Who's used any of the small hay steamers?

shokkyy

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9 April 2008
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I'm shopping for a small hay steamer. They are expensive but I'd still prefer to buy a professional jobbie rather than try to make one, because I doubt the home made ones could ever approach the same level of effectiveness. I'm only soaking for one horse, so it'll only be up to 4 or 5 slices at a time, depending on size. The only ones I've seen that look the right kind of size are two from Happy Horse (Team Fredericks Portable Hay Steamer and Traveller Hay Steamer) and one from Haygain (HG-GO). The HH Traveller is by far the cheapest but I've seen a review on a US site saying it leaks, holds very little hay and doesn't steam the hay properly. I can't see anything on the HH website saying whether or not either of their portables has spikes or anything to get the steam into the centre of the hay. The HG-600 also looks reasonably sized but is pretty expensive.

Does anybody have firsthand experience of using any of these steamers? It's really difficult to tell which is the best to buy, because cheapest isn't best if it doesn't do the job properly. It also makes a difference if one is cheaper to run than another in terms of water and electricity usage. It's very hard to tell from their websites because both basically say only theirs works properly, all marketing, though I have to say the Haygains look more sturdy.
 
Sorry I have no answer for you but I'm interested in the answers to this. I'd love a hay steamer but find them far too expensive. Maybe if someone comes up with an absolutely fantastic, reasonably priced one I might be able to convince my OH that I really do need one ;)
 
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