6 Best Covered Hay Feeders For Rainy Climates That Prevent Hay Waste
In rainy climates, covered hay feeders are essential to prevent spoilage. We review the top 6 models designed to keep hay dry and reduce costly waste.
Watching a perfectly good bale of hay turn into a soggy, trampled mess after a three-day downpour is a rite of passage for many of us. It’s also a costly and frustrating one. In a rainy climate, an uncovered hay ring is little more than a suggestion; the real work is done by a feeder that actively protects your investment from the elements. A quality covered feeder isn’t a luxury—it’s a fundamental tool for reducing waste, protecting animal health, and saving money.
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Why Covered Hay Feeders Are a Must in the Rain
Rain and hay are a terrible combination. Once hay gets wet, it quickly begins to mold and ferment, losing its nutritional value and becoming unpalatable. What your animals don’t eat turns into expensive, heavy bedding that you then have to muck out.
The financial hit is significant. Every flake of hay that spoils on the ground is money thrown away. For a hobby farmer operating on a tight budget, this waste can add up to hundreds or even thousands of dollars over a year. A covered feeder pays for itself by ensuring the hay you bought is the hay your animals actually consume.
Beyond the cost, there are serious health risks. Inhaling mold spores from spoiled hay can lead to respiratory issues in livestock, particularly "heaves" in horses. Ingesting mold can also cause digestive upset and colic. A feeder that keeps hay clean and dry is one of the best forms of preventative care you can provide.
Tarter Equine Hay Basket: Maximum Weather Protection
The Tarter Equine Hay Basket is designed with one primary goal: keeping hay dry. Its defining feature is a wide, sturdy roof with a generous overhang. This design doesn’t just block rain falling directly from above; it shields the hay from wind-driven rain and snow, offering comprehensive protection.
This feeder is incredibly versatile. While it’s large enough to accommodate a full round bale, it works just as well for loading up with multiple square bales. Many models come with an optional slow-feed grate, which is a game-changer for reducing waste. The grate forces animals to take smaller bites, preventing them from yanking out huge mouthfuls and dropping half on the ground.
The main tradeoff is its size and weight. Built from heavy-gauge steel, this is not a feeder you can easily move by hand. You’ll likely need a tractor with a front-end loader to place it or move it to a new location. While the initial cost is higher than a simple hay ring, the dramatic reduction in wasted hay means it often pays for itself within a season or two.
High Country Slow Feeder Saver for Small Herds
For those of us with smaller livestock like goats, sheep, alpacas, or mini horses, a giant round bale feeder is often overkill. The High Country Slow Feeder Saver is perfectly scaled for this purpose. Its compact design fits easily in a small paddock or stall, making it an ideal solution for a few animals.
The "saver" in its name is no gimmick. This feeder features a solid pan at the bottom that catches all the small bits of hay that fall as the animals eat. This simple feature is brilliant, as it keeps nutrient-dense leaves and chaff off the ground and in the feeder where they can be eaten. Combined with the slow-feed grate, it nearly eliminates ground waste.
Made from durable polyethylene, it’s lightweight enough to be moved by one person and won’t rust or corrode. Its primary limitation is capacity—it’s designed for a few flakes or a small square bale at most. But for the hobby farmer looking to feed a small group efficiently and with minimal waste, it’s one of the best-designed options available.
Behlen Country Round Bale Feeder with Hay Saver
When you need a no-nonsense, durable solution for a small herd of cattle or a group of horses, the Behlen Country feeder is a workhorse. This is a classic, all-steel round bale feeder with the critical addition of a roof and a hay-saving skirt. It’s built to withstand years of abuse from weather and livestock.
The key feature is the "Hay Saver" ring—a solid or mesh skirt around the bottom of the feeder. This simple piece of engineering prevents animals from dragging hay out onto the ground. Any hay they pull from the bale but drop falls back inside the feeder, not into the mud. This single feature can reduce waste by over 30% compared to a standard open ring.
This is a heavy, semi-permanent piece of equipment. Like the Tarter basket, you’ll need a tractor to move it and place a round bale inside. It’s an investment in long-term efficiency, designed for the hobby farmer who has graduated to feeding round bales and needs a reliable way to protect that significant expense from both rain and the animals themselves.
Premier 1 Supplies Covered Fence Line Hay Feeder
Fenceline feeders offer a completely different approach to feeding in wet weather. By mounting the feeder on a fence or gate, you can add hay from outside the enclosure. This is a massive advantage in muddy conditions, as it keeps your tractor or wheelbarrow out of the paddock, preserving your pasture and keeping your boots clean.
The Premier 1 model features a simple but effective sloped roof that directs rain away from the feed trough and out of the pen. It’s designed specifically for square bales, making it perfect for controlled feeding of smaller groups. This setup is ideal for managing animals in a dry lot, a sacrifice paddock, or as part of a rotational grazing system where you want to keep traffic to a minimum.
This feeder is more of a management tool than a bulk feeder. It excels in situations where you need to separate animals or provide supplemental hay without entering their space. It’s not the right choice for feeding a large herd in the middle of a 20-acre field, but for organized, low-impact feeding, it’s an incredibly practical solution.
Hayhut Covered Feeder: A Shelter-Style Solution
The Hayhut takes the concept of a covered feeder to the next level. Instead of just a roof, the Hayhut is a complete polyethylene shelter that fully encloses a round bale. This provides 360-degree protection from rain, sun, and wind, virtually eliminating all forms of weather-related spoilage.
Constructed from tough, rust-proof plastic, the Hayhut has no sharp edges, making it a very safe option for livestock, especially horses. To load it, you simply tip the hut on its side, place the round bale, and tip the hut back over it. Despite its size, it’s light enough for two people to move, offering more portability than many steel feeders.
The enclosed design can take some getting used to for more timid animals, but most adapt quickly. The feeding windows are sized to limit how much hay an animal can pull out at once, further cutting down on waste. For maximum protection from the elements, the Hayhut is arguably the most effective design on the market.
Sioux Steel Bale Feeder: Heavy-Duty Durability
![[New Upgrade] Stainless Steel Goat Feeder 45 Inch, Heavy Duty Large Capacity Feed Trough, Thickened Livestock Feeder, Easy to Clean, for Goats, Sheep, Horses, Cattle, Alpacas](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41WXa2W+p5L._SL500_.jpg "6 Best Covered Hay Feeders For Rainy Climates That Prevent Hay Waste 7")
If your animals are particularly tough on equipment, a Sioux Steel feeder is the answer. These feeders are engineered for durability, using heavy-gauge steel and robust welds that can stand up to pushing, shoving, and general abuse from cattle or draft horses. This is the feeder you buy when you’re tired of repairing or replacing lesser models.
Many Sioux Steel covered feeders combine a roof with V-shaped slant bars. This design forces animals to keep their heads in the feeder while eating, making it difficult for them to toss hay over their shoulders or pull it out onto the ground. When paired with a hay-saving skirt at the base, the waste reduction is substantial.
This level of durability comes at a price and a weight. Sioux Steel feeders are among the heaviest and most expensive options, representing a significant long-term investment. It’s not the right choice for a couple of goats, but for the hobby farmer managing a small beef herd, it provides peace of mind and performance that will last for decades.
Key Features for Choosing a Weatherproof Feeder
When you’re comparing models, look past the brand name and focus on a few key design elements. The first is the roof itself. A good roof should have a wide overhang that extends several inches beyond the body of the feeder. It also needs a decent slope to shed rain and snow effectively, preventing water from pooling.
Next, evaluate the waste-saving features beyond the cover. A roof keeps hay dry, but it doesn’t stop an animal from pulling it onto the wet ground. Look for:
- Hay-saver skirts: A solid or mesh ring at the bottom to catch dropped hay.
- Slow-feed grates: A metal or net grid that forces smaller bites.
- Catch pans: A solid floor that prevents any hay from ever touching the ground.
Consider the material and construction. Steel is incredibly strong but heavy and can eventually rust. Polyethylene (plastic) is lightweight, rust-proof, and safe, but can become brittle in extreme cold over many years. Think about how you’ll move the feeder—by hand, with an ATV, or with a tractor—and choose a weight and design that matches your capabilities.
Finally, always consider animal safety and herd dynamics. Ensure there are no sharp edges, and choose a feeder with enough feeding stations for your entire herd to eat peacefully. A feeder that’s too small will encourage bullying, where dominant animals prevent others from eating, completely defeating the purpose of your investment.
Choosing the right covered hay feeder is about more than just keeping hay dry. It’s an integrated part of a smart, efficient farm management system. By protecting your feed from the rain and your animals from themselves, you save money, reduce labor, and promote better herd health—freeing up your limited time for the parts of farming you truly love.
