I’m looking for a good slow feeder for my underweight mare. She tends to inhale her food and then has nothing for a long time. I can’t get them to feed more at the barn but may look into buying more hay myself. I thought first try a slow feeder to space out her meal and maybe she’ll digest more? Also would be great for something at ground level because she now snorts a couple times when we start riding I’m assuming to clear her sinuses. Current barn has above shoulder level hay mangers and she didn’t start snorting till moving here. Probably dusty would be my guess and reaching down for food eliminates that.
Amazon sells a grea one by shires in different sizes. I have the 50" one. Very study cord around the top, too!
Cinch Chix freedom feeder. It’s a stall feeder with a framed slow feed net. A little pricey, but easy/quick to fill if stable workers are feeding horses…
I assume you mean slow feeders for hay and not feed. I recently bought Porta-Grazers for feeding hay and I love them. They are easy to fill, the horses eat in a head down position, the dust and chaff fall to the bottom of the feeder so the horses don’t inhale it. Sure beats wrestling hay into a hay net.
[QUOTE=Lusoluv;8633338]
Cinch Chix freedom feeder. It’s a stall feeder with a framed slow feed net. A little pricey, but easy/quick to fill if stable workers are feeding horses…[/QUOTE]
We looked at these, and while they are an excellent feeder, I thought they were a little pricey for the amount of hay they held. My wife bought one similar and hates filling it. She also has a hard time getting it closed once full. I’d also heard that some people didn’t like the noise caused by the banging of the metal frame against the stall wall.
I’m definitely a believer in slow feeding hay. Considering we have 18 permanent stalls and 2 temporary ones. So in the interest of slow feeding, wanting an easy to fill feeder with enough hay to last 12 hours, and be as cost effective as possible for our barn, this is a feeder that I designed using materials available from any home improvement store and a net…
https://www.facebook.com/diynets/videos/1590054754640320/
I had given a few to friends to try and test as well. They all have liked them to the point that they suggested I should start selling them, so we have. (Not the intention of this post)
Even though the feeder is mounted wither high in the stall, you’d be amazed at how much time the horse spends with their head down cleaning up the chaff from the floor.
This mare now has hay left over in the morning with very little waste as compared to the previous feeder.
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Yes, I definitely meant for hay not grain. I looked at the portal grazer. Looks neat but really big. Wish I could see one in person.
I used cinch chic hay nets just made for mad horses.I now just put hay on the ground. When horse runs out I give more…pretty much free feed hay 24/7.
My mare lost weight being fed from slow feed nets…so I won’t use them…there a pain to fill also.
We have been using the Hay Chix freedom feeders for a while now with great results. Just got a Porta Grazer to try, and so far like it too.
Just avoid anything with metal bars.
I also have Porta-Grazers now for my horses at home and really like them. I’ve used small hole nets in the past and experimented with hanging them in different locations/heights, but always felt it was hard on their necks to use them. Lots of twisting and pulling. Since I have one horse with cervical arthritis, I got him the Porta-Grazer first and he was so much more comfortable, I ended up buying the same for the others.
The Porta-Grazer does come in different sizes if you are concerned about it being too big. I have the XLs and they work great on the 10x12 overhangs that a couple of my horses have.
What size would you recommend for a stall? There are 9 other horses she gets turned out with daily and is low in the pecking order so trying to at least give her plenty of food at night because she doesn’t get much during the day. Soon when they’re back in the field that will solve the daytime feeding issue. I doubt I could convince the barn owner to invest in these for outside and I can’t afford 10 of them four outside.
There wasn’t that much of a difference in pricing, I would just get the big one.
I think I will. Other option I liked was the nibblenet ground feeder but I think this will be better.
I’ll post again after I’ve had it and share results!
[QUOTE=stb;8633495]
I assume you mean slow feeders for hay and not feed. I recently bought Porta-Grazers for feeding hay and I love them. They are easy to fill, the horses eat in a head down position, the dust and chaff fall to the bottom of the feeder so the horses don’t inhale it. Sure beats wrestling hay into a hay net.[/QUOTE]
They are pricey but I love mine too!!!
edited to add - after battles of colic and horse sore backs - vets said horses should eat and drink from the ground. Raised hay nets and water buckets can cause air to be swallowed and cause gas… or back pain.
[QUOTE=Ges1;8633858]
What size would you recommend for a stall? There are 9 other horses she gets turned out with daily and is low in the pecking order so trying to at least give her plenty of food at night because she doesn’t get much during the day. Soon when they’re back in the field that will solve the daytime feeding issue. I doubt I could convince the barn owner to invest in these for outside and I can’t afford 10 of them four outside.[/QUOTE]
I have my horse in a 12 x 12 box and use the XL Porta Grazer. Here is a pic so you can see the size.
https://www.facebook.com/shel.sanderson.9/posts/1129216820456733
Thanks the pick in the stall is a good reference. The mini won’t hold enough so definitely going for XL.
Portagrazer corner feeder. It is expensive for something that is like a plastic garbage can, but it works.
for those of you using small hole hay nets or who avoid them because of the pita of filling them: use a big trash can with screws drilled into the rim and hang the nets inside the trash can, hooking them over the screws. then filling the nets is just as easy as dumping hay in a trash can!
[QUOTE=aliceo;8634843]
for those of you using small hole hay nets or who avoid them because of the pita of filling them: use a big trash can with screws drilled into the rim and hang the nets inside the trash can, hooking them over the screws. then filling the nets is just as easy as dumping hay in a trash can![/QUOTE]
I put mine over muck buckets to fill when I use them. Easy. But it wasn’t the pain of filling them that made me stop. It was the twisted necks and discomfort for my horses.
[QUOTE=horsepoor;8634861]
I put mine over muck buckets to fill when I use them. Easy. [/QUOTE]
This is what I do too. Easy as can be. No hooking on anything, just slide them over down the outside of the muck bucket and then slide the hay in, pushing the net along.
[QUOTE=horsepoor;8634861]
I put mine over muck buckets to fill when I use them. Easy. But it wasn’t the pain of filling them that made me stop. It was the twisted necks and discomfort for my horses.[/QUOTE]
so put the hay nets on the ground. there are a couple of ways to do this.
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hang the net from a leash tied to an eye screw in the wall or to a post (NOT to a fence!) and let it sit on the ground. you can put a stall mat under the net so the horse isn’t hoovering up hay from the dirt.
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if your horse is shod, or if you don’t have a freestanding post or wall to anchor the net to, you can put it inside a tire. drill a hole into the side of a tire, insert an eye bolt, with the eye to the inside. clip the hay net to the eye bolt.
i put screw on carabiners on all my nets so that i can clip a bull snap to them. the bull snap is connected to strong cord, which is tied to the eye bolt.
