Need some ideas

FRED DESANTIS

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Hi everybody,
I was thinking these goats waste a lot of hay. I am constantly raking it up and cleaning it out of the barn. I started to spread it out in the pasture outside the goats area. I was wondering what kind of chipper,shredder or mulcher I could buy to start bagging up mulch. It would have to be able to mulch wet hay also. Any suggestions ?

Thanks
Fred D
@the Lazy D
 

Baymule

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I don't have one, but a neighbor has one he bought from Harbor Freight. It works good and gets the job done.
 

frustratedearthmother

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I was wondering what kind of chipper,shredder or mulcher I could buy to start bagging up mulch. It would have to be able to mulch wet hay also. Any suggestions ?
Waaaay back in the day when I would bag up the old mulch - I simply piled it in an area and ran over it with the push mower. I would make sure that it was aimed up against a wall so it wouldn't go everywhere. It worked pretty well - only problem is that there's no way to do it without getting really dirty! I would end up wearing a layer of mulch....ewwwww!
 

Mini Horses

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Do you have chickens? Put it all in a container area...posts/chicken wire....and let them in it. In a coupe o months it will be shredded and manure added.
Of course, if you want to use it as mulch now...

have a mower with an attachment to blow it into containers?

Didn't have those way back then, FEM. LOL
 

Bruce

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Are they wasting it because it is easy to pull too much out of the feeder? I've seen feeders with smaller openings that cut the waste pretty well.
 

Nommie Bringeruvda Noms

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Are they wasting it because it is easy to pull too much out of the feeder? I've seen feeders with smaller openings that cut the waste pretty well.
This was my first thought, too. I took tomato cages (with about 1x3 openings - I think they were to help prevent rabbit damage?), left behind by the previous owners of our place, opened them up, and mounted them to the walls, horizontally, in the stalls, so they're shaped like troughs. The tops are high enough up that the goats can't get their hooves up there, to pull them down, but the trough 'bellies' hang low enough that they don't have to stretch up, to eat. The narrow wire means they have to slow down, and they can't pull more than a few pieces through, at a time. Our hay waste has been all but eliminated.
 
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LonghornChris

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Do you have chickens? Put it all in a container area...posts/chicken wire....and let them in it. In a coupe o months it will be shredded and manure added.
Of course, if you want to use it as mulch now...

have a mower with an attachment to blow it into containers?

Didn't have those way back then, FEM. LOL
Wow, that sounds like a great idea. I will try this.
 
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