PortionPacer™ Heunetze

Traditional nets are believed to cause damage to horses’ teeth with the knots. Being knotless, the horse can grab at the forage with less chance of grabbing the net as well. This also means that the net can potentially save money in the long-term by lasting longer.

We found in testing that smaller than 3cm mesh sizes made very little difference to the feed rate, and made some horses display frustration behaviours, and some even stopped trying to eat from the hay net. We found the 3cm is the perfect size to balance this reduction in feed rate, without frustrating the horse.

While horses do spend a lot of time grazing, they do also like to pick from hedges or trees and move around. Standing to eat from a haynet in one place for multiple hours isn’t ideal for their mental or physical health, however sometimes it is a balancing act with other considerations (their weight, how quickly they eat, if they drag forage into the bed and ingest shavings as a result). There are things you can do to mitigate the negative impact this could have on your horse. Read our article here on feeding at variable heights to help keep your horse more physically mobile and engaged in the stable, while feeding from hay nets.

In our initial pilot study, we trialled a net with 10cm mesh holes. Initial results suggested the feed rate was very similar to that of the 6cm holed net, but bigger holes could pose a bigger safety risk. We opted for the smaller size to reduce this potential risk, yet not impact feed rate significantly.