage.

Would recommend.
 
using the wallpaper one is a great idea, much better than having dusbins at your kitchen door and boiling the kettle over & over again
might try this so all you do is put a hole in the dusbin and shove the hose in - how long would you keep the steamer on for??
 
Hay steamer is awesome, cant remember who we are with...but recently had to replace the steamer unit...old one was like a wallpaper thing and it just couldnt cope and the company had since improved the unit and now its much better!!

(we only steam for 2 horses!)
 
I love my haygain steamer - much better than faffing with heavy wet nets!

I put a whole bale in, cut the strings and have a timer, so it steams around 6am. In winter I then feed in the morning and leave the remaining hay in the closed steamer and its fine to feed in the evening. After 24 hrs the hay is fairly dry, so not convinced its quite as good for the coughing.

Takes me less than 5 mins to fill the unit and put a bale in, versus soaking its saved me over 20 mins per day!
 
Thank you all for the advice. Am going to start saving for one this winter. Our new yard has water from a spring so takes ages to fill buckets etc so soaking would take a long time. Also worried about when the taps freeze and thought it would be much easier to steam the hay.
 
I had the Haygain on trial but did not buy it as I steam hay for 7 horses and the large model only takes one small bale of hay so it would have had to be constantly on.

I have been using the wall paper steamer and a large plastic water tank for several years with great success. I bought a plug-in timer so that the hay is ready in the morning whey I arrive on the yard.

I tend to steam the hay for 1 hour.
 
God it's years since I steamed hay, much more basic though - hay in dustbin and couple of kettles over the top, left lid on till coolled down!

Sounds like there are some pretty high tech devices out there now!
 
On the subject!

I got a wheelie bin and planned to get a wall paper steamer to go into a hole in the bottom.

I am a livery at a diy yard so did wonder how much do they cost to run? - Will my yard owner start getting pee'd off if i'm running up the electric bill?!
 
I've got a happy horse steamer and it's fantastic, so clean and easy to use. The hay isn't supposed to get too wet. The steam is used to get the heat into the hay, it's the heat that kills off all the moulds and the mycotoxins etc, not the steam (if that makes sense). HayGain ones were loads more expensive, they look a bit nicer but, they don't take loose hay and can be a bit of a pain. I'd recommend everyone to have a look at the happy horse steamer for this winter.
 
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