I’ve talked several times about Phoenix’s dental issues and changes as he has aged. At 32 years old, he is missing two of his main chewing teeth, and the remaining ones are short and don’t have much dentine left so his ability to chew hay is extremely limited.
After buying all of the various pre-bagged chopped hay options in my area I was pretty frustrated. I wanted to give Phoenix the option to eat overnight when I’m not there, but a lot of these options had some really sharp pieces of chopped hay. Even worse, Phoenix actually had an issue with healing after he had those two teeth pulled last year because some of the sharp chopped hay got stuck in there. Thankfully I noticed it was a pain issue and got the dental vet back out, but after that I continued in search of a better option.
Finally, this past March, I found a product on Amazon that several people had reviewed saying it was perfect for chopping hay. After what I had spent on various bags of chopped hay that Vinny then ate for us (thanks Vinny!), it seemed like taking a chance on this chopper was worth the risk. Thankfully, it has been a win for us!
I’m using a Sun Joe SDJ616 13-Amp 16:1 Reduction Electric Leaf Mulcher/Shredder (Amazon link). So far I’ve used up two sets of the plastic lines and I chop a lawn trash bag of hay slightly less than weekly.
Some important things to note about this chopper:
- It is loud like a line trimmer. My horses did get spooked by it the first few times I started it up.
- There is some dust. I prefer to chop outside and I usually wear a mask to avoid getting hay dust in my nose. The end product isn’t dusty but hay dust comes out the top of the chopper after a while.
- It’s very important to clean off the air intact filter. It is always covered in hay dust when I finish chopping. If the motor doesn’t get air it won’t live as long.
- You want to use a high quality soft hay to start with. You can’t turn crappy stalky hay into a nice chopped hay.
Caring for an old horse is such a game of trial and error – there are not any one size fits all solutions. When you get it right though, it’s all worth the struggle. I’m so thankful for all the years I’ve gotten with Mr. P and I’m happy to do anything I can for him as long as he is comfortable and happy.
PS If you haven’t read the story of Phoenix, I recommend it. <3
That is so cool! I buy the chopped alfalfa and timothy and also the safe starch from Triple Crown for the minis (They only get a handful so it lasts a long time) it is a bit dusty but so far soft. But they aren’t old. Glad you found something that works for your guy. ANd glad Vinny eats the scraps 🙂
Safe starch is the only triple crown brand chopped hay I could get here and Phoenix just had no interest in it. Soft but not flavorful enough lol. I’ve found he keeps his topline a bit better with a little alfalfa so we do alfalfa timothy pellets for his mashes to go with this chopped grass hay. It’s pretty easy with only one mash in the summer but we did four mashes a day this past winter. Vinny loves when he gets the tasty leftovers lol.
Yes my donkeys didnt like the safe starch and the minis would RATHER have alflafa but get safe starch 🙂
They know what they like, lol.
This is a great solution! Rio did well on the Seminole wellness chopped hay, but it’s hard to get in a lot of places. For a special treat one day I chopped up hay for him with a pair of scissors. Joke was on me though, he preferred the the store bought stuff, and I wound up with blisters. Lol!
Yeah, I don’t have access to Seminole here. Wish I did! There are a lot of less than stellar chopped hay options. I did use a paper cutter for a bit but I just don’t have enough time for that…
Thanks for sharing!! Love a good DIY solution!
Always happy to share things like this that make life easier!
Are you still chopping your own? And is the leaf mulcher still working? Nay is obsessed with his bagged hay, but my budget…isn’t. I would love to chop some of his hay/alfalfa and mix it to see if I can further extend his bagged hay, though I’m not sure if there is a way to experiment without buying a mulcher.
Yes, I’m still chopping my own and using the same Sun Joe. I don’t require as much volume of chopped hay as I used to (his actual meals are all mashes and this is just so he has something to do overnight when the mash is gone, he maybe eats about 50% of it and leaves me quids for the rest) so I only chop once every two weeks but I’m sure you would need quite a bit more. I wear a mask and safety glasses when chopping, there can be a lot of hay dust.
I did use a paper guillotine for a short time as a test and it works but is very time consuming and not the safest for your fingers. Maybe if you have access to one you could try that as your test?
I have read that the SunJoe uses a lot of line up. Just curious where it ends up. Do you find the trimmer line in your chopped hay? Or is so small do the pieces end up in the feed and then in the horses belly?
Thanks for any feedback you can give me on my concerns.
I have not noticed it using a ton of line. I actually just used up the last of the pieces of line that came with it when purchased. I always run it open first after putting on new line in case some needs to shorten. Otherwise, I would assume that there are microscopic bits at times that come off since they have to go somewhere but I’ve never seen them and I don’t have much concern about it since they would just pass through or maybe they settle out?