Steaming Hay and Haylage the Haygain Way.

Why Steam Hay?

• Even the best quality hay can be full of pathogens such as dust, mould and bacteria.
• Soaking hay can increase the bacteria content by almost 150%.
• 88% of horses have some degree of Airway Inflammatory Disease.

Haygain Steamers are the only scientifically proven way to eliminate up to 99% of the dust, bacteria, fungi and mould found in hay, that can cause serious health issues. Steamed hay offers a number of health benefits:

• Respiratory Health - Prevents incidents of inflammatory airway disease by 65%.
• Digestive Health - Promotes healthy digestion to prevent and treat mild to severe issues.
• Hydration - Steamed hay has an increased water content of almost 3 times.
• Palatability - It is the proven choice for horses over dried or soaked hay.
• Skin Conditions - Helps the sensitive horse with allergy related issues.
• Performance - Clean, palatable and hydrating hay is a key requirement for keeping horses in top condition.

How can I fit steaming into my daily routine?

Steaming hay with Haygain couldn't be easier, as is fitting it into your daily routine. Steaming takes around an hour and your steamer can be fitted with a timer to switch it off at the right time. During this time you can get on with your daily routine or riding your horse.

Steamed hay can be fed straight away, but it can also be left in a Haygain Bale Bag or a clean environment for up to 24 hours. This allows you to steam hay in advance.

How Hay Steamers work.

Developed and tested with The University of Bristol and The Royal Agricultural University, UK, Haygain's hay steamer has three unique features:

• Patented manifold system which is designed in a deltoid configuration resulting in the most effective way for injecting high temperature steam evenly throughout the whole bale of hay. A bale of hay is steamed from the inside out!
• Thermally double insulated chest which enables the injected steam to reach ultra high temperatures, around 100ºC. The aluminium materials used for the manifold, help to raise the temperature in the chest, increasing the efficiency of the unit.
• Robust steam generator which ensures the steam can reach over 100ºC effectively killing the mould, fungi, yeast and bacteria and reducing up to 99% of respirable dust particles.

Steam is produced in the boiler at a slightly elevated pressure of 75 to 100mb and injected through perforated spikes to be distributed throughout the hay mass. This raises the temperature within the unit to a high enough temperature to destroy fungal spores and bacteria.

The aluminium plates holding the spikes themselves accumulate heat which in turn contributes to the high temperature within the box and thus to the overall efficiency of the system.

Home made steamers.

With a homemade steamer the steam is going from the outside-in and most of the heat is lost through the non-insulated walls (especially during winter). Without fully penetrating the hay and steaming it at a temperature of at least 90ºC for a minimum of 10 minutes, the hay will become an incubator of pathogenic bacteria, yeast, mould and fungi.

Haygain's patented and proven manifold spike system was designed to inject steam from the inside-out, and ensures that all of the hay is steamed evenly. Its insulated hay chest is attached to a purpose-built steam generator that steams the hay for 60 minutes at temperatures that reach 100ºC. This effectively eliminates harmful mould, fungal spores, bacteria and dust mites.

What Haygain Steamers do differently.

Haygain's patented technology is the only scientifically proven way to eliminate all the unwanted particles that can't be removed through soaking.

Steaming reduces bacteria and mould whereas soaking increase this dramatically.

Steaming has 6 main benefits - respiratory health, digestive health, palatability, performance and skin conditions.

1. Soaking increases bacteria content by approximately 150%.
2. Soaking reduces palatability.
3. Soaking compromises hygiene.
4. Soaking doesn't effectively prevent asthma.
5. Soaking is hard on the environment because of the disposal of significant quatities of contaminated water. Look after your environment.

Soaking or steaming? - the data speaks for itself.

Even the best hay and haylage contains many respirable particles such as bacteria, mould, yeast and fungal spores.

These unwanted particles, which can cause mild to severe respiratory and digestive issues, wont be eliminated by soaking, watering, rinsing or wetting the hay.

There are also a number of other downsides to soaking your hay - check out the chart.