I saw this on Tractor Supply’s website. Giant Bermuda compressed bale in a bag. I bought a bag to try - to be picked up soon.
Baled in California? I had never heard of GH before. How is it different from Coastal Bermuda esp. in terms of digestibility and colic?
I’ve been trying to find a way to give my horse more hay - and hopefully this will be the answer.
My horse is on full board. Barn supplies hay - but only two flakes per day. Horse owner has option to buy bucket feed - which I’ve been doing. (hay pellets and beet pulp). No space for hay storage.
Hoping these little compressed bales will work.
I have no idea what size they’ll expand to when opened.
Has anyone fed this Ametza hay before? And???
Thanks!!!
I don’t know if it was that brand, but I have bought compressed bagged bales at TS. I don’ t do it on a regular basis, but have on more than 1 occasion. I do have to say- I soak the flakes in a bucket first, just like I would beet pulp or hay cubes. I think the price was between 14 and 17 bucks. I have an old pony that I give chopped (and soaked or wet) hay from TS to and if they are out, I get the compressed bales and soak a flake at a time for him.
If your barn has no storage for baled hay this is not going to solve that problem.
The baled bermuda is 50# - same as a 2-string bale of most any hay.
Bale is compressed until you open, then it expands to about twice the size.
I used the similar Standlee baled OG/Alf (also from TSC) once when bad weather prevented my hayguy delivering & I was very nearly O-U-T of hay (cue panic).
At $15 per compressed bale I was not thrilled with the crumbly nature of the hay once opened.
Seemed to go a lot less far in feeding than a standard 2-string bale @ roughly 3X the price.
I have never fed any type of Bermuda, so can’t help you with info there.
You would be better off to buy regular hay bales, keep a few at home and just bring the hay to be fed when you go to the barn daily. How is 2 flakes of hay ( a day???) considered full board. Unacceptable since hay is 99% of a horses diet.
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Grass hay around here is about $10/bale. It’s an issue at a lot of barns. It’s difficult to understand why grass hay is so expensive in Texas. It seems only the high dollar show barns feed lots of hay. Some boarders store hay in their trailers. I no longer have one. I live in a townhouse - also no storage for hay.
Do you have a car with a trunk? (Pennywell asks only half kidding 
)
Can I ask what the barn is supplying for the remainder of your horses daily feed? I find this whole new way of boarding mind boggling.
When I lived in a townhouse we had a storage closet off the front patio. If yours does you could get a few bales in there
What about Lucerne Farms Dengie from Tractor Supply? A bucket of that twice daily would help, and it is easy to use (tasty, no soaking, no mess).
i would buy a bag of each product (alfalfa cubes, Standlee compressed hay, chopped hay, Dengie etc) and try each to see what is easiest for you and for the barn. The bagged products are nice because they take up so much less room than hay bales. I have used a lot of bagged products over the years, and have found different ones easier in different situations.
@grayarabs Does your townhome have a garage?
If so, could you stack (on pallets) several bales in front of your parking space?
Cover loosely with a plastic tarp & Voila!
@Pennywell Bay 's suggestion of car’s trunk could work.
I used to stack 4-6 bags of compressed shavings in the trunk of my PT Cruiser & have room for a 50# bag of grain as well. Even more if I collapsed the back seats.
@candyappy Depends on how big/compressed those 2 flakes are - you feed by weight, not by flake
While I haven’t bought the Ametza products in awhile, I did try several different products of theirs about 3 years ago when they first started appearing at TSC, including the bale in a bag. I was really disappointed with the quality.
If you want to go the ultra expensive compressed bale route, the Standlee products are much better.
Thanks all replies and suggestions, of which I will try. In the meantime, I got the bag of hay. It’s very nice. So nice I’m afraid to feed it. For some reason I had expected it to be stemmier (word?). It’s a beautiful green and smells divine. But…I have concerns. I’ll start a new topic on Bermuda hay in general and potential for colic. Tks again. Oh - I was able to stuff the flakes in the trash cans that normally hold my hay pellets and beet pulp. (Hoping they have not further expanded and blown the tops off…)
The compressed bales are wonderful. I live north of you in the Woodville area and have bought those bales fairly often at our local TSC. No need to soak or anything like that. It’s lovely hay and they eat it up. As far as bermuda hay and colic, I feed my two bermuda- all there is up here for grass hay- all the time free choice with never a problem.
Do you think your horse is too thin? Is that the reason you want to provide extra hay, or is it for the prevention of boredom? The reason I ask is because I really don’t think feeding extra bermuda will put weight on a horse- alfalfa maybe, which TSC also has compressed bales of, but probably not bermuda. It’s just grass hay, after all.
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