Feeding Horses Hay
How to Feed Hay Easily
Feeding horses hay is an essential part of horsecare, here are ideas and solutions that will help you on a daily basis.
Contents
Feeding Hay
Hay Feeding Problems
Feeding hay in paddocks and fields can be a problem to say the least because:-
- It gets bedded down with mud and droppings when fed on the ground
Which then results in:-
- a lot of wastage
- a load of muck
- and it gets eaten all at once and not grazed on throughout the day.
Traditional Haynets
Feeding horses hay using traditional hay nets in fields, in order to prevent the above problems however, produces other problems because:-
- they are slow to fill.
- they don't hold very much.
- you may well then need several depending on the number of horses you have.
- horses are then not grazing at ground level.
- they bounce around unless secured at the top and bottom on your fence line, which is time consuming when done on a daily basis.
Haynet Solutions
Now however there is a great solution. You can now buy big haynets, they are called 'ground hay nets'. They are quite superb by far the best hay feeders on the market for outside grazing and have helped us enormously with feeding horses hay.
They are designed in Germany by Barefoot trimmers Melany Clahsen and Christoph Gehrmann and can be bought online.
They come in two sizes and are designed to be attached:-
- to a fence line
- or between two trees or posts.
When attaching them to the fenceline they are secured permanently at the top.
They are easy to fill on a daily basis due to the way they are secured. You just pull open the top. Depending on the size and number of horses grazing will depend on how often they need to be filled up.
(We fill them everyday but could easily make it possible to fill them every two days just by having more nets.)
Due to their design and the way they are fixed it means that the horses have access to hay but at ground level, so stretching the whole of their topline when grazing - which is essential for their health.
The large hay nets can hold around a bale and a half of hay.
This is especially good if you are feeding several horses.
How Many Hay Nets?
Depending on your requirements, you may have several nets along a fenceline in your paddocks, or you can place them in different areas around your field.
I cannot recommend them enough.
If it rains heavily:-
- the hay remains usable
- and still gets eaten
- and does not get trodden down amongst mud and droppings.
When not to use these Haynets
If your horses are shod however, these hay nets are not advised due to the possible risk of the horses getting their shoes caught in them.
Where to Buy Ground Haynets
Ground Haynets Online Shop
The Heunetz Shop. supplies these ground haynets.
If the site appears in German click on the translation button to access it in English.
Two Sizes of Ground Haynets
They sell a Large XXL Ground Haynet which is the one pictured above.
They sell a Smaller CG-Haynet which is suitable for one or two horses.
Haynet Screws
It is worth buying these Haynet Scews for fixing the haynets to your post or rails.
(It drove us mad finding suitable fixings for these haynets as they did not originally sell them! You need to make them quite secure, as they are heavy when filled.)
You need to make them secure as when filled they can be quite heavy.
Hard Standing for Hay Area
In your hay feeding areas you can put down some scalpings/stones, so the standing area where the hay nets are:-
- Remains dry
- The scalpings will create good ground drainage
Without the scalpings the area can become very poached in the winter months. Alternatively you can use some rubber mats. There are now companies that manufacture rubber mats that are suitable for use in fields and gateways.
This is not essential but it makes the area much cleaner and easier to manage.
(NB. before putting stones down you may want to remove/scrape off the topsoil first.)
The above solutions make feeding horses hay on a regular basis so much easier.
Suppliers of Haynets
Suppliers of Ground Hay Nets Heunetz Shop.
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