Equine Herb Infusion – A New Concept In Steaming Hay…
Introducing a fresh new concept in hay steaming with the revolutionary Hayvape system. Steaming hay has never been so exciting.
What we have done, is taken the concept of hay steaming to the next level with an innovative herb infusion chamber. Not only does the Hayvape system have all the traditional benefits of steaming hay, killing off nearly all bacteria, fungi and mold spores by reaching temperatures in excess of 90⁰C and substantially reducing dust particles from escaping, but it also modifies the taste and smell using our unique herb infusion chamber.
Our hay steamer as a complete system is one of the most competitively priced, professional designs on the market. We use high quality materials, incorporate multiple safety systems and have undergone rigorous testing to ensure a totally uniform steaming of all the contents whether you have one or multiple, large or small hay nets.
Placing the herbs inside the basket of the chamber and connecting it to our high-power steam generator, enables the steam to enter the chamber and permeate through and around the dried herbs, completely saturating them and releasing the natural goodness from within. All this fantastic flavour in turn passes through to the main hay box and gets pumped through the hay nets or bales.
In the same way we all use herbs to add flavour and scent to our cooking, you can now add the same great tastes to your horse’s hay.
During the many months of product development, we have used many different herbs. Dried peppermint is now one of our test horse’s favourites and has had amazing results, especially with horses that are not keen on dry hay or some that even refuse it to begin with. The herbs we used are all processed as human grade. These are high quality and result in a strong smell and taste to the hay. Ideal for all those fussy feeders out there.
As we all know, a horse has a much greater sense of smell and taste than humans, they rely on their powerful sense of smell to alert them to danger, decide who are friends or foes, recognise territory and decide which foods are safe to eat.
Now they can also decide which foods are best to eat… Hayvape’d hay of course.
What We Have Done To Get Here…
We have spent many hours calculating & testing where the inlet and outlet should be positioned to give the best possible flow of steam, to ensure full saturation of the herbs and maintain minimal restriction in the overall system. Our very first prototype now looks like a little beaten-up Dalek with different pipes projecting out at all angles! Progressing through various prototypes and using different shapes, sizes, materials etc. we eventually concluded which version would give us the best Hay-vaping performance.
During the development, we had a testing station rigged up in our kitchen to perform the physical tests. Steaming a range of herbs and collecting the steam into condensing vessels (old wine bottles came to hand in the early days!) to see what we were actually getting out of the system. As you can see from the images, we were achieving a rich, dark “herbal tea” for want of a better terminology. The aroma of the herbs came through with abundance and permeated throughout the house.
The crude set up looked like we were distilling our own moonshine or something and our home had that lovely fresh smell of herbs for days after. When friends and family visited, they would often comment and try guessing as to what herbs they thought we had been testing that week!
Ever true to the cause, Matt was even sampling our first batches of infused herb water. Not being somebody who has ever enjoyed drinking tea, we think he did a sterling job in tasting and evaluating what we produced. He even took it a step further and started steaming Shredded Wheat as it was the closest thing to hay that he was prepared to eat!
Working long into the nights after doing our existing 9-to-5 day jobs, we eventually came up with the perfect chamber. We then spent the next few weeks and months meeting with various manufacturing companies who have the necessary tooling and expertise to manufacture these units in bulk and to a professional level. Our moulding company, Wydale Plastics, have now been able to bring this system to life. With their knowledge of rotational moulding, Sarah’s ideas and enthusiasm and Matt’s designs, we are now able to present this unit to you.
Professional Steam Generator for Ultimate Performance…
Our industry specification steam generator has a much larger capacity and higher power output than many steam generators available on the market. Made in the UK and carrying all the relevant safety approval certificates and ratings, you can rest assured that the many years of trouble-free service you get from our steam generators make them one of the smartest purchases ever.
Running off of 230v AC mains electricity via a standard UK 3-pin plug, there is no need for any additional cabling or electrical work to be carried out.
We can also supply the system with a 110v AC version of the generator. These aren’t standard stock items so carry a few days extra lead time. Please let us know via the contact form or feel free to give us a call and discuss your requirements.
Keeping Everything Clean & Fresh…
We recommend filtered water should be used in our steam generators, as this significantly reduces the impurities in tap water.
The active carbon filters reduce the level of contaminants including:
Over 30 identified organic contaminants.
More than a dozen listed pesticides.
More than 10 of the most common herbicides.
Public tap water in Europe and North America is highly regulated, tested and certified for drinking. However, to make it safe, chlorine is added which can make it taste and smell bad. Active carbon filters are excellent at removing chlorine and it’s related poor taste and odour. High quality active carbon filters can remove 95% or more of the free chlorine.
Although carbon filters don’t remove all the nasty calcium deposits that cause limescale build up, it does help to soften the water to a level that limescale is significantly reduced. Anyone who is used to steaming hay will be well aware that steamers have to be de-scaled with harsh chemicals such as boric acid on a regular basis, which is time consuming and smelly. Using filtered water has actually kept our test and demonstration units clear of limescale in over twelve months.
We also carry replacement filter cartridges for immediate dispatch. If you wish to sign up for a regular delivery of replacement cartridges, please use the link in the online shop.
Selecting Only The Best Herbs…
The herbs we recommend are manufactured and sold for human consumption and come from a limited number of suppliers who can produce full datasheets on the products. We have found that these give the best rests as they are pure and not blended or padded out with other substances.
We have tried herbs manufactured for the animal feed sectors, but these did not give such good results as they aren’t all created equal. In some cases, herbs that have the most flavour contained within their leaves would contain large proportions of the plants stalks and vice-versa.
Monty, our number one guinea pig, loves his “Hayvaped” hay, he lives in quite a bit now due to an injury he had a while back. Whilst stabled, he was obviously consuming quite a lot of dry hay. He would have a few mouthfuls at a time, then turn away to watch what might be going on in the yard. Eventually he would eat it, but never all of it. When he has his “Hayvaped” hay, he quite literally dives in head first, oblivious as what is going on in the yard. Even at tea time when he is usually kicking his stable door, he is as quiet as a mouse with his favourite infused hay.
Our neighbour’s horse suffers with COPD and normally only has haylage, she bought me back a couple of nets of quite frankly very musty dusty hay which he would never have been able to have in the first place. After an hour of steaming, it came out with the lovely mint smells and no dust in sight. He turned his nose up at the haylage and went straight for the flavoured hay and ate the lot. She said he thoroughly enjoyed it but seemed a bit disappointed when only haylage was offered the following day!
We carry a select range of the most popular herbs for immediate dispatch. If you wish to sign up for a regular delivery of herbs, please use the contact us page as seasonal variations will sometimes change what we have one month to the next. We have different, pre-packaged selections of herbs suitable for different palates or purposes.
Final Thought…
Have you got a bad batch of musty hay that horses continually turn their noses up at?
Don’t waste it… Hayvape it.