Baseball Hay Nets

The mesh is 1.5 inches.

The nets are made out of 10'x15' sections of baseball netting I got from a baseball supply place. They bind the edges when you tell them what size. I can fit up to two bales (small square 3 wire) in each net. I just folded them in half and attached them to the fence with zip ties. Really easy. The first one I went to more trouble and tied the edges all the way along and made several Velcro closures for the top but that was not really necessary. Just a couple of zip ties on the sides and one fastener in the center of the top. I also attached the back side to the fence with zip ties. The horses don't move the hay around much and don't reach through the openings either so it does not need to be too elaborate. This mesh is 1.5 inches square and not as heavy duty as you can get it. I didn't want to spend too much since it was kind of experimental. The horses have not damaged it at all yet in two months. They are more interested in getting the hay out than messing with the nets. I let them hang all the way to the ground and have no shod horses so getting hung up is not a concern. The hay does not fall out of the nets so there is no need for a board or anything behind it. They are really fabulous for wet rainy weather since the horses can't trample the hay into the mud and great in wind too since they keep the hay nice and tidy and it can't blow away. They slow their eating significantly but the horses have gotten pretty proficient at getting the hay out. They have amazingly talented lips! My hope was to have feed in them all the time but I tried that for several weeks and now have fat horses and a lot less money! I can however feed them once a day instead of twice for feeding before. It seems it's the best I can do since trying to feed them more naturally 24/7 would require me to have much more space for them and to be able to spread the feeding areas out. In a one acre area there is not too much else to do but sit and eat all day so they put away a lot of feed if it's there all the time. They are not getting enough riding for that to work for them. These are very easy to make and my cost was about $150 to make two of them that ended up 15 feet long by 5 feet high. If my horses were not such gluttons they would be better. ~Lydia

The nets are made out of 10'x15' sections of baseball netting I got from a baseball supply place. They bind the edges when you tell them what size. I can fit up to two bales (small square 3 wire) in each net. I just folded them in half and attached them to the fence with zip ties. Really easy. The first one I went to more trouble and tied the edges all the way along and made several Velcro closures for the top but that was not really necessary. Just a couple of zip ties on the sides and one fastener in the center of the top. I also attached the back side to the fence with zip ties. The horses don't move the hay around much and don't reach through the openings either so it does not need to be too elaborate. This mesh is 1.5 inches square and not as heavy duty as you can get it. I didn't want to spend too much since it was kind of experimental. The horses have not damaged it at all yet in two months. They are more interested in getting the hay out than messing with the nets. I let them hang all the way to the ground and have no shod horses so getting hung up is not a concern. The hay does not fall out of the nets so there is no need for a board or anything behind it.

They are really fabulous for wet rainy weather since the horses can't trample the hay into the mud and great in wind too since they keep the hay nice and tidy and it can't blow away. They slow their eating significantly but the horses have gotten pretty proficient at getting the hay out. They have amazingly talented lips! My hope was to have feed in them all the time but I tried that for several weeks and now have fat horses and a lot less money! I can however feed them once a day instead of twice for feeding before. It seems it's the best I can do since trying to feed them more naturally 24/7 would require me to have much more space for them and to be able to spread the feeding areas out. In a one acre area there is not too much else to do but sit and eat all day so they put away a lot of feed if it's there all the time. They are not getting enough riding for that to work for them.

These are very easy to make and my cost was about $150 to make two of them that ended up 15 feet long by 5 feet high. If my horses were not such gluttons they would be better.

~Lydia

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Baseball Hay Nets

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