Square or Round Bale for Solo Winter Turnout?

[Knubbsy]

We’re still a couple of months away but my new BO and I have started debating what to do for my mare this winter (Maryland, so mostly mud, occasionally snow). This is her first winter without pasture mates (can no longer be trusted not to break herself or others). In previous years she was in a field with a round bale in a bale buddy; she would eat a hole in the bale and basically not come up for air unless she was napping. She has become a very easy keeper in the last few months so whatever option we go with, it will need to have a slow feed modification.

Looking for pro/cons of the following options (ordered by my current preference):

1. Round bale in a roofed wooden hay hut with slow feeder net. BO already gets round bales in for the winter. I would need to buy the slow feeder net but we have the hut already (similar to the first example). It’s on a pallet so easy to move and easy to refill with a tractor. It does not have solid sides so hay would be exposed to moisture. In winter, she’ll get about 10 hours of field time a day so I do have a slight worry that she won’t get through the hay before it goes bad (probably an unnecessary worry?)
2. Hay Play Zip Bag XL. Would need to be purchased but my trainer uses one of the hang bags for her easy keeper and it seems to work for him - in his stall at least. My concerns are that it would need to be refilled more frequently and at more of a pain since a bale would need to be lugged up a small hill, also that my mare would get it, and therefore the hay, filthy since she loves to throw things around. The fence line is capped T-posts so nothing to hang a bag from.
3. Savvy Feeder. Incredibly pricey and would need to be refilled every other day with the same labor concerns as the hay play bag but I have one already in her stall and I know it works well for her. I do slightly worry that she would throw it into her electric tape fence since she likes to throw her current one into the wall to get it at an angle to get every last bit of hay.
4. Loose flakes every day. More work for the BO/staff and would be in the mud but from prior years we know my mare cleans up every bit of hay she is offered. Probably my least favorite option just because I’d prefer to have more flexibility on hay intake and keep hay out of the mud.

I’m almost certainly overthinking this but I want to get just one winter where my horse didn’t spend weeks on stall rest.

[FjordBCRF]

What about 2 string bale slow feed net or two in the hay hut? https://haychix.com/products/hay-chix-small-bale-net? You can get them in 1 in extreme slow feed holes. You might have better luck with both mold and portion control. On the rare occasions we stay overnight anywhere, I have one that has been great.

I have a Hay Play bag and didn’t find the durability to be reflective of the cost. It also doesn’t hold a whole lot OR slow them down much with the large holes.

Hay Chix® 2-Strand Bale Net (Small Bale Net)

[kaya842]

Definitely no round bale, it will go bad before she can finish it unless she is splitting the same bale/ turnout space with other horses (like she has the space during the day but a group has it at night while she is in - in that case yes to the round bale).

What needs for the feeder are there besides “slow her down”? Does it need to keep the hay dry? On ground level? Up higher? If no other needs, then the hay chix net is what I would do. A full 2 string bale should last roughly 5 days without needing to be refilled (assuming 10 hours of turnout each day and 50lbs bales or more). You could hook it inside a large trough (with holes drilled into the trough for drainage) to keep it even more contained and lessen the chance for getting feet caught.

[Knubbsy]

@kaya842

What needs for the feeder are there besides “slow her down”? Does it need to keep the hay dry? On ground level? Up higher? If no other needs, then the hay chix net is what I would do. A full 2 string bale should last roughly 5 days without needing to be refilled (assuming 10 hours of turnout each day and 50lbs bales or more). You could hook it inside a large trough (with holes drilled into the trough for drainage) to keep it even more contained and lessen the chance for getting feet caught.

She’s shod all around so I can’t use a net by itself and unfortunately, we’ve tried the trough option and she likes throwing it around (should it be too heavy for her? yes. Is she extraordinarily stubborn? also yes). But no real needs other than wanting hay to last all day without putting her in danger. I like the idea of hay being out of the mud/off the ground but not cranking her neck - but that’s not an absolute necessity, considering she’s working her neck plenty currently throwing her savvy feeder around.

@FjordBCRF’s idea of putting the nets in the hut might work if we can figure out a way to keep her from trying to drag them out without preventing her from eating. I don’t think hanging them like a boxing bag would work but it is a funny visual.

I guess one other option is putting the round bale in one of our bale buddies, in the hut, and then putting her grazing muzzle on, but I worry she’ll be like a prior easy keeper who just used the muzzle as a shovel.

[trubandloki]

@Knubbsy

I don’t think hanging them like a boxing bag would work but it is a funny visual.

I do this.
But the roof was designed with that plan in mind.

Another option is to use standard small hole hay nets filled and hanging loose in the roofed hay feeder you shared. It keeps the hay safely off the ground. It prevents her from pulling the net of hay out onto the ground. And biggest bonus of all, it makes it much harder for them to grab big wads of hay from a small hole net with nothing to push against.
Don’t get me wrong, don’t expect a miracle that she will not eat much, but it is more work for them.

If you do not want to (or you can not) hang, I have simply added a couple of screw eyes in the corners of my home made hay hut (like the one you linked, roof and sides and floor) and clip the bale net to a couple of them. Then I do not have to deal with a muddy/wet net (or better, a net that becomes frozen in the snow that melts in the sun and then quickly refreezes).

[FjordBCRF]

@trubandloki

@Knubbsy

I don’t think hanging them like a boxing bag would work but it is a funny visual.

I do this.
But the roof was designed with that plan in mind.

I hang high from the stalls as do the other couple people I know. We call them the Body Bag Haynets

[RedHorses]

My two horses consistently took ten days to eat a 5’ round bale in a net with 2" holes. They were out 24/7. That suggests your individual horse would take about 40 days to eat one bale. How warm is your winter? Do things get moldy?

[Amy3996]

If you have access to a covered area like a run-in shed or can build a covered set-up, I would opt for a square bale net. Hay Chix makes them in slow feed sizes ranging from 1” to 1.75” openings.

Netted bale clipped into an old water trough works well for some horses at our barn. Smaller amount means you don’t have the mold or waste risk of a round bale, but being able to put out a full square bale at a time lasts 3-4 days for most of our horses who are turned out with them for 8-12 hours per day. Cuts down on the labor needed.

[Knubbsy]

It is sort of a crap shoot now with climate change what exactly the winter will be like but predictions are that this year will be “above normal” (so 40s and 50s) with rain but not so much snow. We try not to let bales sit around long so haven’t had issues with molding but with the predicted conditions and only one mouth to feed, that’s probably too long unless we physically split the bale.

Probably worth investigating screwing eye hooks into the ceiling of the hut to hang a bag or two from what y’all have said.

[Posting_Trot]

I have not used the Hay Chix bag, but that looks like an excellent option for either a full square bale or a half-bale (they have two sizes). Either would fit in the hay hut that you referenced, and the net would slow down her consumption and make it somewhat harder for her to drag the hay out onto wet ground.

My horse has a regular hay net (square holes, about 2 inches each) that she has both in her stall and in her pasture. In both cases it hangs from a heavy-duty screw eye that’s been installed into one of the timbers (in the stall), or the fence post. If your horse likes to fling things around, just make sure that the screw eye is set into something that won’t be easily destroyed.

Here’s the bag my horse has:
https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/smartpak-slow-feed-hay-bag-13939

She has the two flake version, and it’s pretty generously sized. It’s been very sturdy despite my horse’s less than gentle treatment!

[Djones]

If she has a run in shed then mount a small hole haybag on one wall. We have a long one that would hold a 50 lb bale easily and still close along the top.