Frequently Asked Questions about Handy Hay Nets

Slow feeder hay bags are a great way for horse owners to help their horses maintain healthy digestion and mental stimulation. Our hay nets are designed to slow down the eating process and have several advantages over free feeding. Most importantly, extending the eating time promotes saliva production and protects the stomach from stomach acid which can cause painful ulcers.

Additional benefits include helping reduce clean up time in paddocks and pastures by limiting wasted hay.

You will save up to 95% of each bale and that equals big savings over time. This makes the cost of transitioning to our Hay Nets a no brainer!

We've conducted extensive research to ensure that Handy Hay Nets are the best on the market.

Handy Hay Nets are made from the highest, most durable quality knotless netting while still being soft and gentle on muzzles. We hand sew the seams which improves the longevity of the bags. Made in British Columbia, Canada. Our netting is also manufactured in Canada.

Our nets are safe. We use knotless netting that is triple weaved for strength and also heat set to insure that the holes do not get larger or smaller over time. The knotless design is also gentler on your animals muzzles and teeth compared to knotted netting. It prevents damage to the bags.

If you have questions, our team who are horse owners and avid hay net users are here to answer and help you! Reach out here.

In an ideal world, your horse would have access to quality forage (hay or pasture) throughout the day and night because this is how they have evolved — as continuous browsers and grazers. Feeding this way can reduce the risk of colic, gastric ulcers, and behaviours such as cribbing.

We have come up with many netting (hole sizes) and hay bag sizes to suit your specific feeding needs.

You will know because your horses will be calm, food competition and aggression will end and there will be hay left in the morning (using the overnight period as an example).

We always recommend one extra bag than the number of horses you have (so 2 horses = 3 bags etc). If you are using one of our large bags for multiple horses please make sure the lead horse (lead of the herd) is allowing everyone to eat, otherwise you may want to consider providing more than one.

Our hay nets work as a barrier and can prevent your horse from burying their head in the hay. The bags also prevent the horse from flicking the hay around which makes dust particles that would normally be airborne and easily inhaled greatly reduced.

We recognize that every horse and herd have different needs depending on where they live; in the pasture, in a stall, small turn out, track system, or in a herd setting.

There are also considerations for you as the horse owner, such as how much time do you have to commit to feeding and how much do you want to be able to feed at any given time?

Note: All nets should be introduced properly by offering free-choice "loose hay" along with the net until the animal has proven itself capable of eating from the nets. The Getting Started Pages have important things to watch for when transitioning your animals.

We have printable pdfs and guides for deciding what size netting hole you need for your equines and farm animals. We also have several info pages under our Getting Started menu. These can help you further understand hay textures and understand netting sizes.

Are slow feed hay nets a Science? Well it does take some understanding to get the most out of your Handy Hay Nets. Animals that struggle to keep weight on might do better with a larger netting size, while animals that put on weight easily or have metabolic disorders might benefit from a smaller netting hole. If in doubt, it’s ideal to have a couple different netting sizes (hole sizes) to vary feeding depending on what your hay looks like in each season, the temperature and health of your animals. All of these things are important factors to consider.

You absolutely can but you need to make sure the bag is high enough off the ground that the horse can’t paw at it or build a box to put your bags in at ground level. (this is better for head position, teeth wear and digestion)

We have some great solutions for this on our video page here. Look for the section that says “How to keep your shod horses SAFE when feeding with Handy Hay Nets.”