Hay is bloody expensive and if your horses are like mine, they don't give a shit it costs a lot of money and, particularly this year, can be hard to come by. They stomp it into the ground and wee on it then get all annoyed their hay has wee on and they can’t eat it 🙄
I've found a few ways to make sure there is as little wastage as possible that works really well for my horses.
Note: not everything that works well for one horse will necessary work well for another. You know your horse best so use your common sense when deciding what will work best for your horse.
First of all, use a hay net. The GutzBusta® Slow Feed Hay Nets reduce hay wastage by up to 46%. They will stop the hay from being scattered, blown away, stomped on and wee'd on. You can use a small holed net if you want to slow your horse down a bit or bigger holes if they aren't inclined to stuff themselves. I find the 4 cm one ideal for my horse.
If you have babies or minis, the hole size you choose must be smaller than their feet to prevent any risk of them getting a foot stuck.
I have a wooden pallet with 4 fence staples nailed on each corner with double ended clips clipped to them. I then clip the hay net to these to keep it on the pallet. This keeps the net and hay off the ground, out of the wet and yuck, and importantly at the level the horse should have its head at when eating. Any dust or spores will disperse into the air rather than being inhaled like with something that is enclosed. It stops the net from being stood on or rolled around and chucked on or over the fence. It's a bit disappointing when you've chucked your hay net into the electric fence then you can't eat it 🙄
Note: To avoid accidents and injures, the pallet that you use MUST be a heavy duty one that can stand up to a horse standing on it. It also MUST have small gaps between the slats so a horse cannot get its foot stuck.
If your horse is shod you must prevent their hooves from being able to come in contact with any hay net. There are a number of ways you can do this. There are a few ideas on the GutzBusta website or Google for more ideas.
