We LOVE love love the hay huts.
They stopped the horses peeing on the hay, pawing the hay, sleeping in the hay, etc… The wind stopped blowing hay away, the rain couldn’t ruin it, and the bully horse couldn’t hog the whole bale to himself.
It had already paid for itself by time we added the Cinch Chix net. Now our waste is down to almost 0.
We roofed out over a run-in stall that opens onto the main paddock. We made a corner that is framed and closed on 2 sides so we can set a round bale on pallets there. Then we tie 2 pallets together to support the 2 open front sides and keep pulling the pallets in tighter as it diminishes, then finally take the pallets off and let them finish what’s left.
We have an ajoining paddock that has a 3 sided shelter and we set another round bale up the same way in the back corner. This way I can separate the behaviors and everyone gets to snack all day.
The round bales really make our days manageable, the horses can stay out all day and I’ve never had to worry about colics b/c they eat consistently thruout the day. And our bale source provides very clean long strand grass hay at $25/bale. We have shed storage for about 20 bales and the supplier has inside storage so we can go back as needed later for more. The hay cost adds up tho with the time and pickup costs, then unloading and storing.
I keep squares for evening stall feeds, any breeding activity needs higher quality hay, and for travel. But yes round bales make life much simplier. I’d never go back to having to throw hay out several times a day.
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So I switched to my home made hay hut with a Hay Chix small hole hay net and This is what it looks like when they chow down on a round bale now.[/QUOTE]
I have a Hay Chix net inside a home made “hay hut” that is very similar to trubandloki’s. The sides of my hut are probably about 3’ high. One side has doors that open in order to put the round bale inside. It also has a bottom that is not solid (similar to a pallet) that allows air flow.
This is our first year using the net, and although I feel like the horses are eating the bales just as fast there is virtually no waste. Previously, using the hut only, they were pulling tons of hay out the sides and making a huge mess.
I feed round. I pull out, remove twine/wrap and leave. I have two BIG WB horses. it is like feeding 3 regular sized horses. One bale lasts about 9-13 days, these are BIG bales 5’x6’ about 1000 lbs. The big thing about waste is is the weather. We have cold and snow and when the hay get down to not much left about 3 small square bales worth, I feed a flack of hay with there grain twice a day. This way they are getting what they need in food but still clean up the left over hay before I put out a new bale. Waste is about 15-20% unless it get muddy.
It costs me $55.00 per bale + $8.00 each delivered so $63.00 a bale, this is in Saskatchewan, Can. I was feeding 1 1/2 sq bales to my gelding per day in Victoria, BC and it was costing me $14.00 per bale there. Here it is $5.00 per sq bale and I would be feeding 2 sq bales a day, so that is $10.00 a day. If I only get 9 days out of a round bale it is only costing me $7.00 a day for hay, and they get to have it 24/7.
I know I spend more then that on food for DH and myself in a day. I just think of it as feeding 2 more people a day, only thing is that I don’t have to cook and clean up and do dishes. So it is a win-win-win for me and them.
1300 lb rounds are $35 and without a net last 4 days. In a cinch chic net inside a home made feeder ring, they last 6-7 days. 70 lb squares are 4.50 each. I reckon feeding rounds is a little less that half the cost. I’m feeding 7 horses.
So I am out of hay. The Cinch Chix only got me about two more days over an unnetted round bale. Helpful, but not quite the results I was hoping for. It did bring the waste down to virtually nothing so would/will pay for itself over time. I am on the fence on whether to spring for another one for the other hay hut though as I’ve noticed that once the horses run out of hay in the hut they get busy cleaning up whatever is still edible that may have fallen outside.
I really don’t see the benefit of the net. If you have the sized round bales we get out here (12-1300lbs) getting the net on the bale takes a solid 15 minutes of swearing and pulling and tugging with two people. By myself is even longer. The bale is taller than me so I have to stand on the tractor. Then, you have to lift the bale with the net on so it’s very easy to tear the net. The net cost $250!!!, that’s the cost of almost 3 round bales. I don’t think I waste almost 3000lbs of hay and my time is worth more than that as well. Thumbs down to net from me.
This may be of interest to some of you. I think this is a very good design since I could put the bale right into the feeder with the tractor.
Still probably not worth the cost for me
http://www.haybossfeeders.com/
The bales we get are not quite that big, but probably 700-800lbs. Yes, getting the net on by myself would indeed be a pain. With two people and lifting it via the hay spike on the tractor, it’s not so bad. I still like my Hay Huts over the Bale Boss set up, as the Hay Huts are great at keeping the hay dry and out of the wet and shaded from the sun. My horses even use them in the summer to stick their heads into to get some relief from gnats and flies around their heads.
If I were going to invest in another netting set up, it would be one of the Haylow Nets, but right now, I’m still mulling over if I even want to bother with the expense of another.
I wound up going to a local feed store this morning and buying 15 square bales of hay, two of which I put into the Hay Hut for the boys. I did not have the time to mess around getting them into the net. I may even sell it. What I really need is less horses. :yes:
[QUOTE=winter;7922980]
This may be of interest to some of you. I think this is a very good design since I could put the bale right into the feeder with the tractor.
Still probably not worth the cost for me
http://www.haybossfeeders.com/[/QUOTE]
This looks interesting enough but their website does not make it easy to figure out exactly how it works. What time in that five minute video do they show the thing being loaded?
My hay huts have been around for almost 10 years. They have had cracks repaired but they are still going strong. I don’t use pallets and depending on the quality of the hay, the horses eat it to the ground. And no one can play king-of-the-bale. They get tired of musical windows there is peace in the pastures. And little waste.
We got new round bales this past Saturday. I changed out the old dry rotted original cinch rope for the Cinch Chix round bale net, with a softer poly blend rope and a big carbiner. Made dealing with the net, much easier and it went on the round bale super easy this time. While it only extends the length of time it takes my 3 geldings to devour the bale by 2 days, it does further limit any waste, so will pay for itself over one season.
We did however notice that one of our hay huts has a stress crack that we will try to mend with some Gorilla Glue or similar. If anyone has something they’ve used to mend their Huts with, with success, please do advise. Thanks!
Isn’t the idea of the net to slow down eating? I use hay huts and my horses are older. They don’t need nets. They need to take in as much hay as they want. I find because they have access to it all day there is no stress or fighting and they eat at a slow and relaxed pace. The hut is the best for keeping hay dry and out of the elements. My geldings tend to be a tad messy. The girls are neat as a pin. So they rotate paddocks every few days and the girls are on clean up duty. 
I think we have had our huts for over 5 years and I am quite happy with them. No more tossing hay out all day. No more bossy horses and blanket ripping. It has saved time and waste. Definitely paid for itself over time.
I started netting my round bales this fall, but don’t really find they last too much longer, but it does keep waste to a minimum.
I don’t have a feeder… I think the 13hh pony would have a hard time reaching into it.
And yes… it is a huge pain and very time consuming to get the net on. I am usually doing it on my own.
And I already had it frozen into the snow once this year.
So…
I pulled out the ‘drawstring’ and I have started just pulling the net down over the bale and leaving it ‘loose’.
All are barefoot and naked… nothing to get caught on the net.
Twice the net has been pulled off … I am assuming it was one of the ponies!
Most days I do have to straighten it up, but generally this is working quite well.
I suppose I could get a couple of large rocks and weight the edges down in a couple of spots.
Nope ponies don’t have an issue with reaching in the hay huts. I had two 6 month old weanling ponies and they did just fine. The openings are fairly low.
The hay hut fits completely over the cradle?
I feed large tifton round bales. About 600/700# depending. They go in a ring feeder which has been modified with rubber mats around it to keep hay in and legs out. It works better than putting it on the ground, but still some waste. I also feed 1000# compressed alfalfa in the feeder. No waste. None.
I do round bales or large compressed squares because its cheaper than the bales. (Tifton $6 for 45/50 pounds, $55/60 for 600/700# rounds. Alfalfa is around $30 for 75# to100# bales depending and the compressed 1000# bale is $210). I save some, not a ton and my horses who are out almost 24/7 have hay in front of them all the time. We have grass all year her, but it gets thin in the winter.
Its easier for me and its cheaper to use rounds or large squares. I dont have to treck down the sugar sand path with a wheelbarrow loaded with three bales once and sometimes twice a day. I have five horses and the bale usually lasts a week. In the summer it lasts 2 to 3 with all the lush grass. Its under a cover but its not protected on the sides, just the top.
My horse bites holes in the hay chix net, 2-3a day! Not worth the hassle!
I use a hay hut and net.
I just drape the net over so it only takes a minute then out the hayhut over top.
If you are using a net without a hayhut you have to tie it up and it’s a pain…but with the hayhut you can felt away with just draping the net over the top. I find my waste is 0 with the combo and overall easier to deal with (less hay to pitch out!)
Rolls save me a ton of $$. I was feeding 4 square bales a day at $6.50 a bale, vs a roll every 8 days at $65 a roll. You do the math.
I went through the same learning curve as everyone else. First the roll was on the ground, wasted and trampled.
then i got a round bale feeder that i heard about on COTH. its called the Better than Nothing round bale feeder. It’s made of recycled rubber, so no metal or sharp edges. Nothing to rust and cause nasty injuries. It came in 4 sections and I put it together myself, and before we got the tractor I was able to lift it and roll it by myself if i wanted to move it. Then we got the Cinch Net others mentioned and they eat every single scrap of hay out of the net so no waste.
As long as you get good quality rolls its’ fine to feed them.
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