I do the muck tub fill method and its very hassle-free. I had one of those old good heavy plastic muck tubs that finally cracked after many years of service. I pulled off the rope handles and its perfect for filling nets. The rope handles were getting the bag hung up.
I have 6 days of hay bags as I frequently travel and have someone else feed. On Sundays, the horses get fed on the ground (weather permitting) and I fill 6 days worth of hay bags so its ready to go for the week. Thats 36 bags for my crew, takes around 90 minutes.
I self-care board and its almost a 40 minute drive each way, so many moons ago (when gas was over $4) I began feeding only once per day. Its worked out very well as my horses eat very little concentrate and are primarily a hay-based diet. Each morning, I set out 24 hours worth of hay. The horses soon realized they had more than enough and adopted a slower more grazing style of eating, walking from bag to bag nibbling, snoozing, etc., rather than standing around gobbling till all the hay is gone.
I do however tend to feed more hay than is needed and I do have some waste, but I put the waste to good use covering the compost piles and keeping everything tidy and fly-free.
I use double ended brass snaps on the drawstring, brass because it lasts longer and functions better in bad weather. Every bag has its own snap so there is less fiddling. The weight of the clip also makes the bag open over the muck tub and stay open better.
After I fill the net, I pull up the sides, cinch the drawstring closed, then I clip the snap to the bottom of the filled bag. This way I can pick up and toss the bag, or grab one from a pile and not risk it opening on top. Handy when you’re making a mountain of hay bags.
I prefer to use the trees to hang bags rather than fenceline as the horses have learned a hay bag is a mighty fine loofa and will aggressively rub their heads and bodies on the bags doing a lot of damage to the fence.
I prefer to swing the hay from tree limbs piñata style so its harder to gobble. On a fence or wall, they can just pin the bag down and snack away. They have learned to use teamwork however, two will eat simultaneously so the bag stops swinging.
If the weather is really poor, I’ll hang the bags in the run in shed, but they will go through more hay that way.
