Sometimes I like to “fork out” hay from my round bale instead of letting the animals free graze on it. Unfortunately if I just fork off some hay and toss it on the ground surely a lot of it will go to waste which is where a hay net comes in handy. If you’ve never used a hay net before they are a PITA to fill. Here is my trick to getting the buggers open and filled with lots of leafy goodness.
1. Employ an old muck bucket and put your hay net in it.
2. Stuff bucket full of hay, feel free to jump up and down on the hay to cram it full
3. Pull up on the draw string and remove from bucket
4. Hang your net where the alpacas can enjoy it
There ya go! Of course it works for square hay too but squares cost to darn much for me to bother with. 700lbs of round bale hay costs me $30 the same weight in small 40lb squares would cost me $62. I’ll stick to feeding my cost effective rounds 🙂