# Hay Feeder in the Rain?



## bubba1358 (Dec 5, 2013)

I have a new hay feeder set up and I just noticed that it is out in the open and presently being rained on. The hay is stored in a dry area and set out in the feeder daily. Will it be a problem for my sheep if the daily hay gets wet?


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## Andrei (Dec 5, 2013)

Hay + water = fermentation.


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## bubba1358 (Dec 5, 2013)

I realize that, which is why I store it dry. But will it ferment and/or become otherwise inedible or spoiled within 24 hours of being out? Seems to me it would be fine but i wanted to cross check my instincts.


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## OneFineAcre (Dec 5, 2013)

bubba1358 said:


> I realize that, which is why I store it dry. But will it ferment and/or become otherwise inedible or spoiled within 24 hours of being out? Seems to me it would be fine but i wanted to cross check my instincts.



Getting wet will not cause it to spoil overnight.  But, the question is will they eat it if it gets' wet.  My goats will not eat hay that has gotten wet.  A sheep person will have to answer as to how sheep feel about wet hay.  Goats are kind of finicky about what they eat.  I don't think sheep are as bad, but I don't know for sure.


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## Bossroo (Dec 5, 2013)

I have fed hundreds of sheep in the rain with NO problems, even after 24 hours.   However, when any feed gets wet, and based on the temperature, mold will start to grow which may cause digestive issues. Since hay / grain + water = fermentation, the sheep will start to party like a party animal that they are.          Fermented feed ( silage ) is fed to cattle as a staple feed especially in the winter months.  A dairy, just about 5 miles from our house, has several hundred tons of silage under plastic cover and feed it daily to their cows.


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## Andrei (Dec 5, 2013)

And it has salt under the plastic and it is "pickled" fermented.
Or maybe I am wrong.


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## SheepGirl (Dec 5, 2013)

My sheep will eat hay in tbe rain but they will not eat the hay if they leave and come back to it.


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## bubba1358 (Dec 6, 2013)

Thanks. I checked on them this morning as it has been raining for about 18 hours straight. They ate almost everything i left out. I scooped up the wet remains and replaced with a full feeder of dry. They stood in the rain and chowed down.


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## OneFineAcre (Dec 6, 2013)

bubba1358 said:


> Thanks. I checked on them this morning as it has been raining for about 18 hours straight. They ate almost everything i left out. I scooped up the wet remains and replaced with a full feeder of dry. They stood in the rain and chowed down.



Then that's another difference in goats and sheep.  Goats act like they will melt if it is raining.


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## alsea1 (Dec 6, 2013)

Can you construct a cover for the feeder


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## ThreeBoysChicks (Dec 6, 2013)

My goats and rain (not happening).  When we had sheep, they could care less.  Rain meant nothing to them...


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## Sheepshape (Dec 7, 2013)

My hill sheep are totally unfazed by rain or snow BUT I would get that feed covered.
If the hay gets wet,sheep will eat it for a day or two. If the wet hay then lies there for a while and compresses it will become mouldy. Most sheep will then absolutely refuse to eat it (If it smells mouldy to you,then it will smell absolutely vile to the sheep who has a much superior sense of smell to the human). A big danger is that the mouldy hay may contain spores of Listeriosis which is a very serious and often fatal sheep disease.


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## promiseacres (Dec 9, 2013)

as long as the hay doesn't sit too long it's fine, we just got our hay feeder finished, and put a siding roof over it it won't keep everything out but should help. my 8 sheep and 1 donkey are eating a square bale a day, if they have too much left I wait a few hours.   you can see some pics on my journal page 20.


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## bubba1358 (Dec 9, 2013)

They're clearing it out each day. The leftover straw mixed in settles to the bottom and i scoop it for the compost bin. So fAr so good. And the rain doesn't faze them one bit.


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## Beekissed (Dec 10, 2013)

My sheep were a little different.  I had obtained a huge stack of square bales that were a couple of years old and had been stored in the top of someone's old barn.  They were of low quality, dusty and moldy.  But I had taken them to use for mulching around plants in the spring and not for feeding. I covered the stack with a large tarp and strapped it down three ways to Sunday.

Then one day I saw one of the sheep standing up by that tarped hay with their heads under one end...I thought no way they are eating that horrible old hay with all the wonderful graze and good hay at their disposal.  Sure enough, upon investigation, they had made several inroads into that hay stack at various points under that tarp.  I tried to cover it better and to block off access but they kept stealing that nasty hay!

After awhile I figured...it hadn't killed them, they seem to prefer the taste of it, let 'em have it.  So, I just let them "steal" hay when they wanted and it all worked out fine, but I sure was surprised because I had always heard that sheep wouldn't eat moldy hay.

I've also fed them stored corn shucks in the winter time that had speckles of mold on them as corn shucks have a tendency to do...they LOVE those things and couldn't get enough.  Maybe hair sheep are different?


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## Beekissed (Dec 11, 2013)

ThreeBoysChicks said:


> My goats and rain (not happening).  When we had sheep, they could care less.  Rain meant nothing to them...



I read once in a book that old farmers say sheep carry their barn on their backs...maybe that weatherproofing has something to do with it.  My sheep didn't mind rain and snow either.


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## CornTruckDriver (Dec 16, 2013)

Andrei said:


> And it has salt under the plastic and it is "pickled" fermented.
> Or maybe I am wrong.


 
Silage and plastic tarps. There is no salt and the silage is packed by driving bull dozers over it. It is *CRITICAL* there is no air for that causes spoilage. Micro toxins can *KILL!!!!!* Some do not need air. Equines are extremely sensitive to this. Botulism for one. It takes less botulism to kill a horse than it does to kill a mouse We have been doing silage for decades and sometimes something happens. Cows can put up with a lot but be careful. Other animals can die from the same feed a cow can thrive on.


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## CornTruckDriver (Dec 16, 2013)

Andrei said:


> And it has salt under the plastic and it is "pickled" fermented.
> Or maybe I am wrong.


Silage and plastic tarps. There is no salt and the silage is packed by driving bull dozers over it. It is *CRITICAL* there is no air for that causes spoilage and micro toxins that *KILL!!!!!* Equines are extremely sensitive to this. Botulism for one. It takes less botulism to kill a horse than it does to kill a mouse


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