What are the pro's & con's of Hay Bars

[Rhandir]

In other words, are they worth it ? I'm toying with the idea of getting one, currently I'm experimenting with placing the hay on the floor to see if she eats it or spends the night playing with it and burying half of it in her bed.

 

[fizzer]

We have haybars for all of ours, much easier and less wastage. Would recommend.

 

[MissMincePie&Brandy]

If your horse will eat it off the floor, and not waste it, or drag it through the bed, I'd be happy with that, but my horse paws it into his bed, so I have a haybar.

pros:
horse eats in a natural position.
Better for their respiratory system
Better for their top line muscles, as opposed to developing unwanted big throaty muscles by ripping hay out of a high haynet.
Safer than a haynet. (having seen legs caught in a haynet before)

Cons:
Horse can still be a bit messy, but generally they are much tidier than having hay directly off the floor.
If you have a greedy horse, they can gobble their hay up too quickly, compared to using small holed haynets.

 

[Umbongo]

I think yes they are worth it. Although instead of paying for a new one, there are some threads on here which have some pictures of people's homemade ones.

My loan gelding used to have hay on the floor and never made a mess so I didn't need one. If he did pull his hay into his bed then I would have considered one.

Pros and cons as misinterpreted said

 

[Baileyhoss]

I love my haybar, purely because I HATE filling haynets and hate them in my stable. I used to pop hay on the floor, but b has a smaller stable now & he's on shavings, so it would get all mixed up.

i use an empty feed sack to 'measure' the hay and pop it in the haybar, no mess, no fuss. Fortunately B is a bit of a hoover & non is wasted through his bed, although a lot of people will say that the down side is horses turfing out everything from the haybar and mixing it through the bed.

 

[Bryndu]

Cons: Not for greedy cobs who eat hay all at once, or Sec A's who get in them!!!
Bryndu

 

[Rhandir]

Hmm, yes she is very greedy, her whole world revolves around her stomach. She normally has her hay in a small holed haynet simply to slow her down and make her hay last her a bit longer. She's the horse equivalent of a "Dyson"

 

[lochpearl]

If your horse will eat it off the floor, and not waste it, or drag it through the bed, I'd be happy with that, but my horse paws it into his bed, so I have a haybar.

pros:
horse eats in a natural position.
Better for their respiratory system
Better for their top line muscles, as opposed to developing unwanted big throaty muscles by ripping hay out of a high haynet.
Safer than a haynet. (having seen legs caught in a haynet before)

Cons:
Horse can still be a bit messy, but generally they are much tidier than having hay directly off the floor.
If you have a greedy horse, they can gobble their hay up too quickly, compared to using small holed haynets.

As above, plus less time on trying to fill a haynet, especially in this weather!!

 

[miller]

As long as your horse doesn't attempt to paw the hay out or drag it out of the bar into the bed

TBH I've seen 2 nasty accidents with haybays - worse than I personally have ever seen with nets - both horse ended up with alot of stiches and nasty scars - where the horse has tried to paw and got stuck

I'd personally rather feed off the floor even with shavings (our weanlings drag it into bed but still pick it out) or a well tied net (old lad who doesn't paw has one)

 

[tallyho!]

It's swings and roundabouts I reckon.

Not for the greedy-guts amongst our horses who can't seem to stuff enough hay in thier mouths at once but better for the erm... discerning diner!

 

[cruzing]

Where i am they have them in all 15 stables, which is a great time saver.
The only problem i have seen is that they are a good thing to scratch on and have seen one that got squashed by an itchy Exmoor.

 

[BMA]

Just a quickie but I feed out of one of those giant stubbs tubs. I remove the handles (sure it had handles) and thread a bit of twine in two of the holes and tie it to the wall...the horse can push it from side to side a bit so if something get stuck they dont get obsessed with trying to dig their way into it and if he ever was to do anything daft the twine would break.

They are really tough and don't split or get sharp edges...mine must be over 8 years old

 

[Perissa]

I haven't seen a haybay (see Millers post) - sounds aweful!!! I use a haybar and love them. They are totally smooth so no sharp edges to cut themselves on. Also they are at a height were it would be very difficult for them to get a leg in. I know a competition yard nearby that uses them too.

At first my horse took great delight in emptying in but soon got bored of that game and eats it nicely. Not a drop of waste.

I put a rubber feed skip in mine and it catches the last drips off the soaked hay I feed. It also catches all the little seeds making it a lot easier to keep clean. They recommend fitting them a little off the floor so you can clear underneath them but I find it easier using a rubber feed skip. The black type rubber type - they soon settle into a triangle shape.

I have heard of people putting a tie ring low down in them so they can tie a small hole haynet to them so make hay last longer for good doers. Doing this inside the haybar means that they cannot possibly get a leg caught in the net yet are still able to eat in a more natural position.

I also agree with misinterpreted's pro's and con's and to add another pro - it is supposed to be better for their teeth alignment too.

 

[davisn]

We used to have haybars at the livery yard we were on, they were good, but they had solid bottoms & I had to clean it out regularly as it would catch all the little bits of hay & dust, which the horses then breathed in. I also found that my 2 pulled some of their hay out onto the floor.

When we moved to our own place OH was going to make some, but 18 months on it still hasn't happened yet. I hate haynets, so as a temporary measure & started using large trugs on the floor. It works almost as well as the haybars did, some gets pulled onto the floor, but it's not too bad. It also means that I can empty the bits out every time I fill it up & it's less messy as I take the trugs to the haylage bale, rather than carry loose haylage to the haybar.

Once the trugs are empty it doubles up as a toy to push around the stable! They haven't tipped their water trug over since we started doing this, so that's a bonus!

 

[Persephone]

As far as I am concerned my Haybar was £70 down the drain.

The first night my horse bit a chunk out of the top edge, leaving sharp bits that I have to keep smoothing over with duct tape. She throws all her haylage out with her head and the sloped sides make that really easy for her.

It makes more waste and mess than feeding from floor or haynet!

I actually use a haynet again now, hung above the Haybar. That's the only thing it's good for IMO. Catching the bits.

 

[Steeleydan]

They are expensive-we have a home made version that works just as well.
You get a 45 gallon blue plastic drum, cut it in half actually just above half, drill 2 holes in one side about 3 inch apart, thread baler twine thro and tie it to a ring on the wall level with top, and vola a hardly cost anything, thing for a horse to eat out of, I dispise filling haynets.

 

[Umbongo]

At the race yard we use these kind of things (not sure if they are the same, ours are quite deep and heavy).
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Black-Deep-Pl...den_PondsWaterFeatures_UK&hash=item58838e7180

Big and relatively heavy so the horses can't push them around. Of course some of the younger more inquisitive ones can knock them over so some of them are chained to the wall with a clip so we can undo them. Much cheaper than a haybar. We carry the hay over to the stable on a plastic sheet, the hay seeds left at the bottom are emptied in the morning by tipping them onto the sheet. We also take them out to give them a good clean with the hose every so often. Easy to manage and the horses have had them years and there has never been a problem.