smellshorsey

Looking for Good News in a World Where Starving Horses are Left to Die on the Side of the Road

I'm down to two bales of hay but know where I can get some more -- if they don't sell out first. We've had some rain so surely somebody will be cutting soon.

I'm happy to report that my two horses are in good shape. Lucy is, in fact, overweight. She looks like a big orange pumpkin. A shiny, cute, fat pumpkin. All is well at my place. (Except for the stupid whining cat stuck in the hayloft.)

I'm telling you all this because sometimes it feels like horses all over America are starving and being left on the side of the road. And it feels that way because -- guess what -- it's true. I'm sad to report that some lowlifes left a horse to die on the side of the road in Clarendon County, S.C., yesterday. Yes, they trailered it there and left it to die. Guess they were too ???? (poor? heartless? on drugs? couldn't be bothered?) to feed it and too worthless to bury it. The horse was 500 pounds underweight and was too weak to walk onto the trailer when animal rescue came to save it. They had to put it on a board and lift it.

When they got it to the vet's, the horse ate a little, drank a little, then died.

Now, if that horse's owners had enough gas and a trailer to take the poor creature to the side of the road to leave it, why didn't they take it somewhere 400 pounds ago?

If you can stand it, you can read the story and view a video from WIS-TV here.

If the Grass is Green, Can Hay be Far Behind?

Praise the Lord! It's raining. Pouring. We need it. (This photo is not local.)

I'm down to my last five bales of hay. My friend and hay supplier is bringing me 10 more square bales in the hope that it will last me until first cutting. The only hay that's been cut in my part of S.C. is hay grown in irrigated fields. The farm where Lily takes her lessons is out (but they have large grass pastures). A wholesaler we rely on in the next county is out. I paid $12.99/bale for two bales of alfalfa a few days ago, hoping to stretch out my coastal (I really don't know what I'm doing here, but I wasn't going to buy the timothy for $16.99. Not yet at least). I guess alfalfa cubes might be a better choice -- and I do know to soak them.

It will be a few weeks still before first cutting from my supplier. Somehow, we'll make it until then.

And yes, I know not to stock up on first cutting -- too many weeds. But after the past couple of years, it will be hard not to stock up on anything I can find.

But I'll try to be strong, have faith, all that. I'm just glad I only have to feed two horses.

And you've never seen people more grateful for the rain than S.C.'s horse owners. If it weren't lightning right now, I'd go dance naked in the rain.

Looking for Hay Alternatives

My hay supply is dwindling and although my pasture is green, it isn't enough. I have to feed hay all year. The thought of doing what I have to do -- find hay and stock up for the coming winter -- makes me tired just to think about.

The hay fields have been converted to corn fields to make fuel for me to burn in my car. Other countries are buying up our hay crop. I wonder if this summer will be yet another drought? The price of gas and fertilizer will drive the hay prices up whether or not we have enough rain. Ouch!

The two hay suppliers I consider friends have more friends these days than your average philanthropist. I may start baking cakes for them and other bribes. I do so hate to beg but beg I will. And then pay a fortune.

If you search for "hay alternatives" on the 'net you'll find out all kinds of information that basically says there are alternatives but none as good as hay (except maybe alfalfa cubes). Beet pulp is easy and readily available (and really fattening) but it can only be part of the solution. Shoot.

Many alternatives, such as haylage, apparently carry the risk of botulism. And I don't think I can get my horses to eat ground up peanut shells. I don't even want them to.

Anybody have any success with "alternative fuel" for horses? I hope some feed company is out there working for a solution, because we're certainly ready for one. I've checked several feed manufacturer sites and nobody's talking about developing a hay alternative.

I can't use round bales. Colic, colic, colic. It has to be good hay. Horse quality hay. Hay that was babied from the moment it sprouted to the day it was baled. I feed it to them on a swept concrete pad, which seems to cut down on waste.

Sigh. Since when did dry grass get to be such a rare commodity?

Hay Prices to Get Higher in 2008

Not good news, but at least we can start to get prepared. According to this article by the University of Minnesota Extension printed in The Horse.com, hay prices are going to keep going up. Here's the text of the article:

Prepare for a Reduced Hay Crop in 2008              

 

The USDA has released several crop reports that indicate the number of hay acres will be down in 2008.

The department also reported that the existing hay supply is lower than previous years. This information, combined with higher input costs (fuel, fertilizer, land rent) and higher grain prices (corn, soybean, wheat), will likely lead to increased hay prices.

Through the fall of 2007 to the spring of 2008, Minnesota's Sauk Center Quality Tested Hay Auction recorded record prices. Average hay prices were $100 a ton higher in 2007-2008 than the previous five-year average.

To prepare for higher prices, the University of Minnesota recommended that horse owners:

• Remember quality forage should be the backbone of your horse's diet.
• Have a good working relationship with a hay supplier to ensure a consistent and reliable source of hay.
• Consider adding hay storage space to reduce the effects of price and seasonal fluctuations.
• Buy hay early. Do not wait until late summer or fall to buy hay.
• Plan in advance. Budget for the price increase and re-evaluate how many horses you can afford to feed.
• Finally, try to keep your hay type (like grass or alfalfa) consistent. Constantly changing hay types can lead to horse health problems, specifically colic.

                               

Horse People Are Just So Nice!

Last week I bemoaned the fact that I had to pay $11.99 for hay. Today, I'm very happy to report that an unknown source (at his request as he is having to turn down customers delivered 50 bales of Coastal Bermuda at $7.00 per bale. I hope that will get us through to first cutting because this is all he can give me.

This doesn't look like much, but here's my new 50 bales stashed away behind the hot-wired gate. Yahoo! (Click on all photos to enlarge, though I can't imagine why you'd want to.)

Horse people are so nice. Many thanks to you who offered to help me find hay and those who offered moral support, Mrs. Mom, Mikael, jdp who's paying $16!!!, and photogchic, to name a few.

And, because Lucy is in rehab, my hay supplier also offered me a gelding or six to ride in the meantime. I can keep one (or six) here or I can go to his place, (and bring Lily and her horse, Buddy), and we can trail ride there on Sunday afternoons. Horse people are so very nice.

For the folks Googling for photos of Coastal Bermuda hay (again, click to enlarge), I tried to take a close up for you. It would have been prettier in September but here's what it looks like in March.

My hay man and friend warned me that even with rain things aren't going to be great when buying hay in the summer because he's been told fertilizer prices may double. He thought he might try chicken manure instead, but there's a risk to the horses of getting salmonella with that. So it's back to fertilizer. (My father sometimes uses chicken manure for his garden. Once it came with a half-living chicken in it. And it smells so very, very bad.)

For any Googlers looking for photos of Timothy-grass-mix hay, here's one. Pretty -- but not sure it's $11.99 a bale pretty.  I don't know squat about hay. Coastal Bermuda is what grows best here so that's what I buy. One year I had to buy Orchard grass from  Michigan or somewhere and that stuff was gorgeous (and costly). The horses didn't like the expensive Timothy at first but  got over that in less than 120 seconds.

Hay! I Just Paid $11.99 per Bale

Woo wee! I'm running out of hay, as I knew I would because we can only store so much. I just bought ten bales of Timothy and mixed grass for $11.99 per bale. Did I mention Buddy and Lucy eat a bale a day?

I also got a bag of alfalfa cubes. I'm not sure what I'm doing, but maybe they'll need less hay if they're getting soaked alfalfa cubes (I don't know what I'm doing but this is how I got through last spring when I ran out of hay so I know what I'm doing except how to buy enough hay for the winter).

I think I've found enough reasonably priced, quality Coastal Bermuda hay to get us through until first cutting. I'll know next week when it will also be delivered.  And I'm not telling a soul where it's coming from!

In the meantime, here's what the humans at my house are having for supper because of the price of hay. Have you seen the TV ads for this? It looks so tempting that Lily and I were all set to buy it -- until the last scene. 

Hay! They're Using HORSES to Harvest Hay!

I thought hay was hard to get, hard to pay for and hard to store.

And then I get a lovely e-mail from Julian in Romania, whose blog, Transylvanian Horseman, will make you envious and relieved all at the same time.

Please look at these photos of how they bring their hay in. It looks like National Geographic, only it looks even more like work....

His blog tells about his life. And his other website tells about his business, which is taking people like us on long rides through Romanian forests.

We tried to get tickets to visit a friend in Romania last summer, but could make our Frequent Flyers work. I'm glad. Because now if they do work, I have one more stop I need to make while I'm there.

Dingity dangit! Quit digging up the grass!

I can see the pasture while I type this, and what I see isn't good. It used to be a fine, lush pasture of Coastal Bermuda grass. Between the drought and the two eating machines, it now looks grey and ugly. And now Buddy has taught Lucy a new thing: take those hooves and dig up the grass by the roots.

This accomplishes two things: It means I need to get the farrier more often, and it decimates the already stressed Coastal Bermuda. I'm beginning to see sand through bald patches.

Good thing he's cute.

Got hay!

I am not all set for the winter, but I'm feeling a lot better about things. As I have whined before, we are facing a third winter with a serious hay shortage. This time, I'm stocking up.

We only have two horses and did not build a big barn. In fact, if I had it to do over again, I'd do it all over again differently. If you are thinking of building a barn, go talk to other small barn owners. I did most things wrong except the size, shape and usefulness of the stalls. I've got a hay loft, but no good way to put hay in it. It doesn't hold enough hay, so we put the hay where the horse trailer should go. I have many complaints about decisions I made, and no one to blame but me.

Anyway, with two horses I'll need a bale of hay a day from October through May. Right now I have 150 freshly cut bales stuffed into the hayloft and the horse trailer garage that's now a hay garage. I could use more hay, but that's all the hay that fits. And it's the best position I've been in yet as fall approaches. Who knows. Maybe we'll get more and put it on the house porch. It would be worth it!

So, I've got hay. And I'm over being sore -- our last 100 bales came with the deal that we had to help unload it. Hay is heavy and it was hot, too. Hay will also scratch your bare legs if you are wearing shorts.

If you're a horse person, you probably already know that hay with too high of a moisture content can spontaneously combust. The hay we bought it quite nice, but we had a bale of hay that broke open when we were unloading it so we put it into a wheelbarrow, moved it out of the horses' reach and didn't worry about it.

Then it rained. I made sure we fed the hay in the wheelbarrow first, because it was wet. The second morning I went to use it and was shocked to find that the wet hay was hot! Just like that! Fresh cut bale of hay, some rain, and HOT HOT HOT! Hmmmm. Great science project for somebody.

Large round hay bale equals large round problem

I've already whined about the hay shortage. So you won't have to hear me whine all winter, I'm stocking up now on some decent Coastal Bermuda, which is what we grow around here.

Unfortunately, I don't really have room to store it all. Especially since, in my desperation last winter, I bought a large round bale of hay.

Now you may do just fine with large bales of hay. The one time I put one out for my horses, (and it was beautiful, fresh hay), Lucy couldn't stop eating. She ate until she had to lie down. She even groaned. The Big Turkey had all the symptoms of Too Much Thanksgiving Dinner Consumption, which in horse translates into: COLIC!

The vet came out, etc. Caught it early. Lucy lived to overeat another day.

Since I couldn't very well move the big bale of hay, I had to limit Lucy's time out with it.

Buddy was okay until the very end. Then, when they were eating the dregs, that's when he colicked. The vet came out, etc. Caught it early. Buddy lived to colic another day.

Last winter all I could get at one point was a $50 plus delivery bale of mediocre Coastal Bermuda. All I could get. So I had it delivered and put it in the back of the hay garage, with the idea that I would feed it in daily portions rather than leave the whole thing out.

A few days later Lucy greeted me at the gate. She had moldy breath. Uh oh. Breath that smelled like moldy hay. Uh oh. About this same time I found some $12/bale orchard grass, so that was the end of the round bale.

But it wasn't. It's still sitting there. It weighs 800 lbs. I cannot move it. It will not roll. It sits, slumped in the corner, occupying space where I could store good hay for the coming winter.

I advertised it for free on Craig's list, and had a taker who wanted to feed it to his goats. His truck broke down on the way and he never re-scheduled.

A neighbor said he'd like it for mulch, but just had surgery and can't use it. Another neighbor may want it but I'm not hopeful.

So, my husband, Pyro Paul, wants to drag it out using a chain and Ben, and burn it this weekend. Great. It's in the high 90s and we're going to start a fire in a drought.

Anybody want a free 800 lb. bale of hay? All you have to do is come get it. PLEASE!

I like to feed horses

Horses like to eat, and I like to feed them. It's a cheap way to get a very committed fan club. All I have to do is walk outside, or where they can see me through the window, and they get excited.

I take it back. It's not a cheap way to get a fan club. But I'll pay the price.

I feed the horses. I am their favorite person. No one is more special than me. I have worshippers. Sometimes I have to sneak around to get my coffee so I won't be spotted in the morning before I'm ready to come out to greet my admirers. All two of them (unless you count the three cats and dog, but they don't offer the drama of galloping and whinnying to greet me).

And today, I have to start sharing my throne. Our horses will have a polytheistic world. My daughter is going to start feeding at night.

My husband says I do too much of the work around here (and I'll agree, but he's not interested in his chores list....) And it is time that our daughter started doing more with the horses.

She knows how to do it. So now, I'm sharing my crown. I've counseled her to check both sides of the horses for cuts and bumps and any swellings. It's not enough to feed them. You have to look at them.

She'll do fine. They'll do fine. And I still get to feed in the morning.

One last thing: There is one thing I hate about feeding them. The hay. There is no substance on earth more determined to stick to you, to stick in you, and to stick around long after you thought you had shaken it off. Hay gets everywhere on me. It's always in the dryer lint tray, the vacuum canister and my unmentionable undergarments. How it gets there, I don't know. If it could be tamed, it would out-do Velcro.

That I won't miss.

I can see the horses grazing as I write this. Little birds dart around their feet, eating the insects they stir up. I'll miss not getting to feed the horses tonight. I'm sure I'll get used to doing one thing less. And, if I know my horses, they have appetite enough to expand their adoration to both mother and daughter. When they gallop and whinny to her, she might finally understand just how special she is.

All it takes is a bucket of food, and your are queen forever -- or at least until the bucket is empty.

Hay Watch

You might think you know horses just because you ride often or own one, but unless you are the one responsible for the horses, you don't know horses. They are one of the most destructive forces in the universe.

They have eaten my fences. They aren't cribbers -- they like the taste of treated wood when it's wet. Yum, yum. Love that poison! Beavers couldn't have done any worse.

I'll whine later about the other things they have torn up, but today, they broke into the hay garage. Now, there are two problems with this. One is that they might have eaten so much that they'll colic. We'll watch and wait. Right now both horses are fine. I don't think they ate a dangerous amount, but they left the hay such a mess that it's hard to figure out exactly how much is missing.

My daughter fed them this morning. She assures me that she locked the hay garage gate, and she probably did. But you have to fasten the chain and snap so that the horses can't reach it, and then lock it twice in case they do. I don't think she has mastered this. I would hate for the horses to colic in general. It would be extra terrible (we as a people are out of superlatives) if my daughter thought she caused their suffering. So, they'll get bran mash tonight and in the morning. And not one thing else but grass.

My second complaint is that it was part of a shipment of hay I just bought to try to get me through the winter. Hay, like gas, used to be cheap. Now, Rumplestiltskin wouldn't need to get whatever-her-name was to spin straw into gold. It is gold! This is the third year that hay prices are nutty -- triple what they were when I first started horsekeeping. When Katrina hit, all the Gulf Coast hay crops were ruined so that caused a hay shortage. (Mind you, I am not unsympathetic to the greater casualties caused by Katrina. I just mention hay, one of the minor things. But not minor when you have to write a whopping big check or ten for hay....) Then last summer we had a drought, so last winter there was no hay. I bought hay from states I haven't even been to. I bought hay in all flavors of grass, most of which I'd only heard of. I paid and paid and paid for hay. Oh! And did I mention that transporting this hay from far flung regions of the country cost extra because of gas prices?

Now they tell me that hay fields are being converted to corn and other ethanol crops. So hay will become even costlier.

Horses were never a cheap hobby, but keeping them at home worked out pretty well.

Are they grateful? No. Of course not. They trampled the new hay. They ate it. They acted like me at a chocolate buffet where I didn't know anybody.

Good thing they're cute. And part of our strategic plan to keep our girl safe through her teenage years.

But hay! Shut your big mouths and get your hooves off of my gold! You must think that stuff grows in fields.