# WARNING about standard metal hay racks



## hallsthirdacrefarm (Mar 30, 2011)

Fortunately I was out in the barn when I watched my 140-day preggo ND doe do this...we have a standard steel hay rack you buy at the feed store...the ones that are just under two feet wide with metal bars and about 20 inches tall...it is bolted to the wall. 

where the hay rack mounts to the wall the first bar out from the wall is a *tad* bit wider than any of the other bar spacings. My does are always trying to get the "best hay" off the very top in the center of the pile. I watched Ruth stand up high on the wall, and slide her head in this gap behing her jaw, turn her head sideways and have her feet slip off the wall. Her head got stuck. Fortunately I was already through the gate and on my way over and got her loose...but she would have hung herself!

I'd been meaning to cover the bars with some square fencing to reduce hay wastage for a year now...but I never saw the safety risk as they can't get their heads through any of the other slots. Needless to say we IMMEDIATELY wrapped the hay rack in wire mesh. Whew.... Everyone chech your hay racks!


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## mmiller (Apr 3, 2012)

Thanks for the heads up!! I dont have one but that doesnt mean I wouldnt have bought one in the future.


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

Thank you for the warning! It is a good thing you were there!


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

It is amazing what they can get into.

 I have a friend that had a goat with a collar on, she never imagined that the goat could get where it did and hung himself, that I shy I HATE seeing collars on goats just to have them on. People always say, no I check everything and there is nothing for them to get hurt on or my collar is a break away. They will find something to get into and the collars are not always break away, they have to be in the right position to break away. 

 By the grace of god you were there to help her.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

My second goat (many yrs. ago) that I ever had did hang herself in one of those hay racks. I was trying to save hay, so I mounted it up
high, put a 2x4 on the wall so the goats (2 of them) could brace their legs and eat the hay. The young doe was a jumper,
she managed to jump up and get her neck caught. My daughter found her dangling and dead. I was dumb for ever doing
that, and It makes me sick everytime I think of how I murdered my poor girl. Metal Horse hay racks are not for goats!
Neither are the rope hay bags. 

I am so glad you saved your girl before a tragedy occured!


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

we have a free standing hay feeder with four blue half barrels ( two on either side) for feed and to catch hay ...we keep heavy logs in them because twice a young doe was pushed and fell in the barrel..one fell and slipped to her back..her head was tacked beneath her...I too was out in the barn and heard this horrible sounds of her trying to cry out...all her legs were in the air..her head under her and back...she would have died, she could not get out..I stayed with her for an hour afraid to leave anyone with that feeder..my son came out to check on me lol..he helped me load heavy logs in them so there was no way one could do that again....after all the young ones had grown..my husband thought it should be ok not to have the logs removed...they were a pain to to clean the feeder lol...well its wasnt ok..once again a smaller doe got bonked into the feeder and thank God I was there...so you guessed it...there are logs forever in that feeder!


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

I'm so glad you were there. Thanks for the warning.


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## hallsthirdacrefarm (Mar 30, 2011)

Goats Rock said:


> My second goat (many yrs. ago) that I ever had did hang herself in one of those hay racks. I was trying to save hay, so I mounted it up
> high, put a 2x4 on the wall so the goats (2 of them) could brace their legs and eat the hay. The young doe was a jumper,
> she managed to jump up and get her neck caught. My daughter found her dangling and dead. I was dumb for ever doing
> that, and It makes me sick everytime I think of how I murdered my poor girl. Metal Horse hay racks are not for goats!
> ...


That...mounted up a bit high...is how ours is set up because our goats really enjoy reaching up / browsing to eat. I feel safe about it now being wrapped in wire mesh fencing...with holes too small for heads and would NEVER use a hay bag...but yeah...didn't see the risk as all the other bars are spaced 3 inches apart.


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## 8566 (Jul 18, 2012)

lots of goats have lost their lives from metal hay racks.
we feed off the ground.


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## Axykatt (Feb 1, 2013)

Gotta be careful with goats!

Our Ellie Mae gets her head into places you would never imagine. She has gotten hung in fences, wires, rails, loops, and under a door. Thankfully she never gets her windpipe crushed, but she's been caught for large parts of the day while we're out. 

Most recently she got stuck in the "chicken maze". We couldn't make the chicken house door small enough she couldn't get through and the chickens could, so dh made a little bend. She crawled halfway in and got stuck. Had to take down the front of the coop to get her out!

Never underestimate the power of goats to get stuck.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Wow I am so glad you were there for Ruth, that must have been terrifying! 
That is one reason, when we made our pallet hay feeders, that I didn't want them up high. That away if the silly brats get their head stuck, they aren't doing more than waiting to be rescued.


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## lottsagoats (Dec 10, 2012)

I have custom made metal hay feeders made by a goat person, so they can't get their heads in to get stuck...however that doesn't mean they can't hurt themselves.

These feeders are a bit above nose level. They can stand on all 4's and reach it just fine.

Last year one of my 4 month old doelings got spooked by a noise outside (a sheet of metal roofing fell off the roof where the contractor was working). Teddi jumped up into the air (like way over my head!) and landed in the hay feeder! She landed sort of upside down like in a cradle and got a rear leg stuck thru the rungs. She was thrashing around like crazy. I don't know if she would have gotten herself out of that alone or not. If not she could have broken that leg or bloated and suffocated from being on her back.

A freak accident, sure, because the feeders are too small for the adults to fit inside and too high for the smaller ones to climb into, but add one spooky noise and a young goat can sprout wings and actually fly into the feeder!

Hoosier Shadow, how did you make your pallet feeders?


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## goatgirl132 (Oct 18, 2012)

if i may i also wanna give the warning about hay nets. they can get their head coulgh in the holes.
i recomend chickenwire/very close together bars or hay bags.


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## dixiegirl3179 (Jan 20, 2010)

Glad you were there to save her! I read a warning about the metal horse hay racks someplace and because of that have been able to resist the urge to buy them since they would be the easiest thing to hang up and feed hay from. I'm glad I didn't give in and get one anyway. Thanks for warning others!


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## StarMFarm (Jan 17, 2013)

goatgirl132 said:


> if i may i also wanna give the warning about hay nets. they can get their head coulgh in the holes.
> i recomend chickenwire/very close together bars or hay bags.


I definately agree with you there. A few years ago I found one of my boys hanging from a hay net. Luckily he was ok, we found him in time. But who knows what would of happened if we hadn't checked them when we did. I have also had my horses get their legs caught up in them. So I am not a huge fan of them. On the other hand I have started testing out slow feed hay nets. So far so good. The holes are very tiny, they can't get their heads in them only their noses. We've been using them for about 6 months or so and not only have they not been able to get their heads in them but they are amazing at conserving hay. There is not nearly the waste that we used to have.


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## goatgirl132 (Oct 18, 2012)

StarMFarm said:


> I definately agree with you there. A few years ago I found one of my boys hanging from a hay net. Luckily he was ok, we found him in time. But who knows what would of happened if we hadn't checked them when we did. I have also had my horses get their legs caught up in them. So I am not a huge fan of them. On the other hand I have started testing out slow feed hay nets. So far so good. The holes are very tiny, they can't get their heads in them only their noses. We've been using them for about 6 months or so and not only have they not been able to get their heads in them but they are amazing at conserving hay. There is not nearly the waste that we used to have.


im glad you saved him! and i never thoght about a horse getting their legs cought in them .Thats really scary!
and on the new nets. what about the babbies hooves? or are they kept low enough they can just pull them out?


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## dan354 (Dec 20, 2012)

I had a calf get stuck in a horse feeder. Lucky for the calf that I found it before it was too late. I don't use them anymore. I would like to find a good (almost) waste free hay feeder before I get my goats.


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## StarMFarm (Jan 17, 2013)

I haven't had any trouble with the babies yet. We only had two fall babies last year and neither of them have had any issues. Actually the little girl climbs all over it so she can be the "boss" of the hay and we have not had any problems. So we will see as this year's spring kids grow and start eating hay, how they do with it. So far though they have been a huge success.


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## hallsthirdacrefarm (Mar 30, 2011)

Here are the two pics I snapped (I was out snapping pics and looking at her through the camera) before I got her down and put wire mesh around the sides of the hay rack. Just in case you have one of these racks and think I must be talking about something different.


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## StarMFarm (Jan 17, 2013)

Poor girl...I am so glad you found her in time!


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