How did you invert them? I think in a few years time, when I’ve got the drainage under control, I might like this method, especially since I have access to heavy (really heavy) big equipment tires. I can always make the horses move them for me, they are supposed to be working animals! Ha!
I threw my shires nets on the ground for years, with the drawstring knotted in a series of knots and tucked inside.
No issues.
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Sorry, but the tractor tires are not completely safe. Have a look at images of horses trapped in them:
@alfonsina and @B_and_B I bought them from a farmer who does it. Takes real hydraulic power to get it done-- he modified a forklift to do this, but I’ve heard of guys doing it with a skidsteer or the FEL on a big tractor.
Hard to explain in words so I drew a picture 
Basically you cut the sidewall off one side of the tire, so it’s a wide opening. The red line in my picture is where you’d cut it, and that wide side of tire is facing up. On the other side- the smaller diameter opening- the tire is sitting on round plate that’s wider than the bottom tire opening, but narrow enough to pass through the wide side on top. Hook chains all around the cut edge and attach them to the ground (so it’s impossible to lift the tire off the ground). Follow me so far? Now, he runs a chain through the center of the tire, and hooks it onto that plate that the tire is sitting on. Other end of the chain attaches to the forklift. Raises the forklift, pulling that plate upwards, but those chains are holding the tire down on the ground. The chains cause the tire wall to start folding to the outside, while the plate continues to push the bottom of the tire up through that opening. It takes a LOT of force to get a big tractor tire to fold like that, but eventually you reach the point of no return and it just flips itself inside out. It’s totally not an OSHA-approved process. 
Of course, you could just stop at step one --cut the sidewall off one side of the tire and call it a day. But then the tire would collect rainwater inside the rim on the bottom. When you invert them, water can’t pool in the base.
Could you put up a post or posts to hang the haynets from?
If they have a run-in shed, couldn’t you hang the nets from the sides of the shed on the outside - ie one at the back and one on each side? This would keep them clean and out of the mud at least.
Nothing is completely safe. Clearly!
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Note that none of those tires in your link are inverted, and they didn’t cut the sidewall off. When they’re inverted, there’s no “lip” that could catch a hoof. And honestly, I’ll take the “risk” of these tires over the risk that a horse steps into a haynet on the ground and gets it wrapped around their pastern and spooks, and either degloves the pastern or trips itself at full speed.
I know that if a horse is barefoot, the net’s not likely to get caught on their feet. But seriously, when we know they can easily put their hooves through sheetmetal and wood walls, I’m pretty sure they can put their hoof through a nylon net.
They can hurt themselves on literally anything, but some things are much less likely than others.
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It’s also worth considering that while a full net is probably not too dangerous, a big empty net that is being pawed at and tossed around is going to behave differently. An empty net could get wrapped around a leg.
The shed is built into the fence line, unfortunately. Which is nice for some purposes, but no good for this one.
Thanks for the description! The hydraulic power and hook chains I have more than enough of, it is finding a round plate that may be a problem. I think that in the long run I may want to go that route, but in them meantime I’ll keep my fingers crossed that they don’t manage to tangle themselves in a net on the ground.
I haven’t had any problems with nets on the ground for my guys but I generally tie them down so I can find them easily. I sometimes will clip them to a chain that is secured tightly to a cinder block. In wet weather I use plastic pallets with eye bolts attached and clip a net to a pallet to keep the nets off the ground.
the plate’s just what he used. Any welder could create something that does a similar job, such as a few pieces of robust angle or tube iron welded into a square. Just needs to be something wide enough that it doesn’t slip through the hole. This is definitely the kind of job you can get creative with.
I tried the “loose” hay nets for a while, but got tired of looking for them, so I ended up clipping them to the base of a fence post with a clip that would break/open if a horse really pulled/got caught on it. it seemed to work, but the nets didn’t last as long as I hoped out in the elements. Still looking for a good alternative.
Thanks so much Hungarian Hippo for the detailed explanation. A clever imagination for the person who thought this up!
I use these for mine and all of them throw it out on the ground rifling through it for the leaves.
If you want to continue using round bales, you can buy nets for them. I googled it and several came up.
We used inverted tires as feeders at the equine college that I went to. I have no idea how they managed to invert them but I agree that they are much better than tires that are not inverted!
I made some of these for my farm in TN because my fence was electrified:
It was pretty darn easy to make them myself. I bought the PVC and caps from Lowe’s and I had the t-posts on hand. The hardest part was drilling a hole through the t-post to run the bolt.
You just pound the t-post into the ground, slip the pvc over top, and run the eye bolt through your holes.
I used the posts for about 5 years with no issues.
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Yes, thanks. I don’t think I fully understood your written explanation, but the diagram makes more sense to me. I can see that these would be much safer than a regular tractor tire.
I agree that they can hurt themselves on anything, and to be honest it sometimes does my head in. 
I love the look of this home made thing. One day I might have a go at making one.
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