The two big ones I got a few months ago came with metal grates. I ordered the nylon webbing grates separately.
PortaGrazer is expensive but worth every penny. Mine is going on 4 years old and still looks new. After having to cut my other horse out of a hay net when the carabiner broke and he got a shoe caught… I refuse to use anything with nets or webbing.
Metal grates can also cause dental issues.
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I have 3 slow feeder juniors and 1 portagrazer. I HATE the portagrazer. I love the slow feeder saver and each of my horses has one.
Unfortunately, it seems that High Country Plastics has been having supply issues since the spring. I reached out to them when I was looking for my 3rd and they were backordered this spring (due to the grates), but after calling all around, I was able to buy one through Cashman’s (who are amazing) after hours/days of hunting. If you can swing the large size and get the nylon grate, I’d go for it.
I bought a PortaGrazer locally for cheap ($75) and still hate it. My horses hate it, but it’s in the run-in and they pick at it.
I will add that I do like the look of Haygain Forager. I think for my horses, the Portagrazer hay holes just were not easy to eat out of.
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Is there an overall consensus?
Savvy Feeder?
Porta Grazer?
or Haygain Forager?
I need to choose one and my primary concern is safety. I don’t want my horse hurt, I just want to be able to feed hay once or twice a day but know he has hay available 24/7. Of course, I need to know the horse can eat through the holes, it’s easy enough to use, and the obvious things a slow feeder should provide. Thanks for your input!
Same here. One of my horses stuck his hoof in the feeder, and his shoe must have gotten caught on the metal grate. I found the grate badly bent and mangled with his shoe stuck to it across the paddock! He was totally fine, thankfully! Switched to the mesh grates after that, although they don’t seem to be holding up that well.
I don’t think the haygain has been around long enough for anyone to really comment on it yet, but IMO the High country plastics and porta grazer are probably the safest. The savvy feeder is a really neat idea but the way they have the bolts and stuff on the side is just an accident waiting to happen.
I just despise the ‘trash can’ look of the porta grazer and I’ve found quite a few horses are not ok with sticking their heads down in there. If only they made it in a shorter, less trash can looking shape.
As an update; no one has them in stock. Even some of the websites saying ‘4-8 weeks’ are actually unsure as to the ship date. I tried to order one and was told that they were cancelling my order because they didn’t know when they could fulfill it.
I bought Portagrazers for my stalls and 2 of the 3 loved them immediately. I can’t say it’s slowed them down much, but they seem to enjoy eating and are happy with it.
The 3rd has food issues and I think was just super mad at being restricted (he’s the same about hay nets and will destroy one in a day). It took him a good 6 weeks or so to finally accept it, but he seems to enjoy it now. They’ve never had an issue with the holes, and recently I’ve found that fluffing the hay in the feeding makes it a little easier for them to pull out.
High Country Plastics slow feeder saver JR. Not the big one. The Porta Grazer, unless you bolt it to the wall, they can tip it over flip it around and “play” with it. What I did not like about it, is it’s a bit claustrophobic. My mare hated it. Did not want to stick her head in that to eat much past her muzzle. Others I’ve been around loved it just fine.
The Savvy Feeder just looks like a HCP knock off, appears to have plastic ‘grates’ whereas the JR size HCP has nylon.
Porta Grazer is plastic.
Hay Gain appears to be a Porta Grazer knock off.
Just looks like these others put their own spin on what already existed.
So for a consensus, I don’t think there is one. I love my HCP Jr model. I hated the Porta Grazer. What I have works for me, haven’t seen the others “in action” so can’t comment.
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I am using the Helix and have to say I love it.
I had a chance to try the Haygain Forager and the plastic regulators break too easily. It comes with 2 regulators. My horse broke one on day 1 and broke the other on day 2 and I don’t think he was even being mischeivious. It’s just a bad design. Yet - so darn expensive.
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If you want to look into shipping a Hay Saver (probably ridiculous, but might be worth a try), I could do an in-store pick up for you. I will 100% vouch for the awesomeness of this feeder. My horse has been on it for over a year and I haven’t had a single worry or frustration with it.
PM me if you end up finding a way to ship and we can sort everything out.
I have a portagrazer in my young horse’s stall and we love it.
I had to stop using a hay net once he got front shoes and was destroying the net every day pawing at the wall. I wanted a feeder that he could literally stand in and not get stuck. He knocks it over and bangs it around sometimes but has figured out how to stand it back up.
It holds a lot of hay, over 25 pounds if I really squish it down. So if your horse was a little uncertain about putting their head all the way in it, you could fill the bottom up with some sort of filler so the hay is always at the top until they horse gets used to it.
Thank you for the offer! I just looked up the cost of shipping and it was more than the item itself 
You’re welcome. But, rats, it’s not a heavy item, but I imagine the size does it in for shipping. It’d need several seats on a train 
The size, and the border crossing. I actually am only about 8 hours from the store, but I just don’t trust crossing the border right now… I’ve heard some horror stories about getting back into the USA.
Would you throw it into the Niagara, and I’ll fish it out on the other side? 
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Haha, sure! Will do 
And I don’t blame you one bit for not wanting to cross right now. Me neither!
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State Line just sent me an update re the status of my order for a Slow Feeder Saver Jr.: new estimated ship date is now 4-4-22. 
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I doubt it will ship even then. They have been waiting since October.
You are probably right. State Line recently cancelled my order for a muck cart after repeatedly delaying the shipping date. And asking me to post a review stating how I liked my new muck cart. That was a nice touch. 
Hahaha
Even when their items are in stock shipping is always so slow. Like 5-7 days for it to even leave the warehouse.
