Hi Robin, I fed hay cubes last winter, and I did soak them, before hand.. If I didnt, they had difficulty chewing them up... The neat thing about the cubes was that 4 or 5 cubes would soak up a lot of water, and at least triple in volume.. So it really went a long way... The last bag of cubes I bought, for some reason would not get soft enough in the water, even though I soaked them all day
.. It was like concrete! I should have taken it back, as usually a couple of hours was plenty of soaking time, for them... (I stiil have it
)... typically for a good batch, I would cover them in water, for a couple of hours, and drain off the excess, water afterwards, before feeding.