# Wasted Hay?



## Trip Trap Mountain

How do you handle it? So much drops down and is wasted out of our homemade hay rack. My dad made it years ago and we're ready for an update. Just wondering if any of you have found good tricks for the goats? What kind of hay rack do you use?


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## Mini Goat Lover

I use horse feeders to feed my does. That way all the hay falls into the bottom of the feeder and no hay is wasted.


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## freedomstarfarm

I use HealthEZ Hay Feeders since I can hang them anywhere. From a tree it gives the goats some stimulation as it moves when they eat. 
I think goats will waste some hay no matter what but mine waste much less since I switched to these.

I sell them on my website and ship them also. Bottom of the linked page.. http://freedomstarfarm.com/
One member just ordered on e and it went out today. I hope she likes it; I will have her let you all know. I got my first one for my horse to use in the trailer when I moved him and then realized how well they work for everything. Here is the link to the manufacturer site.. http://www.healthezhayfeeder.com/
I sell them for less! :thumbup:


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## peggy

I have the same problem with wasted hay. My head was touching the roof by spring time....lol..... I have regular type hay mangers but I am thinking that I will try the idea in this picture. I like that they have to reach their head through the boards to eat the hay. Plus I can load the feeder without going directly into the room and getting mobbed. Plus I read that it is actually better for them to eat without the hay falling in their eyes which could cause problems.....


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## milk and honey

I built a keyhole type feeder.. but the kids do get in and sleep there.. therefore soiling the alfalfa. I do like that they can get away from the big girls and get enough food, but I have to clean it out pretty often. Then I throw the 'used' alf. into the yard where they pick at it some more.


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## Randi




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## Trip Trap Mountain

thanks everyone! lots of good ideas here.


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## Bellafire Farm

Love these idea's... am also EXTREMELY frustrated at how much hay the goats waste!! UGH! Am used to my horses which clean up every tiny little stitch of it.... 
I feel like I'm seeing nickels & dimes falling out of the feeder as I watch the hay fall out!!! :veryangry: :angry:


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## Trip Trap Mountain

Mini Goat Lover said:


> I use horse feeders to feed my does. That way all the hay falls into the bottom of the feeder and no hay is wasted.


do you just put the hay back in the top? what does yours look like? i am trying to imagine it.


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## Bellafire Farm

I'm intersted to see a pic of this horse feeder too... is it possible to get a pic for us? I'm picturing a feeder with a "grain-type pan" in the bottom????


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## freedomstarfarm

I do also use one of these its like a horse hay feeder but lower to the ground. http://www.tractorsupply.com/livestock-feeders/billy-goat-gruff-feeder-5-ft-goat-sheep-bunk-2170306 it has this bolted on top http://www.tractorsupply.com/livestock-feeders/billy-goat-gruff-goat-hayrack-5-ft-2173304

I will get a photo of mine when its light out.

We attached a sheet of plywood to the top so it stays pretty dry. 
What I don't like about it is the goats jump right in and the kids crawl up onto the hay. But it is great for a large number of goats since there is room for everyone to eat and it hold more than a bale.


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## Bellafire Farm

Maybe my goats are just pulling the wool over my eyes and are just SUPER spoiled... but they absolutely WILL NOT touch ANY hay that has fallen down, ESPECIALLY if anyone has stepped on it or slept on it!! Goodness forbid it actually touch the ground!!
So are my goats just messing with me??? Do other people's goats actually eat hay once it's fallen down? I'm starting to think I have the word "SUCKER" stuck on my back!! And all the goats are walking around like this  Woot Woot! New HAY!


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## freedomstarfarm

Mine won't eat any that has been walked thru or laid on. If I put some in a little pile out in a dry area they eat most of it. 
But just like yours any that has fallen they won't touch! onder: 
I had wondered if I cut back on the hay if they would not waste so much but that doesn't seam to help. 
I do switch around any buy from a few different farmers and whenever I bring new hay they eat more... for a while.


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## Randi

Mine will only eat "racehorse" quality hay, which sucks in winter since you can't get orchard grass. They will eat off the ground if: 
1. It is clean fresh hay
2. It has not been stepped on or slept on--that whole uric acid thing
3. It is orchard grass/alfalfa
4. I watch. As soon as I start walking away everybody forgets the hay and follows me. :shrug:


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## Robynlynn

when I was raising boer goats I never used alfalfa hay. always used grass....now that I am raising Lamancha milkers I use alfalfa through much of the kidding season. they will not eat the stems. I had a mess this spring trying to clean up all the alfalfa they wasted..and I have feeders that the hay falls into a bottom feeder as they pul it out. I had a bonefire with all the stems laying on the ground....but it was a muddy mess to scoop out when the snow melted.....grrrrr expensive hay going up in smoke! I may feed grass hay all winter next year and see how bad they waste it...... :shrug:


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## Trip Trap Mountain

freedomstarfarm said:


> I do also use one of these its like a horse hay feeder but lower to the ground. http://www.tractorsupply.com/livestock-feeders/billy-goat-gruff-feeder-5-ft-goat-sheep-bunk-2170306 it has this bolted on top http://www.tractorsupply.com/livestock-feeders/billy-goat-gruff-goat-hayrack-5-ft-2173304
> 
> I will get a photo of mine when its light out.
> 
> We attached a sheet of plywood to the top so it stays pretty dry.
> What I don't like about it is the goats jump right in and the kids crawl up onto the hay. But it is great for a large number of goats since there is room for everyone to eat and it hold more than a bale.


love it. brainstorming ways to make one similar.


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## liz

I've seen that feeder and thought wow...I'd like one for my goats! But...I'm a cost effective type person and If I can make one or have hubby weld one I will....Goat panels run about $50 each and are 16x4....cutting them to the length you want and if you have old steel T-posts laying around you can make a nice hayrack. I say goat panel and not the cheaper cattle panel because the goat panel squares are much smaller, the can't get theit heads through and get stuck or even pull out large amounts of hay to waste.


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## freedomstarfarm

liz said:


> I've seen that feeder and thought wow...I'd like one for my goats! But...I'm a cost effective type person and If I can make one or have hubby weld one I will....Goat panels run about $50 each and are 16x4....cutting them to the length you want and if you have old steel T-posts laying around you can make a nice hayrack. I say goat panel and not the cheaper cattle panel because the goat panel squares are much smaller, the can't get theit heads through and get stuck or even pull out large amounts of hay to waste.


Making one or buying one used (like I did) is for sure the best way to go! I don't think I could bring myself to buy one new especially since for that price I could buy a goat! :wink:


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## liz

:thumbup: :wink:


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## HoosierShadow

I like the temporary hay feeder I made in the 4-H girls stall....So far it's been waste free!!! I took an extra pallet that had boards spaced pretty far apart <we took most of the boards off>. It was lightweight, so I hung it in one corner, put some scrap pieces of OSB across the bottom - we made our small barn out of pallets, and covered it with OSB on the outside, but didn't on the inside, so it's cool I can hang things and personalize it the way I need too... So leaining the OSB pieces against the pallets ensured the hay wouldn't fall out the bottom. The girls put their front feet up on the feeder and eat their hay happily! I'll get a pic if I can get out there this afternoon. Not bad for a last minute 'need a hay rack they can't climb in' idea!


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## freedomstarfarm

Cool would love to see a photo! We want to make a new chicken coop out of pallets.


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## liz

It may be mean of me....but, at this point mine only get a limited amount of hay. I pull one and a half flakes apart and put small rations in each of the 5 racks inside the doe barn for the 6 does....the 3 boys get the other half flake spread out in 2 separate areas. They do have pasture at this point and whatever they decide to drop on the floor they eventually come back and pick through it. After the first few days of them complaining and me trying very hard to not give in...especially with seeing that there was good hay on the floor, they decided that I was a mean mommy and went to pick through the dropped hay. Mind you though...if there was any dirty hay under the racks, I wouldn't want or expect them to do this but the hay was clean and clear and no reason for them to complain, other than the fact it was on the floor!


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## Trip Trap Mountain

So I ended up fixing the existing hay rack we had. It was almost laying down so I had to re-screw everything. Then I lined it with fencing. Working like a charm! Now just need to figure out what to cover it with. We used to use 2 pieces of tin with cinderblocks on top... but in big storms it would still go blowing off and I'm worried it's gonna decapitate someone. Now I'm thinking just a small tarp and bungie cord, but I'm worried the goats will chew on it.



















Here's Flossie laying in all the wasted hay from the last bale. So far I haven't seen any wasted this go round! They have to work a little harder to get their food, but I think that's a good thing!


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## freedomstarfarm

It looks great!
We have a sheet of plywood attached to the top of our hay rack I will get photos today and be sure to post.


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## Trip Trap Mountain

freedomstarfarm said:


> It looks great!
> We have a sheet of plywood attached to the top of our hay rack I will get photos today and be sure to post.


great, thanks!! i'm wondering how you have it attached? is it on hinges?


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## freedomstarfarm

gotta admit I totally forgot until just now so I ran out and snapped shot. Please excuse the hay pile we got some hay that they pick out only a few pieces and waste the rest!  They also are on pasture. Wasted hay what a mess. Even with the rack they just drop a ton! 
We used gate hardware and bolted it to the wood. I think since yours is wood some big ol heavy duty hinges would work well. We also shingled the top so it lasts longer.


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## megan

Bellafire Farm said:


> Maybe my goats are just pulling the wool over my eyes and are just SUPER spoiled... but they absolutely WILL NOT touch ANY hay that has fallen down, ESPECIALLY if anyone has stepped on it or slept on it!! Goodness forbid it actually touch the ground!!
> So are my goats just messing with me??? Do other people's goats actually eat hay once it's fallen down? I'm starting to think I have the word "SUCKER" stuck on my back!! And all the goats are walking around like this  Woot Woot! New HAY!


This is totally me too. My goats wouldn't dream of eating off the ground. I switched to alfalfa pellets and then put forage in the feeder so it's not killing me so much when they dump the hay on the ground.


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## Breezy-Trail

I dont like the hay rack type. I tried it and they just pulled the hay out through the racks with half of it going on the floor

I built a hay feeder that is like a big trough feeder. It is 6ft long and the channel is 1 ft high and 8 inches wide.
It is similar to the keyhole feeder but I dislike that one. Being that if they are in the keyhole they can't get away quick enough if there is a charging goat. So in stead there are rectangular openings in it that are about 4-5 inches wide and 6 inches tall. For my horned goats I have larger openings.

They put there front feet on a wood block.
They insert their head through the opening with no problem and fiddle through the bin to find all things good to eat...but not all. Some hay is still wasted (if you would call it wasted) because goats don't like whatever stem parts there are. I take whatever stems and stuff there not eating and use it as bedding for the chickens nesting boxes.
Sorry if this seems very confusing, I dont have a picture.

In the winter I dont mind wasted hay so much.


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## Jed

A feeder I came up with that seems to work well on a small scale, is to take a large plastic clothes hamper basket with lid, cut some of the slots out of the sides so they can fit their face in, but not horns, and hang it at the right height from a tree. Don't have a picture but it keeps the hay off the ground/dry, they only waste what little they pull out, and its cheap ($10 or so).


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## Stacie1205

IS it ok to just rake it up and use it for bedding? Seems like when I give them straw bedding, they want to eat that too. So maybe put down their wasted hay and they will leave it alone? My hay box is homemade. It's the size of a square bale, plastic lattice around the sides(I was afraid they would try to eat the wood kind), cheap metal roofing attached to plywood on top, sits about a foot off the ground. They pull it out thru the lattice. Although right now I can't get anyone to eat it, to much grass to occupy them.


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## HoosierShadow

Stacie1205 said:


> IS it ok to just rake it up and use it for bedding? Seems like when I give them straw bedding, they want to eat that too. So maybe put down their wasted hay and they will leave it alone? My hay box is homemade. It's the size of a square bale, plastic lattice around the sides(I was afraid they would try to eat the wood kind), cheap metal roofing attached to plywood on top, sits about a foot off the ground. They pull it out thru the lattice. Although right now I can't get anyone to eat it, to much grass to occupy them.


I have never bought straw for bedding. I always use hay. I have an old round bale that isn't much for eating <from last fall>, so I use it for bedding. However, in the part of the barn where I feed everyone hay, I only put a very thin layer of bedding down <because when I clean I use barn lime so gotta cover it up>. Whatever they drop in the morning I just spread for bedding, and works great. Better to use it than just throw it away.


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## Stacie1205

My husband farms so we usually have straw around or know where to get it. But I was afraid of using old hay for fear they might try eatting it and get sick. I have lots of old hay around usually so bedding it is then, thanks.


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## HoosierShadow

You can keep an eye on them see if they eat it. I haven't seen mine eat it, they nibble when I first put it in there, but then they just go to the hay feeders. Of course mine think they have to nibble/taste anything and everything at least once LOL


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## Little Bit Ranch

I only have a few goats but I use a plastic crate then bungee cord it to my fence. Then when the goats are done picking through it I dump the rest of it on my straw pile. (for bedding later) My goats eat it through the holes and the top. the leftovers stay in the crate and stay dry. Hope this helps!


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## EandEBoersWV

We built a brand new manger for our herd of 12. It had the staright up and down boards about 3 inches wide and 3-4 inches apart. And they were still wasting it. So we lined the inside of the manger with garden lattice. Works like a charm! so much less waste now.


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## Devin

I use my wasted hay in a couple ways. I compost for my garden, so we pile up the waste hay used straw and poo for compost, we have horses, chickens and goats who all contribute to the compost pile :shades: 

I also use it to bed down my garden for the winter. Its a great way to protect your beds and fertilize all at once! LOL! 

I have also been toying with the idea of using the waste hay in the chicken coop as bedding, and I think we will start doing that soon, as long as it is dry. It would save on buying straw, and it is usually pretty "clean" in that they have slept in it and poo'd a bit but it's not used up, they just won't eat it. 

I have also used it as "mulch".


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