New grazing box finished!

[KarinUS]

Hay prices are way up and Bixby my QH mare always tosses out the flakes and then once they are dirty nobody eats them.
So we made these nifty grazing boxes (to mimic grazing -just a little hay at a time) and the horses LOVE them.
Even DJ my cribber spends almost all day grazing rather than going off to crib which is nice.
And the hay stays nice and clean.

The grid in the middle is from a store supply warehouse. It's usually used upright for stores to hang their merchandise on. But the 3" holes are perfect. Not too small and not to big and the horsey's seem to enjoy the challenge.

I just looked out and Bixby is still working on it (now in the dark) and DJ has decided to lay down to sleep right next to it.

 

[Skippys Mum]

Oh thats ideal!! My brain is now ticking thinking how well that would work in a stable!

 

[learningcurve]

Brilliant...very clever. :biggrin:

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

Is genius! What a great idea.

 

[Flipo's Mum]

That looks fab - very professionally done as well! I want one!

 

[shockblue]

Love it!

 

[Cortrasna]

I want one of those - any chance this could be marketed?:smile:

 

[Vicki100]

That is fantastic, i honestly think you've got a great idea there! :angel:

I love your stables, never see anything like those in our part of the world! :wub:

 

[popularfurball]

Cortrasna you can buy them, but they are extortionate! I'd be pullin in a few favour from mr c!!!!!

 

[Cortrasna]

Cortrasna you can buy them, but they are extortionate! I'd be pullin in a few favour from mr c!!!!!

Never thought of that.

Mr. C is useless but one of the Mr. C Jnrs is a very good chippy as it happens, shall show him the piccy.:smoke:

 

[popularfurball]

I wondered about using a wooden pallet with sides - then you just need the wire mesh

 

[martini55]

Looks fantastic Karin, well done

 

[Kis Vihar]

Excellent idea! Very impressed!

 

[KarinUS]

Thanks but I can't take credit for it. I saw it here first:
http://www.grazingbox.com/
We just built our own rather than buy one because it comes out so much cheaper but we definitely modeled ours after theirs!

 

[Ginger Thing]

brilliant idea! :biggrin:

 

[KarinUS]

I went out this morning to see what kind of waste to expect (after a day out they usually reject anything -picky horses) and... the box was completely empty! Like they had sucked it out with a straw. When I lifted the grid all I could find was a trail of hay dust in the pattern of the grid. lol
There was still a mess of hay in the stalls so they could have eaten some in there if they wanted to!
Monday is a holiday here and I am going to try and motivate OH to finish the smaller (2' by 3') grazing boxes for me so I can clean the stalls and say good bye to pooped on hay there too...
The big one in the picture is for outside and 4' by 4'

 

[Claire1605]

Great idea.... I wanted to make one last year but feel that with Harvey it wouldn't work.

Would he be able to get the grid out and also to turn the box over as Harvey does this sort of thing!!!

 

[clashnoir]

I wondered about using a wooden pallet with sides - then you just need the wire mesh

that would work and weld mesh is easy enough to cut and fit
save poaching too as you could just move it about.

 

[Lot1983]

We have something similar at the yard, YO owns a manufacturing company and gets us big metal crate things (will take a picture) but I might measure ours and get a grid for it to slow the boys down. Fab idea.

The good thing about it is that it looks too low to crib on?

 

[KarinUS]

Would he be able to get the grid out and also to turn the box over as Harvey does this sort of thing!!!

It's pretty heavy. We can barely move the wood structure. Mine don't move the big one (4ftx4ft) and may move the little stall ones (2x3) but I can't imagine them being able to turn it over (the base is 4"x4" beams so bottom heavy)