Hay steamers?

[Jem]

I recently looked into hay steamers at the christmas equine show at westpoint! Me and my mum were very impressed with them, and it certainly sounded much better than soaking heavy haynets in the freezing cold weather.. having to lift them out of the water.. getting soaked.. and then the water turning to ice out on the yard how ever careful we are!!
My horse is 12 years old and has a very bad case of c.o.p.d, which seems to be worse this winter than ever before. He lives out most of the time, coming in, in only the worst of weather ( which to be fair has been most nights this winter so far )!
He is on rubber matting with cousin jack bedding, which may i add is absolutely brillaint for anyone with a horse with breathing probelms! He is also fed on alan and page fast fibre, and has been on pure easy food ( which is lovely stuff but proving hard to get hold off at the moment! )
Anyway back to the haysteamers! Sounded brillaint untill we found out how much they cost!!!! Around £800.!! You can my a canvas bag for 140 but it didnt seem sunstantial enoguth for barney. Anyway.... dad and his little brain got thinking about it.. looked into it.. and yesterday i came home to a haysteamer in the living room! He's only gone and made one!! And its absolutely brilliant! USed it lastnight and this morning and it works really well. Simply out of a heavy duty wallpaper steamer and a big plastic feed bin!!!
So theres an idea for anyone looking into a haysteamer.... And the best pART of it all, it cost me £30! I had a spare feed bin and the wallpaper steamer was £25 and then the pipes etc. Oh and a pizza tray hahah!

try it... xxx

[anastasia55555]

i was about to say as i started reading dont buy one, make one :-)

[lilaclomax]

Snap! Also try out your local Freecycle sites to see if anyone is giving a steamer away ;p

[czar]

hello! my Spenny has steamed hay as its BRILL!!!!

i used to do his with an old pastic feed bin with a hole in the side/bottom, get a wallpaper striper and put the hose into the hole. plonk haynet ontop put plastic bag over top to hold in steam, put lid on and leave for good half hour or until steam has got to middle! hety presto yummy hay! and no more shnot

i did do this till one of the livery's owners (who owns Haygain ) brought us up a Haygain steamer AWESOME!! haha

[sunnylynn11]

Ive got one to, made from a wheelie bin & wallpaper stripper, its great .

[thegaffer]

Black bin, hole in bottom and wallpaper steamer. Has worked brilliantly. I can't belieive they are charging £800 for one. I know they do a bale at a time but it can't justify the cost, can it?

[lucy2]

We've been using the wall paper steamer for quite some time now. Not sure how it eats electricity but brilliant for haynets! Thoroughly recommend them.

And as you say - a fraction of the cost - even if you buy a plastic garden chest so that you can do a whole bale at a time (if you need to, that is).