Idea's on making a slow feeder?

[aBreeze]

Long story... skip to the bolded for the gist.

I am boarding a gelding for a friend. The horse has lost his mind since being locked in a small paddock 24/7 because of the weather (winter is definitely here in Minnesota!) In a very short period of time he has destroyed a supporting post of the barn, and gnawed on all the walls.

He is getting everything he needs nutritionally, he gets timothy/orchard/brome hay in slow feeder bags twice a day. Every night he's served piping hot beet pulp, garnished with a handful of sweet feed. He partakes of a granular mineral daily. Water and salt lick are clean, and always stocked. The boy has two lovely ladies to distract himself with.

Im convinced that he's bored and his horsey need to graze is kicking in. Big horse people have suggested I find a low grade hay to let him munch on all day, however I really dont want him and my two girls to balloon out. He's a chunk as it is. I bought a bag of hay cubes and was going to see if there was a way to make a horsey kong toy for him.

Any ideas?

 

[rabbitsfizz]

You can actually buy horse balls to put the feed in and he rolls it around and gets the pellets a few at a time, a big dog one would probably work for a Mini. I made one out of a 15 litre water container, but it was not all that good, and it took a while for them to get the hang of it.

I would give him free choice hay and start painting everything that he is chewing. I think you are quite right that it is boredom what about a Likit??...

http://www.shopmania.com/shopping~online-pet-supply~buy-paddock-likit-for-horses~p-7589281.html

 

[Cavallini Farms]

I made some out of five gallon buckets. I used a dremel to cut 2" holes in it (squares, triangles, rectangles), lots of them. Make sure the holes are smaller than his hooves.

I stuff it with hay, put the lid on and toss it in the paddock. They roll it, stomp it, toss it around and can only get a few pieces of hay out at a time.

It cost about $5 to make, and about 10 minutes to cut holes.

 

[Margo_C-T]

Good idea about the 5 gal. buckets; only thing that would concern me would be the horse continually nibbling off the 'dirt'...at least here, it would be a concern, because my dry lots are just that...DRY, and usually, dusty(not sand, but still...). I would try such an idea in a heartbeat IF the horse had mats, or was on a grassy surface, though. I've considered the Likit, and/or that 'spinning' thing(can't recall the name offhand)that mounts in a corner of a stall or shed for my cribber who doesn't really like to be stalled; such a thing might be worth trying for the OP.Offering stall toys might be another option...a Jolly or other ball, small rubber 'pans' that could be lifted, turned over, etc., a piece of soft cotton rope hanging from the wall or ceiling?

I use 'Busy Snacker' slow feeder bags, and really like them...but the OP said they are already using them--and, I have found that they do not slow the eating rate down quite as much as I'd hoped for.

I have had very good results by adapting my long, homebuilt, multi-horse 'combo' feeder(hay rack over grain holder). The hay rack is in a standard "V" shape, and is about 30" deep X 8' long, so I cut 4 pieces of 2" X 4" welded wire that I had on hand...two pieces that are 16" X 8', and two that are 12" X 8". I then laid one 12" piece 'offset' over a 16" piece, lined them up carefully, then used a thin galvanized wire to tie them together at intervals,creating 2" X 2" openings. I then did the same with the other two pieces. I then made sure that the ends of the wire ties were to the INSIDE, and used small cable ties, also w/ the ends to the INSIDE of the rack, to fasten these 'wire panels' to the lower inside of the hay rack "V". Since the 'recommended' slow feeder opening is actually 1 1/2" X 1 1/2", I wasn't sure that the 2" X 2" openings would work, but they work VERY well to slow down the eating rate. I feed some alfalfa AND some grass hay, and it works for both. I am thinking of trying something similar with my 'hang-on-the-fence" individual hay/grain feeders that I made out of 30 gal. plastic drums years ago...perhaps you might be able to do something similar?

Good luck in solving this!

Margo

 

[maggiemae]

You can google Paddock Paradise. They have a web site that has page after page of slow feeding toys and different ways of keeping a horse eating longer and becoming less bored.

 

[chandab]

Not exactly a slow-feeder, but I bought one of these feeders for one of my mini mares: http://www.healthezhayfeeder.com/ Now that its very cold, she's getting more hay, but I just stuff it full of hay off the round bale and it keeps her busy longer than just tossing it on the ground for her. For the first week she just blew threw her hay like she does when its on hte ground, but now she'll still have some left at lunch time.

Don't know which slow feeder you have, but here are a couple sites:

http://thinaircanvas.com/nibblenet/nibblenetframe.htm

http://www.busyhorse.com/busysnacker.html

 

[aBreeze]

Thanks for your suggestions everyone!

I think the slow feeder bag would work better if I could pay someone to stand out there and continually tighten it... its a typical hey net, as soon as enough has been removed to loosen net it all falls out. They quickly gorge on whats left and then they sit and eat my barn.

I found a product called the Nose It on one of the sites recommended. Id have to buy at least two to keep the peace in the herd, but that can be arranged.

Cavallini, I didnt see where you are from. How cold does it get, and how does the bucket hold up? I was considering such a contraption however Im worried about the plastic getting brittle in the cold. Here in MN its not going to get any better than it is right now at 20* F.

Margo, If I do end up going with free choice hay I will def use your hay feeder idea!

As of right now I am throwing 4 quarts of hay cubes out periodically so that they have to "graze" for the goodies. There's also a sugar free Licky Thing hanging.

 

[Marty]

You said he's in a small paddock. He may be just going stir crazy if its really small where he can't burn off some fuel.

Is there anyway he could be turned out in a larger area daily to run off some steam, and perhaps with a friend? That should solve part of the problem anyhow. Then I would happily let him have more hay.

 

[O So]

How safe do you think those nets are that come in the trunks of cars? They usually hold grocery's from going all over. I was thinking of making some net feeders out of those! I can get them for free from time to time.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Aren't they made out of elastic

Seriously, you can get small hole hay nets really easily, I would just get one of those.

I use a couple that take nearly 2/3rds of a bale, and they can munch their way through them at their own speed.

My weanlings have two, one gets changed every day, so they always have one completely full and one half full. As there are four weanlings this works fine.