Favorite slow feeder for hay cubes

[higgs]

I’m sure this topic has been done to before but I’m having trouble getting the search function to work.
I’m unable to find suitable hay for my IR horse so he’s living off Timothy Balance cubes as a forage source.

I feed them unsoaked (they are a smaller/softer cube) and he has no trouble with them. He doesn’t scarf them down, chews well and doesn’t give me any concerns about choking but I would like some options to help make his rations last longer (currently getting them in 3-4 feedings/day depending on my work schedule).

I have a Nose-It ball and have seen the Amazing Graze. The ball is OK…I put it in a muck tub…but once he flings it out then the cubes get lost in the shavings (he’s on stall rest and deeply bedded) and the ball gets shavings in it. I imagine the Amazing Graze would have similar issues but correct me if I’m wrong.

Any other suggestions?

[Texarkana]

I use the Amazing Graze. I’ve never had a problem with shavings getting inside of the toy itself to any degree. But the cubes do fall onto the bedding.

Another thing I used to do when I was stall boarding and trying to extend forage availability: I put cubes in a very small hole (like 1.5") hay net, then placed the net inside a hay bag and hung it in the stall. My horses loved it, although it did shorten the lives of the hay nets/bags considerably.

[minidriver]

I got a nibble net for this purpose. I was using chopped hay in mine, but I bet it would work similarly for the cubes. http://www.thinaircanvas.com/nibblenet/pages/pocket-frame.htm

[Simkie]

I was poking around on the Porta Grazer site, and saw that they have a hole size for hay pellets. I wonder if you could use one with cubes?

http://www.shop.porta-grazer.com/C-XL-PORTA-GRAZER-XL-PG-2.htm

Might be worth reaching out to them to see.

[Texarkana]

@minidriver

I got a nibble net for this purpose. I was using chopped hay in mine, but I bet it would work similarly for the cubes. http://www.thinaircanvas.com/nibblenet/pages/pocket-frame.htm

The only reason I “double bagged” mine in both a net and a hay bag is because my one horse learned she could shake the net and swing it around to make the cubes fall out more quickly, then scarf them all up at once. With the net inside the hay bag, she had to actually work for the cubes a bit more.