Friday, March 21, 2008

The View Today of Our Estate with Horses in Sunny Pastures Next to the Lake


Okay so that is a fib, but it sounds great and is not entirely untrue because we have all three of those LOL. The horses spent the night out last night and we didnt get any rain until this evening and then it wasnt too much so they are staying outside tonight again. I have some round bales of hay coming soon to throw out in the fields so that the horses will have something to occupy them and get a bit more nutrition as hay is becoming scarce and I dont know how we are going to cope this year because all the farmers are planting corn instead of hay because the corn prices have risen so much with the advent of ethanol!!!! Here is a picture of a round baling machine so you can get an idea of how big they are if you dont already know.


I would normally never feed round bales to my horses (The ones we get are very big, weigh about 700lbs where the normal square ones only weigh about 50 or 60 lbs here) because they can have a tendancy to have mould in them which is not good for horses and that is if they have been kept covered and indoors. These havent been so lucky but the horses will stomp all over them pick out what they want to eat and have a reasonable dry place to lay when it starts spreading out. I dont have any pregnant mares either because mouldy hay can be really dangerous for them and their babies.

It is going to be a rollercoaster ride of weather over the next few days, I just dont know how to dress each day, just look outside and make up my mind LOL.

Keeping our heads above water each day, hope you all have a wonderful weekend. ((((Hugs))))

Lori
xx

6 comments:

Rising Rainbow said...

We feed roundbales once, they were a pain. We didn't have mold problems but with stalled horses it was hard to figure out what to feed. Flakes in square bales may not be consistent but they're defintely easier for Lindsay than round bales. lol

It snowed here today, so our weather is goofy too. I think I'm going to stay inside.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if there are any parks around where grass grows wild? We used to use these metal whips and cut grass for horses and other animals but in those days there were no chemicals being used so most grass was clean to eat or keep for hay.

When I grew up all hay was raked and either forked on hay wagons by hand and then a giant hook was dropped from the hay mow ridge down to the hay on the barn floor or wagon and then lifted up and dropped loose in the hay mow. I was a teenager before they came out with baling machines. The first ones used wire and the last used twine to tie the rectangle bales. The hay bales used to weigh about 80 pounds. It was hard, hard work for a teen and we only made about $5.00 a day picking up bales and stacking them on wagons and then stacking them in the barn.

Your horses look pretty good for this crazy weather. It is or was just snowing ice balls a few minutes ago.

You can see a map of where I live on my brookville blog and how I plan to spend some of my royalty check.

Stacey Olson said...

We usually give our horses a round bale in the spring. So yes I do know how big they are. They probably waste more than they eat also, but I think the extra food helps to keep the weight on while they are shedding... No preg mares here either.. Just one tempermental one..LOL

Stacey Olson said...

Oh I almost forgot, The bright sunlight glaring of that HUGE lake is almost too much to take.. LOL you goof!

Chad Oneil Myers said...

The image of the John Deere brought me back to my childhood when I would see a tractor out in the field beside our house and be facinated by everything about it.

Anonymous said...

I've had problems feeding round bales so when I can't get anything else I have to put the round bale in storage and portion it out every day.

The whole hay problem is so out of control. We need an alternative!

Good luck unloading. That's a job. I can't imagine doing it in the severe cold.

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