Treated my quarterhorse for heaves this fall. Winter is here and the bad breathing is starting up again. and he’s only on hay so I am considering getting the Haygain HG One, can’t afford the bigger ones.
Can I use it in the barn or does it have to be in a heated space? My tack room is not heated. Not really looking forward to taking hay into the house and then carrying the cooked stuff down to the barn. But from what I’ve read this might help him. Winters are too harsh here for me to hose the hay only.
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When I had questions, I called them directly. They were wonderful to talk with. I did not purchase one as it turned out, I didn’t need to. Should my circumstances change, I would in a heartbeat.
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The boiler and hose that attaches between the boiler and hay chest shouldn’t be kept out in freezing temperatures but you can leave the chest out. But the boiler is pretty heavy, so may be easier to carry the hay back and forth.
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I have one. I do leave it in the (unheated) barn but it’s not ideal. It freezes when it gets really cold, and even the steam nozzles in the chest will freeze. But I don’t have any other options other then my old farmhouse basement which would mean I was carting hay through my house to get to the basement, so not a good solution.
In the depths of winter I will bring the steamer and hose in to the house, and I was considering rigging up a light bulb or something to put in the chest part to give it just enough heat to keep it from freezing this winter. But thankfully I don’t have to use it nearly as much as I used to and now just keep it as a just in case if I get any dusty hay at the bottom of the pile etc.
I will say, I don’t regret the purchase at all. It worked WONDERS when I needed it on a daily basis and I keep it because it gives me such peace of mind.
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There is a sort of pre heat setting on the boiler for using in cold temps. It keeps things from freezing and allows it to come up to steam temp faster (otherwise it could take more than the hour average to get to the right internal temp in the chest). You don’t want to run the steamer anywhere you wouldn’t want to get some water on the floor because the chest will drain some. So, a protected area but not in your house or tack room. You may need to store the boiler inside if your weather is very bad.
I haven’t used mine in extreme temps, but if I fed steamed hay 2x a day, I’d run it 2x a day. Then your steamed hay gets fed before it would get frozen. With the small unit, it doesn’t hold many flakes anyway. Otherwise, if steaming once a day, such as for overnight hay, I’d run that in the afternoon and then feed it all, clean the chest, then fill with a net of the next day’s dry hay. Steaming in their nets is the easiest for that size chest. You may still have to move the boiler or keep it on the pre-heat setting. Check the water level often!
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