The horses seem content as long as they have hay in front of them but this winter weather is wearing down on the rest of us who have to take care of the animals and farm. My mantra for this week is just stay positive and look at the good things.
My husband seriously rocks as if I hadn’t mentioned that enough on this blog. We had our paddocks renovated which was a big project. All the soil was dug up and then we had fill put in, layer of geotextile and then millings on top. It was compacted and makes for a nice draining dry paddock area. This will be great for keeping the horses off the pastures when they are wet and keeping their feet dry.
We wanted a way to feed hay out in these areas but something that kept the horses from grinding in into the nice footing we spent a lot of money putting down. I looked around on the internet giving the hubby a few pics of what I thought would work and this is what he came up with.
He bought a hog panel from tractor supply and cut it out to fit inside the box so the are basically forced to take small bites out of the hay.
He attached two small pieces of wire at the bottom of the box where you attach a bunge cord to each side and that anchors down the wire panel so they can’t dislodge it.
They work really well making clean up simple as there is no ground in poop and hay in the paddocks. They also allow the horses to continually eat all day. I can get 1/2 bale in each feeder so if I fill them up at night then I don’t have to refill in the morning which saves me time on morning chores (I am always running late in the morning). I love knowing the horses have hay in front of them but can’t waste it!
Hubby is out working on more feeders for the other side (4 feeders needed). He claims they are really simple to build but he is really good at that sort of thing. They are very sturdy so they should last and the horses can’t budge them.
Here is the footing when the paddocks were dry!
two pieces of wire to attach the bungees
![[image]](https://i0.wp.com/farm3.static.flickr.com/2746/4349811838_7766932692.jpg)
Wire grate
![[image]](https://i0.wp.com/farm3.static.flickr.com/2714/4349814982_7c2cddd508.jpg)
Grind down the edges
![[image]](https://i0.wp.com/farm5.static.flickr.com/4003/4349814596_b5ed4f12e2.jpg)
Pull up bungee
![[image]](https://i0.wp.com/farm5.static.flickr.com/4049/4349065025_4f6ac4ed1b.jpg)
Throw in hay, place metal grate and bungee
![[image]](https://i0.wp.com/farm5.static.flickr.com/4036/4349066373_7b563fd790.jpg)
CANTER Mid Atlantic in Delaware 
GENIUS! I’m going to have to show this to my hubby! We were just talking about how to deal with hay… Perfect! 🙂
Do the horses knock them over? I assume not, but you never know with Tbs!
Great job!
😀
Nope, they actually haven’t knocked them over in the month or so we have had them. They are pretty heavy once finished we actually roll them out to the fields.
Your feeders and your husband are awesome!!! Here we go – we are making them today in Arizona to prevent sand injestion, colic and founder while our horses adjust to a higher fructan grass hay. Horses arrive tomorrow night from Ohio! I’m going to run to Phoenix to get gridwall with 3″ openings to rest on top of hay so my horses can’t get a grip on it with their teeth. I’m going to try it with no bungees cause I’m sure my horse would try to eat those. Thanks for the great ideas and pix!
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Can you give me the dimensions of this box, and type of wood used.