Haygain is a science-driven company with the horse’s health as the primary focus. Haygain products, such as their renowned hay steamers and feeders, are recommended by world’s leading riders, trainers and equine vets.
Made to fit into any horse management program and backed by extensive research, steamed hay from a Haygain steamer supports your horse’s health and well-being in many ways. It can have a positive impact on respiratory, digestive and nutritional health, and it supports peak equine performance.
Haygain is relied on and recommended by Olympic equestrians and veterinarians worldwide:
“Haygain really helps get the dust particles out of hay and haylage and that helps us be at the forefront of doing everything we can do for our horses’ health.”
Scott Brash, Olympic Gold Medalist, Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping winner
How steamed hay can help your horse
Respiratory Benefits
Haygain’s patented steaming system is the only method proven to reduce up to 99% of the respirable particles commonly found in forage. And it does so without reducing nutrients.
Multiple studies prove that respiratory challenges affect over 80% of active sport horses, often without obvious symptoms. The cause is inflammation in the upper and lower airways, triggered by inhalation of microscopic particles that irritate the lining of the respiratory tract.
Most of these ‘respirable particles’ are found in your horse’s forage, from dust and mould spores to bacteria and other allergens. Vets agree that the best way to reduce the risk of respiratory problems is to reduce the amount of respirable particles in the horse’s environment.
Digestive Benefits
Haygain has a range of dietary benefits by reducing the risk of colic and ulcers while increasing hydration due to a higher moisture content than dry forage.
Haygain steaming increases the moisture content in forage. More water supports healthy digestion and the passage of roughage through the digestive tract which helps prevent impaction colics.
Haygain’s proven appetite appeal helps ensure horses get much-needed nutrients. The saliva generated by chewing helps protect the stomach lining from naturally occurring acids that can cause ulcers.
Did you know? Soaking hay can increase the bacteria content by almost 150%, including bacteria that can contribute to colic. Steaming with Haygain helps to reduce harmful bacteria.
How do I use my Haygain?
1. Load forage into the Hay Steamer Chest and fill the steam generator before turning it on.
2. The unit will take around 50 mins to heat up from cold, and then forage should remain in the steamer for a minimum of 10 mins when the needle reaches the green zone (approximately 1-hour full cycle).
3. Feed fresh steamed forage to your horse or store up to 24-hours in a bale bag.
Hydration
Haygain-steamed hay has more moisture than dry hay – in some cases three times the water content, which is brilliant for hydration and improved digestion. Good hydration is critical to all cellular function and encourages better performance.
Appetite Enhancement
Haygain’s proven palatability entices even the pickiest eaters to get their nutrients. This is especially valuable when travel stresses or illness might normally put the horse off their feed. With a variety of sizes and options, you can take your Haygain with you for stay-away shows, camps, and more.
Discover the Haygain Forager for the most effective and horse-friendly feeding system for your Haygain steamed hay.
Allergies
Allergens can trigger symptoms ranging from inflamed airways and the related difficulty breathing, to nasal discharge and skin problems.
Respirable dust in hay includes mould, fungi and bacteria that are often allergy triggers. This is true even in hay of excellent nutrient content. By significantly reducing these particles, Haygain steaming reduces allergy risks and helps to manage horses with allergic reactions to these particles.
Benefits for you
It’s not just your horse who can feel the benefits of The Haygain Way! Steamed hay can have a range of benefits for your health and your wallet – click below to find out more.
Human Health: A study at the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, showed that 25% of people working with horses have a diagnosed respiratory condition such as asthma. Clean, hygienic hay contributes greatly to healthy stable air. That’s great for your horses, for you and for everyone who helps care for them.
Kind to the environment: Steaming hay uses substantially less water than soaking, a less effective and outdated method of reducing respirable particles from forage. Soaking hay requires between 60 and 100 litres of water, while Haygain steaming requires just 4 litres. Worse, soaking leaches nutrients from the hay and the effluent from soaking can be up to 9 time more polluted than raw sewage. Haygain steaming produces no environmental pollutants and does not reduce the nutritional quality of the hay.
Good for your wallet: Steamed hay’s appealing taste and texture result in less hay being wasted, while the benefits to your horse’s respiratory and digestive health can help you to save money on supplements, vet bills, and poor performance issues.
Haygain Hay Steamers
Haygain Hay Steamers are engineered for maximum efficiency in hay steaming. With the capability to reach temperatures exceeding 100°C, they effectively eradicate mold, fungi, yeast, and bacteria, while also reducing respirable dust particles by up to 99%.
The Patented Manifold design, featuring a deltoid configuration, ensures uniform distribution of high-temperature steam throughout the entire hay bale, steaming it from the inside out. This innovative approach, combined with the use of aluminium materials for the manifold, elevates the chest’s temperature, enhancing the unit’s overall efficiency and effectiveness.
The right steamer for you:
Haygain HG 2000
| Capacity per Cycle: | 20-30kg |
| Features: | Easy open lid, wheels & pop-up handle |
| Steam Generator: | 2.6 kW steam generator, 7.7 liters capacity, built-in timer for easy programming |
| Cycle Duration: | 60-minutes |
| Dimensions: | L 1449 mm x B 815 mm x H 750 mm |
The original and biggest of the Haygain feeder, making it ideal for owners feeding four or more horses.
Haygain HG 600
| Capacity per Cycle: | 9-11kg |
| Features: | Easy open lid, wheels & pop-up handle |
| Steam Generator: | 2 kW steam generator, 7.7 liters capacity, built-in timer for easy programming |
| Cycle Duration: | 60-minutes |
| Dimensions: | L 805mm x W 776mm x H 751mm |
Ideal for at-home use for a small number of horses, or for transporting when travelling with a larger number of horses.
Haygain HG One
| Capacity per Cycle: | 5-7kg |
| Features: | Easily portable – ideal for travel |
| Steam Generator: | 1.5 kW steam generator, 3.5 litre capacity |
| Cycle Duration: | 60-minutes |
| Dimensions: | D 565mm x H 737mm |
Perfect for travel, shows or individual horses at home – Haygain’s smallest steamer.
“We use Haygain as it eliminates dust but maintains all the nutrition….Before using Haygain our horses would often cough and need to clear their airways after a long journey, but with Haygain we can dramatically reduce the dust they breathe in.”
Laura Tomlinson, 2x Olympic Medalist, 3x World Championship
Medalist
Haygain Hay Feeders
Haygain DuraBar
The perfect feeding solution for your horses! Crafted from durable HDPE, the DuraBar is a hay feeder built to withstand the demands of stable life with ease. It is rust and rot resistant, making it ideal for both indoor and outdoor use.
Designed to encourage a natural feeding posture, the DuraBar allows horses to feed from the floor, promoting better breathing and supporting back muscle health. With enough space to hold an entire small bale of hay in slices, it provides ample food to keep your horse well-fed.
Haygain Forager
An equine slow feeder designed to encourage a natural feeding position, the Haygain Forager helps to avoid digestive and metabolic upset such as colic and ulcers. The unique design helps to regulate and slow the pace of eating; smaller bites increases chewing and healthy saliva flow, and it promotes good musculoskeletal health by reducing stress on muscles and joints, allowing the horse to eat in a natural downward motion. The Forager also keeps forage hygienically separate from bedding, while also preventing waste if you have a messy horse.
“My top 3 horses have Forager Slow Feeders. They all love it and it’s been a bit of a game changer for my top mare, Equine America Cacharel. She’s a very fussy eater. She’s very alert and sticking her head out the door so much she almost forgets to eat. As soon as we put the Forager in there, she just
Joe Stockdale, 2022 ECCO World Championships Team Bronze
keeps picking away at her food.”
Frequently Asked Questions
My horse does not cough and appears healthy – do I need a Haygain?
Exposure to respirable particles such as mould spores and bacteria can induce allergic responses and develop a hypersensitivity reaction in the horse. Even the best quality hays are high in respirable particles. These particles form the “dust” that you cannot see (they are less than 5 µm in size), and have a 50% chance of being inhaled deep into the lungs, causing the respiratory disorder Recurrent Airway Obstruction (RAO). Minimising the amount of “dust” your horse is subjected to will help to prevent respiratory problems.
My horse does not cough and appears healthy – do I need a Haygain?
Exposure to respirable particles such as mould spores and bacteria can induce allergic responses and develop a hypersensitivity reaction in the horse. Even the best quality hays are high in respirable particles. These particles form the “dust” that you cannot see (they are less than 5 µm in size), and have a 50% chance of being inhaled deep into the lungs, causing the respiratory disorder Recurrent Airway Obstruction (RAO). Minimising the amount of “dust” your horse is subjected to will help to prevent respiratory problems.
My horse has COPD/RAO/Heaves – can I feed Haygain steamed hay?
Yes, absolutely! Respiratory diseases can be effectively managed by minimising respirable dust, mould spores and bacteria in the horse’s environment, particularly those in the horse’s breathing zone. Since hay contains high concentrations of these and the horse’s nose is in the hay while it is eating, it is vitally important to reduce this source of dust by steaming the hay.
Will my horse stop coughing?
Results are often reported within days of using the Haygain but do depend on the individual horse, the cause of the cough and other environmental factors. For example, if you change to feeding Haygain steamed hay but the horse remains on a dusty straw bed, while you will probably see some improvement it will be compromised by the other source of respirable dust. Equally, if you make changes to your horse’s feeding and management regime but the horses stabled either side, sharing the same air space have dry hay and straw bed then again the improvement may not be as marked.
What is the difference between soaking and steaming?
Soaking hay will dampen the spores down and make them swell so they are less likely to be inhaled. With steaming the combination of the heat and the moisture actually kills the spores, eliminating the allergenic respirable particles.
What makes Haygain stand apart from other hay steamers?
Haygain is the only scientifically proven system to kill mould spores including Aspergillus, as well as bacteria and dust mites. The nutritional value and goodness are maintained with improved palatability.
How much does Haygain cost to run?
The running costs are minimal and you will use considerably less water compared to soaking. The HG2000 uses 2.75Kw and HG600 uses 2.3kW electricity per hour, whilst the HG-ONE uses less at 1.5Kw. Electricity costs vary between utility companies but typically are between 7-18p per kW hour. To work out exactly how much it costs you, find out from one of your electricity bills how many pence per Kw hour your rate is and then multiply that number by either 2.75, 2.3 or 1.5 depending on which model in the range you have and this will give you the electricity cost per cycle. For example, if you are using an HG2000 and paying 10 pence per Kw hour it will cost 27.5p per hour.
How much water will be used?
The hay will absorb and therefore hydrate bringing it back towards its original moisture content, approximately 15+% of its original weight but the hay is neither soggy or heavy. The HG-PB (HG2000/HG600) will actually use about 4 ½ litres of water per cycle, some will be absorbed by the hay, some will be released as steam when you open the lid and some will be the residue of on average a tea-cup amount of water (condensed steam) which remains from each steam cycle and drains out of the drain hole in the bottom of the hay chest.
Does the outside of the container get hot?
All of the Haygain range are made from composite materials with highly efficient thermal properties so although the inside of the container can reach over 100 degrees C the outside is just warm to touch. Therefore, Haygain hay steamers are environmentally friendly and energy saving.
Can I steam haylage?
Absolutely! Haygain will improve the hygienic quality of any forage. Scientific studies have also shown it will increase the shelf life of haylage by up to 4 day.
Once steamed, how long before you feed the hay? How long does it last?
The hay is very hot when you first take it out and should be handled with care but it cools very quickly once in the air and can be fed immediately. It is best fed while it is warm and steamy and it would appear most horses prefer it like this but otherwise should be used within 24 hours.
What does steamed hay look and feel like?
Steamed hay is totally different to soaked hay and is damp rather than wet. The treatment is not about how wet it is but how hot it is. You will find the hay in the middle of the bale/ hay net will be quite dry. This is because when the steam comes out of the spikes it is at it’s hottest. As the steam travels through the hay and meets the plastic lid it will cool slightly, condense to water and drop back on to the hay. This results in the outside of the hay being wetter than the inside.
Does it matter if the hay dries out?
It is best fed while it is warm, straight out of the Haygain but you will find it cools and dries rapidly as soon as the air gets to it. This has no effect on the hygienic quality or palatability. We recommend feeding the hay within 24 hours to prevent contamination from environmental sources.
Sometimes there is a little bit of water coming out of the drain hole in the steamer chest during the steaming cycle. What should I do?
That is normal – it is usually condensation that collects under the lid during steaming. Haygain recommend using a sturdy kitchen or garden tray under the drain hole(s) to catch this water.
