Our hay supplier is warning of a hay shortage due to the weather this year and asked us to try to waste less hay. We have a few horses who like to pee and poop on their hay which makes instant waste. Our yearling is one of those. When is a young horse old enough to have a hay net/hay feeder in their stall? Which type works best? We just aren’t sure what is safe. Any thoughts or suggestions greatly appreciated!
I use small hole haynets for all horses, including broodmares and foals. I keep them hung at foal wither height, with twine. I have one colt who “potty trained” himself to pee on hay flakes at 2 weeks old, and since then must always be fed from a net. No issues at all, baby mouths are surprisingly adept at eating from the small holes!
Years ago I used to feed nets hung above/over an empty water trough to catch scraps. My weanling at the time loved to crawl into the tank with both front feet and eat his net that way.
Hay prices in Florida are insane and I love my small hole nets to save wastage. For most horses, I hang them at chest height or a little lower. I also throw filled nets out into the field for ground feeding. In 6 yrs of twice daily feeding with 15 different horses, I’ve only had two horses catch a shoe, and in both instances the cheap nylon net broke without injury. Most of my horses have learned to “shake” the net and throw it around (often into the feed tub) to sift alfalfa leaves that fall through. Keeps them busy much longer than throwing three flakes loose on the floor.
We use slow feeder nets for all horses and ponies on our property. I don’t usually introduce the slow feeder nets to our foals until they are approximately 4 months old. As EventerAJ said, as long as the size of the holes are not too big and they are hung up appropriately and at the right height, this should help limit any foreseeable problems.
I’ve been through a sh!t (pun intended, hehe) of options because there are some chickens that like to make my horse’s hay their home.
I’ve tried nets, she seems to get really frustrated at the end and rips the cheapo nets off the wall every time. Those box feeders are great that have the grate over the hay, but then if they step in them… yeah. The wall feeders didn’t work for us bc it just got yanked out and fell on the ground anyway.
So far the best thing that has worked for me is a blue barrel, cut at about 30%, tied to the corral wall with a zip tie. Basic, but best.
If you feed round bales, look into the Bale Buddy out of Canada. That saves a lot of hay wastage.
The nicest, biggest hay racks I have found are at True Value and they ship free to the store!!
I like using these. I have 2. Both have lasted over a year and a half. My trainer has one. I don’t think they slow down hay consumption as much as some of the thin nylon nets but they do prevent waste. They are easier to fill than a regular slow feed hay net. I don’t worry about them getting caught in this style.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Heavy-Duty-Grand-Entry-Brand-LARGE-Webbed-Nylon-Slow-Feed-Bag-Net-Black/202486688771?hash=item2f2525ac03:g:MbIAAOSwEzxYVBXO:sc:USPSPriority!19895!US!-1:rk:3:pf:0
I would not recommend the teal as it really got dingy looking quickly. Royal has held up well and black looks great.
All my horses, range from 1 year old to 12 years old, eat from a super slow feeder. It has 1 inch holes. I notice almost no hay waste, I would say 98%+ hay is consumed and not wasted. Plus side is with the real small holes they spend a lot of time eating.
My mountain horse gelding loves nothing more than arranging his freshly tossed flake in a pile and then peeing right in the middle of it. I got tired of cleaning up the mess and use a slow net hay feeder. He doesn’t seem to have a problem, and it eliminated all the waste and huge amounts of nasty hay I was forking into my muck buckets.
I also use it for my laminitic mare so she can feel better about having only 2 flakes twice a day (vet’s orders, sorry girl!).
My warmblood gelding is an angel and vacuums his hay up down to the last leaf. So he just gets his on the ground.
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“thumb”,“data-tempid”:“temp_56783_1547591488061_379”}[/ATTACH] I have used slow feeder hay nets for years and tried just about all of them and found the best one hands down that lasts for years without tears is only $10 from horse.com. The nets hanging on trees are two years old and filled every day.
