Please share any ideas for feeding flakes outside in the snow. I usually just feed on the ground but there is so much waste and spring clean up. I know there are options to purchase but man they are expensive. Doesn’t need to be a slow feeder just something to keep most of the hay off the ground and keep the horses eating happily. I have done a water trough before but I find too much junk builds up in the bottoms if it snows and I’d rather not have to dump and scrub daily. Also there is no air flow for the horses when they have their heads down in there eating. Thanks!
We have two massive old gum trees about 15’ apart. In the long run I don’t care if I kill them, they are trash trees. We used tree savers and a stout section of climbing rope and created a high line with swivel rings incorporated. High enough that no one can get hurt. We have ample hay nets and four head to feed and two would share a bag at a time. Once hung the bags are roughly at the POS. Putting them out, by ferrying full bags in a wheelbarrow out there, the bag is fairly close to the line and stringing it up through the loop, then through a screwed-closed carabiner at the bottom of the hay bag and back again through the loop meant hoisting it wasn’t bad.
These are grown steady eddies, not goofy babies. YMMV. Don’t do it if you don’t want to.
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I hang hay bags on trees. Loop of baling twine around a handy tree branch and hand hay bag from twine.
I’m another that doesn’t care if these trees die from horse traffic.
I’ve seen folks will sometimes set posts to hang bags / nets on or even take some corral panels to make a wee square and hang bags / nets on the outside of the square.
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I use full bale hay nets from Haychix, and attach them to the fence horizontally. I also use them in run in sheds. The horses prefer to eat outside, so the run in hay is the extra so they never come close to running out of hay.
I also have used box feeders, which are ok. Easier to deal with than nets, except when there’s a lot of snow. This is what I have:
Finally, I have metal hay racks in the fenceline in one field. Each holds a bale and a half, and the hay can be tossed into the rack from outside the field. There’s a fair amount of waste with them.
I use small hole hay nets because they create less waste and I clip them to a chain around a cinder block. The horses occasionally drag the cinder block around a bit but it’s easier to find the bags when they are attached to the block. If I want the nets off the ground I clip them to an eye bolt that I put through a plastic pallet. I’ve been using the plastic pallets for 20 years and never had a horse break one. In the early days I worried about a horse turning an ankle on the pallet but I have never seen a horse step on one.
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Feed the kind of hay they will eat.
We feed only alfalfa and don’t have any waste.
Best if fed on mats, the ground stay cleaner, like along a fence line.
You can just drop flakes all along it.
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I use my tire feeders. I made them myself, it’s not difficult. Big tires from the logging industry (off “skidders” mostly) are 5’ around, 3’ high when laying on their side. They are free if you pick them up from a tire store, who takes them back when they sell new ones to logging companies. Tell the tire store what your plans are for the tire, to make sure that they supply you with the right type of tire. The recycle fee is already paid on the tires by the logger when he bought them, but the store has to pay the fee back to the recycle company to take them away to recycle. So, if you want them for free, they get to KEEP that recycle fee, so they are happy to load them onto your truck. You take them home, and cut one side of them off to make a tub (you need a reciprocating saw to do this, and a drill with a 1 inch bit to start your cut). The tires are rubber only on the sides, no metal. So you cut one side off. You drill holes in the opposite side, the side on the ground, so that any water that gets in there can drain away. The ground is present in the center of the tire, but this is not an issue in it’s use as a hay feeder tub.
These tires weigh several hundred pounds, so they stay where you put them. Make sure there is nothing piercing the tire (a nail or other metal sharp) that may stick out into the interior of the tire. If there is, pull it out. The slight curl on the top of the cut tire will help keep hay IN the tire, and shield some rain from getting in. I just toss a whole bale in there at a time, and pull the twine off it. Horses eat it at will, can’t walk (or pee) all over it, and it doesn’t blow away. Have never had a horse injured using one of these tires… everything is solid rubber, nothing to get caught up in. Cribbers like them, and using the tire to crib on saves your fences, and the wear on the cribber’s teeth is minimal when they use rubber to pull on. I move mine around at will with the tractor and a cargo strap onto the bucket, or you can drag them in a similar manner with a truck. Not much snow gets in there. I move them to another spot annually because the ground around them gets hollowed out by horses standing at the feeder.
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I feed squares outside in the winter every year. Some 50+ years, feets of snow fall. I prefer squares and would feed nothing but if rounds weren’t so much cheaper.
When I feed squares I look for a piece of snow ground with no manure and put it there. I usually make 3-4 piles.
If there is ever hay left over by the next feeding I have fed too much. Too make the hay last longer I do use slow feed bags at. night, not always during the day.
I don’t have waste, with square bale feeding nothing to clean up in the spring.
You’ve gotten a lot of good ideas. Make sure the ground you are placing it on is not well trod. I always liked throwing hay on snow in the winter because if anything it stays cleaner and gets eaten up better. I have a few Hoover types but they won’t touch hay if it’s been stepped on, placed near manure, or is in a place where there is traffic.
It’s difficult to stay on top of hay waste in the winter, with snow pack and frequent precipitation, but make sure you are not feeding in areas of congestion either. Depending on layout that might be along a fenceline, in front of a gate, or in/near points of egress. If they’ve walked on it they likely won’t eat it.
The best thing I’ve done for my hay is buy a Haychix net. I kvetched about the price of buying what to me felt like glorified hockey netting, but boy was it worth it. It keeps the hayflingers from making a mess, and the added work makes the “work-smarter-not-harder” / food motivated horses eat the loose hay pulled out of the netting before they grab another mouthful and pull it out of the net. Win/win for me.
I have seen some people repurpose blue barrels/rain barrels as well, by installing a mesh gate cut out on one side of the barrel and dropping the hay in. Either way there isn’t many wrong answers for how to make for better hay management - all that matters is finding out what works best for your set up and horses.
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Like @colorfan I feed flakes from a small square outside all Winter.
Horses have free access to drylot & pastures from stalls 24/7.
They come in for hay & grain AM, PM & Late PM (my nightcheck) by themselves.
They sometimes leave some hay in stalls uneaten, preferring to “graze” outside.
Flakes - 1+ per horse - are left where there might be shelter from prevailing wind provided by barn walls (treeless pastures) & generally a couple flakes right in front where the trough is.
I adjust amount left out by what is eaten.
Little waste & not much Spring cleanup.
Hay Chix makes whole 2 string bale nets. I’ve used them on the ground and in a big trough. I did this for about a year until my older AQHA/FQHR mare needed shoes. I went back to feeding 3-4 flakes per horse, per feeding, spread really far out and fluffed up. It cut down on waste, and I found my horses were generally more content. The slower feed nets can be frustrating.
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