This message is from: Gail Russell <g...@zeliga.com>
I just wrote the post below to the ECHorsekeeping list, and thought I would post it here as well. By the way, do not try this with Freedom Feeder nets. They do not last. I found 35 gallon white STRAIGHT SIDED...(not tapered at the ends) plastic barrels. I have built one feed out of one by taking out the bottom and top, and lacing in a Cinch Chix Net 1 inch West Coast bale net. It fits perfectly around the barrel. I mount the barrel on the fence, preferably suspended on each side. I then got a plastic water trough to sit the bottom of the net in. It has to be tied to the fence. I can put about half a large (100 lbs plus) bale in it by simply throwing the hay in the top. I am working on getting my horses to free feed from it. It does solve the problem of having to load the net more often. I actually like the netting on the Chix nets better than the flat strapping on the nibble nets. We will see if the horses regulate. I spoke with the Cinch Chix help desk and they told me they thought I could probably make three feeders out of one West Coast bale net. With the long length of filled netting sitting in the trough, it is more like eating grass. HOWEVER, with a long length of filled netting, the horses are able to twist the netting. And they are able to pull the netting out of the trough. I am thinking about tying the netting to the bottom of the trough or just weighting it. With a trough, you can fill it up, and then drain it out. If you let the hay fall down into a long net and sit in the barrel (as opposed to suspended above the barrel), you can use the system to soak hay. I am thinking of taking the removed barrel ends and opening up the locking carabiner at the bottom of the Cinch net and lacing in the barrel bottom. That would hold the bottom of the net open, which would allow more hay to go down. There is an issue with hay fines falling on the ground in back of the net. I may need to get another barrel to lace into the back of the net so the fines fall into the trough, not pushed out the back of the net. This is a work in progress, but it is a fairly simple way to get hay nets that are very easily filled. I had some problems finding a barrel that was straight sided, not tapered at both ends. The ones I found are white, and are bigger than the blue tapered barrels. The white ones seem to be bigger than the blue or orange tapered barrels. Gail July 2009 Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw FH_L Shirts: http://tinyurl.com/8yky94l
