DIY Hay Ring

[Wagtail]

Horses (& other domestic critters) being horses will blissfully tear a roll of hay down & defecate/urinate over 1/5th of their food. At the cost of a roll, there had to be a way to stop this. Of course there were commercial hay rings but, Australia having a smaller supply & demand base, to purchase a hay ring (new) was around $1000!

A Google image search gave me the idea of recycling somewhat broken wooden pallets that I could get for free from various places. I guesstimated that I'd need 6 panels to make the ring.

'Handraulic' tools were mostly used (claw hammer & long crowbar) to gently remove the cross slats that could be either re-used or discarded. I then marked for a standard height of 3 feet, set the partly dissassembled panel on the sawhorses and used a handsaw to cut them down.

Then I re-assembled the panel with the usable slats... I arranged them in a pattern both to ensure that the horses couldn't get their foot trapped at the bottom & because it looked good.

The result is in my next post...

 

[farmgirl19]

I usually have old pallets from various items. This is an interesting idea. Can't wait to see the finished product!

 

[Wagtail]

Having made up the 6 panels (4 made from lighter pine & 2 from hardwood pallets = I'll replace the harwood panels in the future with other pine ones. I had to use what I had at the time) I used galvanised half-ring brackets (high on the one side, low on the other) to make a hinge system top & bottom; wide-head bolts as a drop pin as my hinges.



After assembling the ring around a hay roll I found that the hinge system sort-of worked... I'll need to tighten it up in the future. In the meantime I wove a lenght of rope around the structure to make it more secure because the horses would lean on it as the roll was depleted, or they'd use it as a scratching area.

So far it's been working a treat! When the horses have finished the roll, I'll break it down, belt-sand it & then paint to preserve.

Ta-DA! My first project.

 

[whistlepig]

Nice looking hay ring. Verses $1000.00 it's super nice! Appreciate the pictures. The first description didn't sound like much but the pictures sure proved that wrong.

 

[creekbend]

Well done. Great idea.:thumbsup:

 

[6011Artist]

looks good wagtail, I'm impressed. I'm always game to use what I have on hand or available cheap and this is a fine example of recycling at its best. It gets the job done and didn't cost a fortune.

 

[stuckmotor]

Horses aren't the only ones with bad table manners. When I unroll a bale for my cows, it doesn't take long before they're lined up on it like a carpet runner. I feed some that way and some in rings and can't decide which way waste more hay.

 

[Wagtail]

Well, it's been 5 days since I set the hay ring up. We've had a good bout of hard rain and gale force winds over that time. The first picture was taken (bravely) from the house during the rain. The 'boys' (both thoroughbreds, 16 Hands High) got busy 'tucking in' on the first day.

The second picture was taken today whilst out clearing the accumulated manure. Minimum spillage and no wastage! A roll has typically lasted these two 11 days. I'll report back with the final tally when they finish it off but I'm anticipating a fortnight. (I can always hope, eh?)



The reason I'm posting these pictures is to show why I cut the pallets/panels down to 3'. It gives the horses plenty of neck room to reach over to get the hay without leaning on it or barging through it.

I hear that the price of a roll in the US is astronomical, is this true?

 

[tanglefoot]

I wish we could get a fortnight or two down here in Texas.
Butch

 

[texasjohn]

Drought conditions locally...large round bales are $60 to 80...higher for "horse hay"

 

[Bwana64]

Fortnight: A period of 14 consecutive days.

 

[stuckmotor]

Thanks, Bwana. I get confused about stone and kilos, too.

 

[nwngunner]

Hay up here, "iowa" was running well over 200 dollars a ton for stuff with any protein in it.

 

[farmgirl19]

Yep, in Texas, we do need a fortnight of rain! That *might* fill my stock tank up, and then I could restock it with fish!

Really nice Hay Ring! I may have to try that idea soon!

 

[Wagtail]

Well, it's been almost a year since I initially built the hay ring so I thought that I'd update...

As you can see it's survived with not one repair, I'm happy to report. I did belt-sand the whole structure, then double-coat painted the top rail in a pleasing colour. The rest of the wood I linseed oiled as a preservative to the elements:



If I've got a smaller round of hay then I only use 5 panels, a 5' round uses all 6 panels.

I've kept using the rope to secure the whole thing together (after I use the drop pins to position it) as the horses have never been able to knock it down with the rope binding it. There have been some interesting geometric shapes left from them straining to get that last bit of hay, but it's always stood up.

I have had to re-bend some of the tin hinges using a rubber mallet from time to time, but none of the hinges have broken.