TWO WAYS TO SOAK HAY

The recipe for soaked hay is very simple: Start with hay and then add water. But the best way to add the water depends on why you’re wetting hay in the first place.

If you are wetting hay to control heaves or respiratory irritation, the goal is to flush away dust or keep it from becoming airborne. This doesn’t take long, but you do need to wet the whole flake, not just the outer layer. That means spritzing the hay with a hose probably won’t do. A better approach is

to place the flake in a hay net and then dunk it in a large bucket of fresh water. To make sure the hay is thoroughly saturated, hold it beneath the water until no bubbles emerge, a process that will take less than a minute. Then remove the hay net from the bucket and hang it up or remove the wet hay for feeding.

Soaking hay to remove sugars that can exacerbate metabolic conditions such as insulin 0 resistance takes more time. You’ll need to submerge the hay (again, a hay net makes this easy) and soak it for 30 minutes. In that time, the potentially harmful sugars will leach from the hay into the water. Don’t soak it any longer, however, because this risks leaching beneficial nutrients from the hay. Set a timer on your phone, if necessary, to ensure you don’t forget about your submerged net. After a half-hour, remove the hay and feed it immediately. Do not reuse the water for other nets---dump it.