Hi all, new question of the day.....

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ElliesMom

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Another question for everyone today......(thanks for all your info many times before too!) My little Ellie must waste half of every bale of hay we go through...draggging it out of the hay bag, getting it all over, and refuses to eat what is left on the ground/floor. Is there a solution to this problem???? She's such a little princess! lol
 
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ElliesMom said:
Another question for everyone today......(thanks for all your info many times before too!) My little Ellie must waste half of every bale of hay we go through...draggging it out of the hay bag, getting all over, and refuses to eat what is left on the ground/floor. Is there is solution to this problem???? She's such a little princess! lol
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My stall kids have mats in the front 1/2 of their stalls, which helps control waste. In my hay feeders (large bunk type), I have lined the inside of the hay part with sections of hog panel to keep them from pulling out big chunks at a time.

As for the princess part, I can't help you there
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My hay feeder has spaces which allow them to reach their muzzle in not their whole head. They normally just take a mouthful at a time. They can waste hay they do not like. If I get a bad bale with maybe something offensive in it they do manage to pull that out and stand on it. There seems to be little waste. Hay is available 24/7 but its put out in smaller amounts four to six times a day. We have a situation here which permits us to make numerous trips to the horses every day so we are always putting a fresh slab into the feeder. We have small square bales about 30 -35 lbs each. A bale lasts us two days feeding four animals.
 
If your horse is wasting your hay:

1. It's not that good of hay. If a horse loves their hay, they are not going to be wasting it. My horses will leave thier grain to eat their hay and they don't waste a bit. Try a better quality hay.

2. You are feeding just too much of it in the first place. Only put out as much as the horse will eat. Cut back on it.

3. You still may have very good grass and your horse doesn't need/want the hay and prefers the grass over the hay.

4. Your horse is already stuffed and can't eat anymore hay.

5. Your horse is having trouble chewing it. Possibly time for a teeth check up.
 
This is what I do: I feed through hog panels or another type of fencing, that has small holes they can only reach the muzzle through, not the whole head. If you have boards underneath to catch the small parts of the hay, they seem to clean it up pretty good. If they step on it, they will not eat it. Considering what they walk through, I wouldn't eat it either........ I think feeders with trays underneath would also work pretty well. I would put them as low as I could, because it is more natural for horses to eat off the ground, and having their heads down as if to graze actually helps to keep their sinuses clear and so on.
 
Really, the only solution I've found even compared to switching to bunk feeders, etc. etc..... is to feed less hay at a time and just rake up what's left over, if any.
 
I don't use bunk feeders -- I feed a little hay at a time --- if they don't clean it up -- they get less the next time -- until they are cleaning it all up -- then it is increased again a little bit.
 
If I find they aren't eating it all and making a mess, I cut down a bit.

That usually solves the waste problem.
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Sandy
 
I have feed/hay bunkers in dry lots( I have pasture too though) My horse waste hay also. I agree that when the hay is terrific, there is no waste. When it is average hay, there is some waste and maybe I should give a little less. I can't always find super quality hay and have to settle to average quality. I feed Manna pro , so the nhay really just keeps them busy.
 
I just switched over to this years hay and they love it. We still have some graze here as well. I just had a bale last "4" days!
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Cracked it Friday nite, fed Sat. am&pm, Sun. am&pm, Mon. am&pm, Tues am. I couldn't believe it! I have very little waste now.
 
I agree with the others who said to feed less hay....after making sure there was nothing wrong with it, of course. She's a "princess" because you allow her to be.

(much like dog or cat owners who cater to their pets because they say "they just won't eat anything else.)
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Well...I'm sorry, but they WILL eat something else if that's all you give them.

When I have a horse who wastes their hay (and I HAVE had a couple) ..... I simply don't give them much at the next feeding, and continue to do this until they start cleaning up ALL their hay. They may be a "bit" hungry for a while, until they realize they are not getting any more until they clean it all up....but they WILL eventually catch on.
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Continuing to remove the "wasted" hay & feeding them more of the fresh stuff, will only reinforce their practice of wasting hay.
 
I have one large horse (2yr old filly Paso Fino) and feed round bales. 1 round bale lasts between 3(winter)-5(summer) months.

Q (Querida) wastes hay from snatching it out of the round bale and stepping on it. Husband and I are planning a feeder for the round bale that won't take up the space of conventional round bale feeders... Ours will be about 5'x7' and the bale will be rolled upright inside the feeder, strings removed just before rolling into feeder. She will have access only through the front (similar to how dairy cattle are fed at stantion feeders, but the openings will be wider and taller) and the back, bottom and lower-front will be solid, mesh on both sides for air flow.

Q has a tendency to pull out large chunks of the hay. She also likes to 'burrow' into the bale's center, making tunnels like a huge buckskin mole.
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Currently, I try to rake it up and toss it back on top, but as she would paw it apart, grind it into the floor and pee on it, I can't do that and much gets wasted. I am hoping that after the feeder is in place she will not be able to pull out as much, and that what she does pull out will stay inside the feeder, if her head is inside, and she won't be able to walk on what she drops. I think the biggest factor will be if she won't be able to paw it apart, she can't stand on it, which was the most destructive.

Would anyone be able to post pictures of their feeders? I'd like to see them...

Heidi
 
Waste hay?? What a concept. My little fat piggies eat every morsel! Maybe she doesn't like the hay you're feeding or you are feeding too much.
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sedeh said:
Maybe she doesn't like the hay you're feeding
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This was the case with my full-size mare when I was boarding her, she was also pregnant at the time. She was wasting so much of the hay that the boarding facility was providing; they were running low on hay and since I was the last to move my horses in, they told me to go buy my own. So, I did, I found some great mountain meadow timothy; after that the mare did not waste one single piece of hay. She every last crumb. So, could very well be the hay.

The grass hay I have this year is pretty good, but does hay some dead grass in it as the field hadn't been cut for a few years, but the stems are so fine. My filly eats every last morsel and the stallion picks out the good stuff but leaves any dead grass (the brown stuff) he finds.
 
In the stalls we either have rubber mats to put the hay on or I keep an area swept where they are fed their grain & hay.... In the dry lots I deep areas swept in each lot where they are grained & hayed. This does not allow them to pick up so much dirt or bedding ............ Suggestion for your horse. Sweep an area clean to put her hay on so that she has no choice except to eat it from the ground until she gets use to eating it from there.
 
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I buy really nice clean/green grass hay and the horses eat every bite of it. I put the hay down on mats to keep it out of the dirt. I once got some hay from a different source and it was only mediocre and horses were leaving a lot of it.

Tammie
 
I agree with everything Marty said and also with everyone's statements about trying to feed less, but I also wanted to add that if it is alfalfa that could be part of the problem too. I personally feed mine alfalfa, but it will be "stemmier" than grass hay, so mine will only eat stems if they have too.
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I have one mare who if put in a stall will "dunk" her hay in her bucket and then she'll eat the stems.
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But with a much smaller mouth than a large horse, those stems can be tricky to manage. My husband is getting much better about knowing what I will want my hay to be like. Most of it is grown for our cattle, but he knows...if it is thick and stemy, better wait til next cutting for the horses. Or if we have a good cutting, he'll say, "We better square bale this one cause we don't know what the next cutting will bring"
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