Slow Feed Hay Net Update

I've been feeding Grace out of the slow feed hay net for two weeks now. At first I was worried that Grace wouldn't eat enough hay and might lose weight. She surprised me by eating more at times out of the hay net than if I had put her  hay on the ground. She still doesn't empty the hay net all the way, but I take the left over hay, usually about a flake and mix it back in with the new hay when I refill the net. If she had left that same flake behind while feeding on the ground, it would have been spread out, stepped on peed on and then thrown in the manure pile. Now I hardly ever have to put hay in the manure pile before it makes it way through the horse.

I found this website full of great ideas on how to set up slow feed hay nets. I took the idea of running the bucket strap through the top to close and hang the bag. I have two nets and quickly learned that I like the larger one. It holds up to 30 pounds of hay and I can leave it up without refilling it for more than one feeding. I still like to pull the hay through the holes to get it started for Grace, my goal is not for her to lose weight but for her waste less hay. She still gets her flake of alfalfa mix on the ground twice a day, the orchard grass is there for her 24 hours. Last night I had a late meeting after work so I was gone for over 13 hours, I didn't have to worry about the increased amount of time in between feedings causing an ulcer flare.

This is what the net looks like right before I refill it:

When it is full:

 

 

 

 

Bucket strap:

 



 

 

 

 

I had a hell of a time uploading these pictures tonight. Blogger kept rotating them every time I would upload. I went to Google to see what was up and the party line put it back on the camera that I took the pictures with. I'm not buying that because when I logged out and back in I was able to get one picture to load correctly. If it acts like a bug and looks like a bug it is most likely a bug.I knew there had to be a way around it. I uploaded the same photos in Picasa, one of which uploaded rotated (Picasa is a Google Site) but I was then able to rotate in Picasa and upload here. Nice to know all those hours working for a software company are paying off!