advice on hay bvale feeders for horses

[Renze]

Who can give me any ideas on a whole bale feeder for horses ?
I want to drop them in from above with the loader, and i want double fence so they have to stick their heads in before pulling hay out of the bale. Otherwise i see them tossing around and still wasteing most of the hay..

 

[Mith]

I recall in FarmShow mag someone had made a feeder from old car tyres all bolted together.
Found it

Think it might be something you could adapt for your use.

 

[Renze]

someone had made a feeder from old car tyres all bolted together.

...that wont work for me... I already see horses running around wildly with some tires around their neck....

 

[volcamp]

We tried making several things with wood but they would not stand up to the abuse of the horses and the weather. I found the steel feeder rings from Tractor Supply work as good as anything we've seen. They are light enough one person can stand them up on the side, set the bail and then tilt the feeder back down over it. They have enough side clearance that most of the wastage stays in the ring and as the hay gets low, they eat most of what's there as well. They are strong enough to take the abuse without damage and all things considered, they are fairly priced. JMO

 

[gabby]

I've tried many methods including rings and portable wooden feeding shelters. My favorite is to use cradle type feeders with net wrapped bales. The cradle keeps it off the ground. I don't remove the old net until the bale is eaten and the next bale is fed.

 

[Renze]

I have an old feeding gate that we used for horses before... I think i'll cut that up and weld it back together in a square shape, and then make some 45ｰ miters on the edges of the gate so that they dont hurt each other when going around it in the herd.
That gate with high vertical bars worked good so i'll just use that.

But now the second part to figure out: Whats the best way to eat for a horse ?
Throw the bale in a suspended rack above the ground, or have them eat from a pan, in a more natural neck position ?

Maybe if they rip mouths full out of the bale and spill half of it in the spill pan, they would eat head down anyways...