Frequently Asked Questions
About Slow Feeder Hay Bags

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!

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 humber 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 airborne and easily inhaled.

We recognize that every horse/herd have different needs depending on where the horse/animal lives…in the pasture, in a stall, small turn out, ton rack system, or in a herd setting.

There are also considerations for you as the horse owner… like how often do you want to do chores 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 horse has proven itself capable of eating from the nets. The Getting Started Guide has important things to watch for when transitioning your animals.

This page will take you to our Printable Resources page where you’ll find charts for deciding what size hole netting you need for your equines and farm animals. There’s also a printable Getting Started Guide and several blog posts to help you further understand appropriate hay textures and lengths for each hole size.

Are slow feed hay nets a Science you ask? Well it does take some understanding to get the most out of your Handy Hay Nets… which is ultimately what we wish for you! 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 these are important factors. We recommend taking some time to read the helpful information about hay and netting sizes on our Blog.

Please Note: Our nets are designed to take ANY shape you put in them and this guide s an estimate on hay capacity for each net.

We make our nets with a generous amount of room to make them easy to fill and use!

HHN Trailer Bag - is designed to hold 1 - 2 flakes of a 2 string bale.

HHN Medium Bag - is designed to hold 4 - 6 flakes of a 2 string bale.

HHN Large Bag - is designed to hold 8 - 10 flakes of a 2 string bale OR a 50 pound small hay bale.

HHN Bale Bag - is designed to hold a full 2-string small square bale, 60 pounds or more.

HHN 3-String Bale Bag - is designed to hold one full 3-string small square bale of 100 pounds or less.

The 3-string Bale Bag can also hold 2 - 2 string bales (regular 50 pound small bales).

HHN Big Bag - is designed to hold 2 full 3-string small square bales of 100 pounds or less.

It also holds 4 - 2 string bales, and is wide enough to accommodate the flakes from the big 4 feet x 5 feet x 8 feet long square bales.

HHN Small Round Bale Bag - is designed to fit small round bales of 4x4 in diameter or 5x5 in diameter, or multiple small square bales.

HHN Large Round Bale Bag - is designed for large rounds and squares (4x5x8). This is the most common size we sell and if you have a variety of round bale sizes, we recommend going with this hay net.

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 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 are heat set to insure the holes do not get wider or smaller over time. The knotless design is also gentler on your animals muzzles and prevents damage to the bags.

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

You absolutely CAN but you need to make sure the bag is high enough that the horse can’t paw at it or ideally build a box to put your bags in (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.”