[KHodges]

Well, between all the recent rains, most of the area haymakers have made their first cutting. I try to fill my barn on first cut hay, my loft will hold about 130 bales. I made three trips like this one, 46 bales each. It started raining on me about a mile from the house on the last load yesterday, I managed to get it thrown in the barn before it got too wet.

130 bales will last me until about March of the following year. I'll refill the barn in September from the last cutting of the summer, which gets me to the first cutting the following year.

It's amazing what only two horses can go through in a year, and we keep them on pasture during the daytime. These are Paso Finos, a mare and a gelding

 

[D-Dogg]

Beautiful horses!

Years ago I was a foster horse owner for about 6 months and if I remember right, I bought 4 tons during that period. Seemed like hay was $45 per ton back then - imagine it's a good bit more than that now. Sure was some good exercise chunking all those bales around.

 

[KHodges]

The tractors are my toys, the horses are my wife's. I don't ride very much, never cared for it, but I love being around them. I'm the stable boy/transporter/hay getter.:hatsoff:

Around here, hay goes by the bale. Round bales are much too large for me to handle (1200lb + per bale), plus I don't have a place to store them out of the rain. Small square bales are preferred by horse owners. They're about 45 lb on average. I gave $3/bale for this hay from a guy about three miles from me, and he says he will always have hay available. The last few years, because of the drought in this part of the country, local hay was going for over $6/bale when you could find it. Some of the local haymakers couldn't justify the cost of cutting their fields, they just bush-hogged it and then brought hay down from upstate NY by the tractor-trailer load. It sold from $6 -$10/bale depending on who was trying to get rich the quickest.

My hassle with hay is getting it in the loft. I can't get the truck or trailer in the bay, so I have to unload it from the truck into the bay, then throw it up to the main floor, which is about three steps higher than the bay, then into the loft. That makes three times I have to handle each bale, four times if you count loading it at the supplier's farm. My wife helps when she can,butour work schedules differ, and we get the hay whenever we can arrange it, so I usually end up doing all the loading and unloading. This year, my young neighbor gave me a hand; man did it make a difference. I bought him a six-pack for his efforts, and helped him drink it:ROF .

 

[Team_Green]

You need a bale elevator. i ind them often for 100 bucks with a working motor.

 

[KHodges]

Where's the best place to look to find one for that price? New ones are >$1K, and nobody around here with one wants to sell it, for obvious reasons. The window above the truck in the above picture is a perfect place for it. If I clean out some of the junk in the loft, I could get another 50-60 bales in there, too.

 

[D-Dogg]

I know there were some small PTO driven elevators back in the day when JD300s were new, but as you state, if they still work, they are still working.

I was in Californy back then, and I think they called a ton 25 bales. Big bales. Load the truck, unload the truck, tote it up to the loft, and I could skip the gym that day.

You fall into my horse owner paradigm, btw. 100% of the guys I know who have horses are supporting the wife or GF's hobby. Like you, I like being around them, but if I had the land to own one or two, I'd much prefer a horse ride to an ATV ride.

Had all 3 of my kids in riding lessons, and my son was the only boy in all of this particular stable's classes. One mom of a teenage girl told me horse riding seems to be the best teen-pregnancy preventer as her daughter had no interest in boys unless they had 4 legs.

 

[DJ in WV]

Its funny how girls are so enfactuated with horses. Its no different around here either.

When I see a horse, my first thoughts are what a magnificent animal. All the power of a serious earth mover, yet as graceful as a balerina. My daughter, on the other hand, she is nearly 17, when she sees a horse, all I hear are the ooohs and ahhhs, and look how pretty!

A woman that my wife works with is so taken with her horses that she is actually riding her favorite down the isle at her wedding. I asked her if she is marrying the horse or her boyfriend. She turned on me faster than a nest of hornets hit with a lawnmower. Lesson learned.

 

[D-Dogg]

Dog girl, cat girl, or horse girl. You will take a back seat, dj2cohen.

 

[DJ in WV]

You are so right. :ROF

 

[KHodges]

I asked her if she is marrying the horse or her boyfriend..

It's the boyfriend who has to marry the horse, as well as his GF. It's a package deal.

Of course, it gives you the perfect excuse to get a tractor and all the assorted gear, a big dually truck, and trailers to haul the tractor and the horses.

 

[DJ in WV]

:sidelaugh

I haven't seen her boyfriend yet to ask him how he feels about a horse sleeping between them on their wedding night. :hide:

I would love to tell him to step back and think about how much additional maintainence that horse is going to be. :Stop: But to each their own.

 

[D-Dogg]

And if it doesn't work out, and they split up, can she sue him for horse support?

 

[DJ in WV]

That's a really good question. I would hate to have to explain the need for a paternity test on that one though.

 

[cody19]

we have 12 horses: 6 draft horses, 5 riding horses, and a pony. we also have some cattle and we go through about 2500-3000 small square bales. we cut first cutting last week and it was about half a day away from being ready to bale and we got 1/2 inch of rain. it hasnt stopped raining long enough for it to dry out and for us to bale.

 

[KHodges]

I'll bet those draft horse can really put away the hay. My old tenants had two Hanoverians (tall, leggy dressage horses), a 16 hand mare and her 17 hand son. Between them, a round bale only lasted 5 days. Of course, that was all they had to eat. The field I let my tenants use was way too small for them, I knew it from the start, but they really wanted their horses with them, instead of boarded somewhere. It took those two less than a month to turn 3/4 of an acre of thick, shin-high fescue into a totally grassless moonscape. They kept after me to let them put their horses in with mine, in a 3 acre pasture. I told them no way, I wasn't going to let them destroy my horses' only grazing source. They moved out last October, and I just have got the grass growing well again.

 

[D-Dogg]

Those Paso Finos must be light grazers. As a kid, we had two Appaloosa ponies in a 3 acre field and they destroyed it in a hurry.

 

[lt230s]

Khodges,
Nice horses!
We have 2 also. Hanovarian/TB mix. We get about 250-300 bales that last from June to June of next year and 12-14 round bales for the winter. I'm waiting on the farmer but it's been so wet here that he hasn't had 3 good days in a row to cut & bale.
I picked up an 20' elevator that makes it so much easier to unload the wagons when he brings them.
The round bales are somewhat a pain in the butt to store & move, but it makes it easier in winter when there is snow on the ground. I usually get all 3 kids to help me push them out in the field from fenced off area where I store them under a tarp. The 2 usually go thru a 1400#er in less than 2 weeks. I need to get a round bale holder/feeder so they don't make such a mess.
Here's my wife's 2 nags:
http://www.mytractorforum.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=541&catid=searchresults&searchid=3812

 

[m7boondocker]

Horses are hay burners. We have 21 horses at the farm my wife operates and they go thru 1 to 1.5 4'x4'x8' bale of hay a day, which is about 1,100 pounds per bale I am told.

Like you KHodges, I don't ride, but it gives me a place to drive my tractor around and be outside.

 

[KHodges]

Wow, 21 horses. That would really be cool, being around all those, but as far as ownership goes, two are way plenty.

lt230s, do you guys show your horses, do dressage, or hunter/jumper? I thought those two my ex-tenants had were gorgeous, but it was kind of sad. The guy never did jacks**t around the house, never fed or groomed the horses. It even fell on her to get hay when needed (and I usually helped her unload it). I never, in the two years they lived in my rental, saw them ride those horses, and only a couple of times, when my wife talked the woman into it, did they ever put them in our ring and longe them.

The gelding was beautiful, but looked kind of silly because he always had his lower lip hanging. I called him "Baby Huey".


My wife's Paso's are rather small horses, just barely over 14 hands for the mare, and about 14 hands 3 for the gelding. They both weigh less than 900 lbs each. Pasos can forage on very poor pasture and get all they need. Feeding them really green, lush grass can founder them quickly. They're easy keepers, but can be sort of spirited. Our mare has a very natural gait, more so than the gelding, but the gelding is better trained and behaves better under saddle. There are a lot of Paso Finos in our area. We won the gelding when he was a yearling colt, from one of the farms nearby. They have a benefit raffle every year, they sell tickets and all the money goes to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Every year the owner puts up a yearling colt as the prize. I spent $16 on tickets that day, so I guess you could say that's what I paid for him, but we've sunk a couple of thousand into training. The gelding is now 12 years old, and the mare is 16. She was bred once, before we got her about 6 years ago. It turns out that the mare's grandsire is our gelding's sire, and was somewhat of a champion ring performer. We asked around about our horses' bloodlines, they have some high-priced ancestry. We don't show them, and really haven't ridden them as much lately as we should. My daughters like to ride, but they are very involved with competitive dance, so they don't have the time.

 

[Upper5Percent]

I'll bet those draft horse can really put away the hay. My old tenants had two Hanoverians (tall, leggy dressage horses), a 16 hand mare and her 17 hand son. Between them, a round bale only lasted 5 days. Of course, that was all they had to eat. The field I let my tenants use was way too small for them, I knew it from the start, but they really wanted their horses with them, instead of boarded somewhere. It took those two less than a month to turn 3/4 of an acre of thick, shin-high fescue into a totally grassless moonscape. They kept after me to let them put their horses in with mine, in a 3 acre pasture. I told them no way, I wasn't going to let them destroy my horses' only grazing source. They moved out last October, and I just have got the grass growing well again.

Actually drafts eat less than warmbloods or thoroughbreds...at least my Percherons operate that way...

Yes...horses without enough rotational pasture space can definitely turn a small paddock into a dirt bowl...

I have 5 2 acre paddocks that I rotate the horses thru...and one "Mud Season" paddock...that I write-off each spring during the WET TIME...