Easiest way to soak hay?

Yep, plastic dustbin full of water. Although (because I have to empty and refill it twice a day, the farm is on a water meter so I feel guilty) I use an empty supplement tub full of water to keep his smaller amount of 'daytime' hay submerged for the required 12 hours:o so that I don't have to fill the bucket right to the top.
 
I put mine in a haynet or you can do it loose put it in a bin feed bin, fill the water all the way to the top and leave it for as long as you need. Tip it over, let the water drain and pull the haynet out :)
 
a tub trug. chuck the hay in and fill with water :) we used to use haynets and hose them but as too messy.
 
tried and tested!

get bin (black eg rubbish or storage bin) from poundshop. acquire a couple of haynets with small holes.

stick haynet over top of bin, then put 2-3 slices into haynet and push down into bin.

stick hose in bin. fill bin. wait and let soak.

pull hay in haynet out and eg throw at horse.

makes filling the net easier, not messy and very practical!

Julia
x
 
I used to use a big tub/bucket and fill it up with water and emptied it daily once i had soaked the hay
 
I just used to tie the unsoaked hay net up and then spray it with a hose pipe for a few minutes. It worked just as well for me as sticking it in a dustbin filled with water with the advantage that I didn't get soaked everytime I lifted the hay net out.
 
we have one of those huge blue barrels (commonly seen for jumps) cut in half and collecting rain water, put 2 haynets in so that one is submerged whilst the other sits on top, after 10mins swap them then hang to let them haynets drain a bit then feed the horses.
 
dunk it is a bucket of cold/hot water for 20-30 mins, and hey presto!
I like those tub things?
er......flexible, virtually indestructible, lots of colours, s/m/l?
 
A big cuboid bucket/trough type thingy - hay in haynet goes in, water in, hay out, leave hay for a while while the water pours all over the yard.

The best arrangement I've seen is a proper trough with a bar fixed to the wall above it - hay in haynet goes in, trough is filled with water, and you can use the bar to wrap the net string round, pull the net out of the trough and tie the net up while it drains into the trough rather than all over the floor. Brilliant :)
 
alwaysfallingof said:
I use an empty supplement tub full of water to keep his smaller amount of 'daytime' hay submerged for the required 12 hours:o so that I don't have to fill the bucket right to the top.
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I understood that you should only soak hay for a maximum of 20mins otherwise it is the equivalent of feeding raw sewage!!:eek: :eek:

The hay starts to ferment or something horrid and all nutrients leach out. It only needs to be soaked for 20mins to allow the spores and dust to swell so that they are ingested rather than inhaled!:o
 
well there is always the alternative of a full or partial hay replacer.
for example Dengie Hi-Fi Lite or Good Doer, fed literally by the bucketful.
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MrDCBags said:
I understood that you should only soak hay for a maximum of 20mins otherwise it is the equivalent of feeding raw sewage!!:eek: :eek:

The hay starts to ferment or something horrid and all nutrients leach out. It only needs to be soaked for 20mins to allow the spores and dust to swell so that they are ingested rather than inhaled!:o
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I'm rehabbing pony after laminitis - nutrients and sugar all being leached out into the water is what I'm after (I'm supplementing the vits and minerals back in):)

Raw sewage??! never heard that one before.
Generally, it is never in there for any more than 12-13 hours otherwise it does start to ferment a bit, but it's obvious when that's happened - the water foams up and you can smell it. I use fresh water each time so that the sugar doesn't build up, and feed it straight away - keeps it quite fresh:)

Agree though that for soaking purely to remove dust and spores then 20-30 minutes is the maximum.
 
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