[QUOTE=SuckerForHorses;6540313]
This one: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Berkley-Scale-with-Tape/16637411
No batteries
$5.00 at Walmart
You can hang it up
You can hang a hay bag or net from it
Goes up to 50 lbs.[/QUOTE]
Yay! Exactly what I needed! Thank you 
I use this one from Walmart…http://www.walmart.com/ip/Rapala-Sportsman-Digital-Scale/19426428?findingMethod=rr
I have a 4 prong tack hook hanging from the ceiling of the hay shed, with the scale hanging from one of the hooks. then I fill a hay net, and just hang the hay net on the scale. Voila! I’m sure if you feed loose flakes, you could just hang a garbage bag or something on the scale and toss the flakes inside the bag.
I am bringing this thread back to life,…anyone have a scale different than these a few years ago? I am looking for one I can set the flakes on, preferably not have to hang. Perhaps a postal scale is best?
Why would you spend so much money though? If it gets cold where you live the batteries won’t work too well in sub freezing temps.
Fish scale = $3.65
Hay net = $5
[QUOTE=mountainhorse;8298964]
I am bringing this thread back to life,…anyone have a scale different than these a few years ago? I am looking for one I can set the flakes on, preferably not have to hang. Perhaps a postal scale is best?[/QUOTE]
Mountainhorse, a friend of mine has one like this: http://www.uline.com/BL_2209/Uline-Utility-Scales
I think she zeroes it out for the weight of the laundry basket that she weighs her hay in, and it works really well (though you do have to have a flat surface to set it on).
How many people does it take to change a light bulb?
Sorry couldn’t resist given all the different answers and methods.
I just use a plane old “analog” scale. The ones you stand on with “mechanical arrow”. Weight myself and add the amount of weight of hay I want to give. Pick up X amount of “flakes” and stand on the scale and check the “combined” weight. If I want to give 20 lbs and I am holding around 20+ lbs good enough. I am not going to “sweat” about a pound or two over. Nor take the time to get it exact.
I don’t worry about moisture content. Just about all hay that has been stored for several months in most climates other than extremely arid areas is going to “read” between 10-14% moisture if a probe is used
Too each their own.
We weigh for many reasons:
To know how much our Cushings pony is getting.
To know how much the horses are getting. They get all they can eat but we want to know how much that is. If you know how much your horses are eating you know how much to pack for trailing over night trips or when others are feeding or how much to give if they go on a diet.
To know if the bale sizes are accurate.
To know how much flakes are for that bale so that when we aren’t weighing we have an idea of each flake for that set of bales.
Etc…
To weigh hay without a net: hang a muck bucket from your scale, add hay, carry muck bucket to destination, dump hay, return muck bucket to scale, add next bunch of hay, etc. A laundry basket would probably work just as well but you’d be dribbling little bits of hay out the holes, if that mattered.
Tractor Supply had a great little electronic scale on sale this summer. Not sure if they are still at your local store, but check around the bargain bins by the checkout. Price was between $5-10, IIRC. It’s small (hand-held) and your hay has to be contained in a net, or just pick a bale up by the strings, it will weigh anything up to 100lbs.
I did a study this summer on how much my horses consume, using that scale to weigh their nets before and after each feeding (2x daily). The “picky eater” ate about 22lbs on average, while the good-doers ate 25-30lbs daily. All fed free-choice O/A from small hole haynets.
I use one of those cheap digital ones. Cost less than $10 incl. shipping online. Pretty sure its Chinese made. And it works great! Can take a whole bale, should I want to weight that much.
It was an educational experience starting to weigh my hay (I began doing it with a laminitic pony who was locked up). Hay is a lot heavier than I though. 2% of bodyweight isn’t that much hay for a hungry horse.
Spoiled, we have a large digital floor scale to weigh hay and horses.
I use a platform scale like this http://www.amazon.com/330-Digital-Shipping-Scale-WeighMax/dp/B000R4HRGO/ref=sr_1_104?ie=UTF8&qid=1441226543&sr=8-104&keywords=digital+scales. (Hopefully the link works!) I can lay the flakes flat on the platform and see the weight on the display. They operate on batteries or AC power. I do store my battery powered ones in a heated room in the winter and change the batteries maybe twice per year.
That digital shipping scale is exactly what I was looking for-thank you!
(Heated barn = no issue on temp 
)
I found a very old brass hanging scale…we checked the calibration with a bucket of platinum performance…LOL…it was spot on…love it check the haynets when ever a new load of hay arrives…
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