We have a horse that must eat chopped hay, and it’s getting expensive! Owner will not use hay cubes.
If you have a Leaf Blower/Vac that also chops up the leaves, would it be good for chopping hay? Would it get oil/grease on the hay? Or any other reason the resulting chopped hay would be un-palatable?
I was picturing shaking out a flake, then letting the Vac do it’s thing. Then putting the resulting ‘chopped’ hay in the manger.
Thoughts?
I bought one for mulching leaves that blow in and around our barn/house. Does a good job with the leaves :).
However I tried it with hay that hid under the pallets in my hay stall and it didn’t do so well. Barely chopped the coastal burmuda. Also per the vendor the blades are not designed for pine straw, which we have in great abundance here.
No other suggestions.:no:
You can’t pass the cost of purchased, chopped hay on to the owner?
You might be able to run the dry hay cubes thru your leaf mulcher, but longer hay would be too flexible. Is that an option or did you try mulching the hay cubes already?
If horse MUST have a special hay, then owner should pay the extra cost, not you. Or board is raised to cover that extra cost.
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I was able to chop straw quite successfully. I would think that if your hay was long to begin with, the blades would do a better job chopping.
My vac (black and decker) just has a tube that goes straight up to the blades with the motor in a separate housing, I haven’t seen any evidence oil or grease coming in contact with the debris.
My vac cost $45 and has been left out in the rain a few times and sucks things up like a champ. I’d say it’s worth a try and if it doesn’t work, you have a nice new blower/ vac for your house!
Have you seen what comes out of a leaf shreader? It’s very dusty and randomly sized.
Chaff cutters line hay up perpendicular to the blades and chop it all to a consistent length. They don’t just let it fall randomly.
If you have one test it and find out what it looks like from yours, but I’d not buy one in the hope it will be useful. The only hay I’ve put through mine is junk hay I’ve been vaccuming off the floor so it’s already dusty, but it turns hay into trash and makes it compost faster. I’d not feed it to a horse afterwards.
thanks for all the input, we’ll keep brainstorming.
I found this at the Home Depot, it works petty good. Now I can cut up a flake at a time. www.homelite.com/catalog/hedge-trimmers/UT44174
OP - I’ve got those! Never thought to use them for chaffing hay!
Of course, before you throw away your rake and rush off to buy a leaf blower/vac - http://www.thegoodgears.com/Leaf-Blower/, first ask yourself whether you really need one. In most yards with only a moderate quantity of leaves to clear up, a bit of exercise with a rake is probably a better option - for you and your neighbors.
Having several seniors that need chopped hay, this too became a problem since chopped hay is very expensive and too much waste with the pellets or they froze when soaked in the winter. I bought a GOJO mulcher which cuts with strings, not blades and it does a great job. You can adjust it for the size of the chop. We also use a weed eater-lay the hay on the loft floor and chop away and you can chop as fine or as thick as you want.
I have this one
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Yard-Mach…4700/205441813
It has a bag that attaches to it. The chopper/shredding wheel/blade is separate from the motor so no oil, grease exhaust “contaminates” what is feed into it. If the hay is clean going into it, it will come out clean. Interesting re-purpose. I’ll give it try. Take a picture and post what the hay looks like.
I don’t think the inexpensive ones will have the power needed to chop/shred hay. I bet they will clog easily.
Don’t use the one I have much. Have a MUCH bigger Lawn Doctor vac and shredder. Been planning on selling. Too bad you don’t live in the area. Mine has had very little use. Might be able to find one used for a lot less money than new.
I like the idea of a string trimmer, but when tried to google GOJO mulcher, I could not find it. Can you provide a link?
Thanks!
What a deal for some lucky soul,
A review of it’s hay chopping potential would be awesome!
