Feeding hay in field

[griffglen]

Last winter we fed hay on the floor for our 3 ponies but there was a lot of waste which made a mess of the field and took ages to clear up. Does anyone have any suggestions how we can feed hay this winter without it getting trodden into the mud etc? Have so far looked at the hay hutch and a plastic round bale feeder but they are quite expensive options.

[Spyda]

An old water trough or second hand trough if you can get one from somewhere? Fill it with the hay and let them feed from it?

Alternatively, where there are trees available I've simply filled enough haynets for each horse (plus an extra one) and hung those up from the trees.

[Maisy]

I would second the hanging of haynet option......

I actually found that if I gave my girls really nice hay and put it on the grass in different places every day they ate every scrap and didnt make a mess, but I appreciate that I only have the 2 so it could not work so well with more.

When my girls were out with others, I wouldnt feed hay in the field. My horses had their hay before they went out in the field.....

Obviously this wouldnt be an option if your horses are out 24/7.

[Enfys]

Sink 4 sturdy posts in the ground and attach planks to them. Ours are to about 18" high. Chop off poles so that they don't stick out.
It works for my lot. Fraction of the cost of a round feeder, in fact we did ours with lumber lying around the place.

The only disadvantage is that it would get churned up if it was wet, with the money you save you could always lay some gravel or something around there I guess.

[dwi]

I tried using an old water trough for a while but it had the downside that when it rained heavily your hay ended up swimming. I've gone back to feeding off the ground now

[howengold]

[ QUOTE ]
Sink 4 sturdy posts in the ground and attach planks to them. Ours are to about 18" high. Chop off poles so that they don't stick out.
It works for my lot. Fraction of the cost of a round feeder, in fact we did ours with lumber lying around the place.

The only disadvantage is that it would get churned up if it was wet, with the money you save you could always lay some gravel or something around there I guess.

[/ QUOTE ]


We have a similar arangmenrt, only we have poles with tie rings attached dotted along the winter grazing and we alternate four haynets around the ten poles which are aranged in a line across the fence line about 4 metres in to the field....hope that makes sense.

[ischa]

i used a blue container cut in half then got some of those black matts that are in the parks i cant remember what they are called but i put those around the blue container so any spillage went on there

[jrp204]

Big black dustbins fastened to the fencing, you can take the bins out to fill them.

[ihatework]

A large tractor tyre is perfect!

[amymay]

[ QUOTE ]
Last winter we fed hay on the floor for our 3 ponies but there was a lot of waste which made a mess of the field and took ages to clear up. Does anyone have any suggestions how we can feed hay this winter without it getting trodden into the mud etc? Have so far looked at the hay hutch and a plastic round bale feeder but they are quite expensive options.

[/ QUOTE ]

Simply give them less.