When I first started Confetti on a bale bag back in January, I noted that she went through a bale in about five days.  Sigh, I thought, maybe it will get better?  She used to get 1 flake twice a day, going through a bale in a week.

It briefly improved, sort of, when I started splitting it into three third-bales of hay and putting it in the full bale bag flake-by-flake so it was looser, then went back to going through a bale a week.  But this required me refilling the bag every time I was at the barn.  Progress over needing to pay someone, not-progress over me feeding all the time.  I also frequently worried whether I’d put in enough hay to last her til my next visit.  The ‘free-feed’ concept is defeated if she’s running out of hay every two days.

I finally decided that was dumb.  Back to full-bale bagging.

It is now November.  We have been doing this thing for more than ten months.  I have absolutely zero progress to report.  A bale lasts five days.
Also, my bale bag now has holes in it that have been nicely patched with pink paracord since I can’t find the repair string that came with it.  What can I say?  She’s really hard on her haybags.

Currently, my conclusion is to do nothing differently.  She’s at a good weight.  If I’m really being picky, maybe a tiny bit heavier than I’d like, but not overly so.  She has worked hard this year.  She is getting older, and I suppose I’d rather see her a smidge too heavy rather than showing ribs, especially going into winter.  Not that we get much winter.

Even if I tried doing something differently?  Well.  I was not up for re-stuffing the entire bale, one day, and opted to stuff it with a half-bale that was left over from my last ride.  This was at least 5-6 full flakes; a full bale around here is approx 14 flakes.  I came back the next day and found the bag completely empty.  Argh!

The only thing I may change is to pick up a Freedom Feeder with 1″ holes rather than getting a Nag Bag again when mine dies.  I frequently spend 10 minutes (down from 30 – I realized it has to go on a certain direction) getting it over the bale, versus the Freedom Feeder casually getting dropped on.  I have to patch them either way.  So:  Nag Bag is not actually Haflinger-proof, cannot completely recommend.

And since originally drafting this, it has been patched again. Look! Haflingers can be destructive! My mostly-forgotten macrame skills become occasionally useful! 

Arrrrrgh.