So I was just posting on Carly's blog how I don't feel the drive to compare myself to others in the blog/social media world or feel competitive with them. Which is true, I also don't feel a drive to keep my poor, neglected blog updated because I don't have the readership and comments like other blogs do so I don't feel like people are anxiously awaiting my next post. That is a good thing over this past month, though, as I have been extremely busy. What am I doing? Well, not what I had planned when I made my last post, that is for damn sure.
My plan had been to get my butt riding and jumping, I wanted to be seriously jumping by mid-January. Have I jumped? Nope. I have I even had a serious ride? Nope. Whomp whomp :( Just a weekly trail ride. Instead SO and I had a pretty serious discussion about priorities, what we wanted to get done, when we wanted to relist the house and suddenly things changed. Originally we were going to list the house in the spring, maybe April/May after "mud season". Until then I would be doing updates to the house and what not. Well with his work schedule, the 9-10 hour one-way drive to visit one another and my not wanting to use vacation time (that will be needed for moving!) to drive to PA, decisions were made. I have spent HOURS and HOURS doing home improvements to get the house up to par so it can be listed for sale. Asap. Like, by February! I had spent most nights and each weekend getting rid of floral wallpaper between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then repaired and painted walls in the kitchen, dining room, living room, and spare bedroom by New Year. Then had to do extensive repairs to the wall in our stairway and JUST got that done this past weekend. Then completely redid our bathroom, with new paint, flooring, medicine cabinet, tub caulking and working my way through grout recoloring. All I have left is to paint our stairway landing and one bedroom. both of which should be ready for paint in the morning, if not tonight. Then some light cleanup work and a thorough house cleaning and done.
I have easily put 200+ hours into this project but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I did hire some of the work out to friends of mine, helping with painting and what not to help speed things along, but most of it has been me. By myself. While working full time and taking care of a farm full time. Yeah.... It sucks. Once all painting is done, I will be getting quotes for the cheapest apartment carpet I can find and then throwing this place on the market. Hopefully we will have a buyer quickly, no one can say the house "needs work" now! Every single drywall crack has been repaired (there were many, several in each room, several really big ones too), all trim has been repainted and added where trim was missing, all nasty pastel colors are gone and light, creamy colors have replaced them and the old light fixtures are now modern looking. Here is to keeping fingers crossed because I really want to hurry up and get relocated. We have been doing this separated thing for almost a year now and while it works, it sucks. But not in the way you expect. Our relationship is still strong long distance, that isn't the problem. It sucks because I have SO much work here at the farm by myself. I have no idea how Carson does it, I can't do the farm full time, work full time and have time to enjoy my critters. With the round bale, my chores are now 35 minutes twice a day, but it is still 35 minutes twice a day. 12+ cubic feet of poo a day is picked up and put in the dumpster. Bleck.
Once the farm is up for sale, again, I expect things will slow down a LOT and maybe I will have time to ride. If, you know, it doesn't get sub zero all of a sudden. Keeping a house staged 24x7 really sucks but I know it isn't nearly as much work as I am doing now. And it should be slightly easier now that I am down 2 elderly cats that puked multiple times a day :( I wish I could have those puking faces back with me.... Keep your fingers crossed and if you know of anyone who wants a newly refreshed farm, let me know!
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Time flies quickly
The good news is that I am still here, still kicking, still occasionally riding. The bad news is that I am not riding regularly as I did things like prepare for Thanksgiving, take a mini-vacation (OMG SO RELAXING!!), continue taking care of the entire farm by myself and start painting the 2000 sq ft farmhouse by myself. Yeah... I have been busy!
Most of the riding I have done have been trail rides. I went a full 2 hour trail ride on the 13th and it was really nice. Mia was very well behaved for most of it, she had a spooking session over a water tub (really horse?) and then decided to kick out when we were cantering and I was holding her back into a dressage canter instead of a fun, forward canter. She got a spanking over that and told she will canter as advised or no canter will be allowed. Otherwise, things are going very well. Mia is nice and sound, yay! App is mostly sound, NQR but he is also almost 23 with arthritis. He is on 3 supplements a day plus a monthly injection of polyglycan so there isn't too much more we can do. TWH has been plagued with lameness since he was sold to K, first he had a suspensory issue (different leg than in 2013) and then he got an abscess. At least she rode him for a full year first, she knows he is not usually like this! Fun times!
No Stirrup November came and went all too fast, I rode probably only 10 times but each ride was in fact stirrup free! Including one jump session of a cross rail. Woohoo! I tried to jump App but again, unfortunately, I am brought back to the conclusion he can't see as well as he used to. Sometimes he jumps it perfectly, other times he very awkwardly hops over it like he isn't sure what to do. Since he has jumped for 10+ years, over 3 feet, he knows what to do so his sight is the only thing I am coming back to. If it is outside, bright and a fairly solid/thick jump (like a log), he jumps great. If it is a pole outside, usually ok. If it is a pole (PVC or wood) inside, he jumps it, at best, 50/50. Poor old man.
My goals in Dec is to ride a bit more and get back to having some fitness. Having 3 months of solid slacking off and not doing regular riding has very obviously affected my stamina in the saddle. Some solid two point is coming my way. Once I get that, my goal is to start jumping again in January. I want to start seriously jumping too. I want to work on getting real height and getting a solid position over them. Mia jumped 3'9" over the summer, I want to start getting more comfortable with that (gulp!!!) and add serious width. Time to find my balls people, I want to get to Training level in 2017 and I am not going to get there by jumping 2'9" all the time!
My dream is to be able to take lessons however it isn't likely to happen, unfortunately having 2 mortgages has put a big damper on doing all the fun things. You know, like chiropractor, another saddle fitting, clinics, lessons, tack ho splurges, etc. If anyone wants to donate to a lesson fund, let me know! Ha!! Hopefully things are going to slow WAYYYY down come next week, maybe I will have time to ride AND blog about it. I have the next 2 Thurs/Fridays off of work, one can hope anyway!
Most of the riding I have done have been trail rides. I went a full 2 hour trail ride on the 13th and it was really nice. Mia was very well behaved for most of it, she had a spooking session over a water tub (really horse?) and then decided to kick out when we were cantering and I was holding her back into a dressage canter instead of a fun, forward canter. She got a spanking over that and told she will canter as advised or no canter will be allowed. Otherwise, things are going very well. Mia is nice and sound, yay! App is mostly sound, NQR but he is also almost 23 with arthritis. He is on 3 supplements a day plus a monthly injection of polyglycan so there isn't too much more we can do. TWH has been plagued with lameness since he was sold to K, first he had a suspensory issue (different leg than in 2013) and then he got an abscess. At least she rode him for a full year first, she knows he is not usually like this! Fun times!
No Stirrup November came and went all too fast, I rode probably only 10 times but each ride was in fact stirrup free! Including one jump session of a cross rail. Woohoo! I tried to jump App but again, unfortunately, I am brought back to the conclusion he can't see as well as he used to. Sometimes he jumps it perfectly, other times he very awkwardly hops over it like he isn't sure what to do. Since he has jumped for 10+ years, over 3 feet, he knows what to do so his sight is the only thing I am coming back to. If it is outside, bright and a fairly solid/thick jump (like a log), he jumps great. If it is a pole outside, usually ok. If it is a pole (PVC or wood) inside, he jumps it, at best, 50/50. Poor old man.
My goals in Dec is to ride a bit more and get back to having some fitness. Having 3 months of solid slacking off and not doing regular riding has very obviously affected my stamina in the saddle. Some solid two point is coming my way. Once I get that, my goal is to start jumping again in January. I want to start seriously jumping too. I want to work on getting real height and getting a solid position over them. Mia jumped 3'9" over the summer, I want to start getting more comfortable with that (gulp!!!) and add serious width. Time to find my balls people, I want to get to Training level in 2017 and I am not going to get there by jumping 2'9" all the time!
My dream is to be able to take lessons however it isn't likely to happen, unfortunately having 2 mortgages has put a big damper on doing all the fun things. You know, like chiropractor, another saddle fitting, clinics, lessons, tack ho splurges, etc. If anyone wants to donate to a lesson fund, let me know! Ha!! Hopefully things are going to slow WAYYYY down come next week, maybe I will have time to ride AND blog about it. I have the next 2 Thurs/Fridays off of work, one can hope anyway!
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Slow feed hay net **Update**
So it has been a month since the hay net has been being used, I figured you may want an update. Has it lasted? What do I think, positives? Negatives? Suggestions?
Overall, things are going really well! The net is holding up amazingly well. The net has not a single rip or tear in it, something I certainly didn't expect. The horses spend all day (and night) at the bale and no one has destroyed the net. That is huge in my book! The net also does a good job of keeping the mess to a minimum. There is still hay dropped onto the ground however the amount is only about a single fork full of hay, picked up twice a day. 2 fork fulls of hay a day on the ground is not a bad amount, I chuck it either on top of the round bale and the horses eat it or I chuck it between the bale and the wall and they eat it after the round bale is basically gone.
The positives? Net is holding up, no tears! Little waste. Very little daily effort. Reduced chore time, currently 25 minutes which includes scooping all poop. 10 minutes if not scooping. Horses (well, App is the only one I am concerned with) are maintaining their weight well.
The negatives? They poop and pee all around the bale/net which requires twice daily scooping to prevent it turning into mud. TWH is pushed off of the bale by the more aggressive appys. A lot. Mia is gaining too much weight, down to about a cup of grain 2x a day and is a very healthy 7-8 on the BCS scale. May need to muzzle her as winter progresses. The horses still finish a 4 foot by 5 foot round bale in 7-10 days. I really hoped it would last longer, right now I let them eat the bale to the ground, empty the stragglers from the net and give them another day to pick through the stuff they didn't want to eat before putting a new bale out. Because they can eat it or starve because I am a bully that way.
Suggestions? First, old clothesline worked really well for tying the net ends together into a circle. Old clothesline does NOT work well as a drawstring. I toss the end of the drawstring over a rafter to keep the net "up" and so I can pull the loose netting up off of the ground. 3 times the horses broke the drawstring before I finally replaced it with some boating rope (80lb break strength) I found on clearance at TSC for $2. Apparently clothesline has a break strength of 50lbs, likely less when it is old lol. So far the horses have not broken the new drawstring. A bale ring could really be helpful to keep the horses from pooping/peeing on the hay that is dropped. That is the biggest pain, throwing out hay they have dropped simply because they peed next to the bale (like, literally next to, they would have had to have splashed the damn hay and net) or pooped on it. The buffer of space would be nice.
That is it! We will see how the winter goes but I am really happy so far. For those who are curious, this is my routine. When the horses eat the bale down to empty and I have let them starve/eat the stuff on the ground, I rake up anything left over and throw it outside. I take down the temporary fence and use the big tractor to pull a bale out. I don't have a hay spear but have pallet forks, I pick up the bale from the bottom with the pallet forks. Set it on it's end. Walk around the bale while unwrapping the twine, there are 2 or 3 long pieces to find.. Throw the net on like a pillowcase. Use the tractor to push the bale over. Throw all loose hay back into the net, close up the drawstring. Use the tractor to pick up the netted bale by scooping it from the bottom. May take a couple of tries if the forks catch the net, back up and try again. (So far, the tractor has not ripped th net!) Drop netted bale on the super heavy duty pallet (it is a Quickrete pallet, given to us when we bought 20 bags of Quickrete for a project and we had Home Depot load it for us. This pallet is heavy, no joke!). Throw drawstring over the rafter and tie it to the wall with just enough tension to keep the net taut. Put temporary fence back up, let the raptors/horses back inside the arena. It takes about 30 minutes total. Honestly, I wish I had known how easy it could be and I would have done it a few years ago. I just have had this hatred of round bales for so long.
Anyone else using round bale hay nets? What do you think of them?
Overall, things are going really well! The net is holding up amazingly well. The net has not a single rip or tear in it, something I certainly didn't expect. The horses spend all day (and night) at the bale and no one has destroyed the net. That is huge in my book! The net also does a good job of keeping the mess to a minimum. There is still hay dropped onto the ground however the amount is only about a single fork full of hay, picked up twice a day. 2 fork fulls of hay a day on the ground is not a bad amount, I chuck it either on top of the round bale and the horses eat it or I chuck it between the bale and the wall and they eat it after the round bale is basically gone.
The positives? Net is holding up, no tears! Little waste. Very little daily effort. Reduced chore time, currently 25 minutes which includes scooping all poop. 10 minutes if not scooping. Horses (well, App is the only one I am concerned with) are maintaining their weight well.
The negatives? They poop and pee all around the bale/net which requires twice daily scooping to prevent it turning into mud. TWH is pushed off of the bale by the more aggressive appys. A lot. Mia is gaining too much weight, down to about a cup of grain 2x a day and is a very healthy 7-8 on the BCS scale. May need to muzzle her as winter progresses. The horses still finish a 4 foot by 5 foot round bale in 7-10 days. I really hoped it would last longer, right now I let them eat the bale to the ground, empty the stragglers from the net and give them another day to pick through the stuff they didn't want to eat before putting a new bale out. Because they can eat it or starve because I am a bully that way.
Suggestions? First, old clothesline worked really well for tying the net ends together into a circle. Old clothesline does NOT work well as a drawstring. I toss the end of the drawstring over a rafter to keep the net "up" and so I can pull the loose netting up off of the ground. 3 times the horses broke the drawstring before I finally replaced it with some boating rope (80lb break strength) I found on clearance at TSC for $2. Apparently clothesline has a break strength of 50lbs, likely less when it is old lol. So far the horses have not broken the new drawstring. A bale ring could really be helpful to keep the horses from pooping/peeing on the hay that is dropped. That is the biggest pain, throwing out hay they have dropped simply because they peed next to the bale (like, literally next to, they would have had to have splashed the damn hay and net) or pooped on it. The buffer of space would be nice.
That is it! We will see how the winter goes but I am really happy so far. For those who are curious, this is my routine. When the horses eat the bale down to empty and I have let them starve/eat the stuff on the ground, I rake up anything left over and throw it outside. I take down the temporary fence and use the big tractor to pull a bale out. I don't have a hay spear but have pallet forks, I pick up the bale from the bottom with the pallet forks. Set it on it's end. Walk around the bale while unwrapping the twine, there are 2 or 3 long pieces to find.. Throw the net on like a pillowcase. Use the tractor to push the bale over. Throw all loose hay back into the net, close up the drawstring. Use the tractor to pick up the netted bale by scooping it from the bottom. May take a couple of tries if the forks catch the net, back up and try again. (So far, the tractor has not ripped th net!) Drop netted bale on the super heavy duty pallet (it is a Quickrete pallet, given to us when we bought 20 bags of Quickrete for a project and we had Home Depot load it for us. This pallet is heavy, no joke!). Throw drawstring over the rafter and tie it to the wall with just enough tension to keep the net taut. Put temporary fence back up, let the raptors/horses back inside the arena. It takes about 30 minutes total. Honestly, I wish I had known how easy it could be and I would have done it a few years ago. I just have had this hatred of round bales for so long.
Anyone else using round bale hay nets? What do you think of them?
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Updates, updates, updates
The good, the bad, and the ugly. All kinds of updates and haven't had too much time or motivation to type it all out. I do owe it to you or at least myself to document it all down so, here we go!
The good:
The horses are doing great. Mia had 3 abscesses in 3 different hooves over the course of a month and is now sound, sound, sound. She is also very, very good. That last show where Mia actually felt like a partner? Where she listened to what I had to say instead of feeling like I am just there trying to manage her? Yeah, she is still doing that. Listening and trying. It is such a cool feeling! It only took 2 years to get here but I am so happy we finally made it. I am hoping we can develop a really good partnership over the winter and she keeps this attitude. It would be so nice!
The bad:
The farm didn't sell for what we wanted so we have pulled it off of the market for the winter. I can't imagine a farm would sell in the winter and it is WAY too hard to live in a staged house 24x7 in good weather. I have zero desire to continue through bad weather. I am really disappointed, I didn't even think this was an option when we put it on the market, we thought it would sell extremely fast. Our property is so very unique, the private indoor arena, brand new fencing?! I mean come on! I think our realtor did us wrong by having our start price WAY too high in the spring so we missed a huge batch of people and by the time I had her lower the price to it's "correct" price, very few people were buying. Let's not comment that SHE never suggested a new price. The last month the property was on the market, we would have a showing request about once every week or two. Before that we had barely any showings. We had one set of people say they were extending an offer but then never heard from them (*sob*) and another that loved the property but weren't "right now" buyers. That tells me that they are dreamers with no intention of buying so they are wasting their time, my time and the realtors time with their daydreaming. (Yeah, that one pissed me off pretty badly lol). I had requirements for showing to hopefully eliminate daydreamers and unfortunately one still slipped through.
Anyway, that means I am here all winter. It is the reason I went ahead and bought/made the round bale hay net. The net, by the way, is performing beautifully. It is on its 3rd bale and there isn't a single tear or rip in the entire net and it is still doing a beautiful job of keeping the mess down. It hasn't eliminated the mess but has reduced it down to a single forkful a day. Win!
The ugly:
Sadly I have lost two of my buddies in the past 30 days. I had a full blooded Maine Coon cat that I had adopted 7 years ago as a 6 yr old. A show cattery had been dispersed due to the deaths of the breeders and I ended up with Arimus. Everyone loved Arimus, he was just the coolest cat. He didn't meow, he chattered and chirped. He always met everyone at the door. He wasn't afraid of anything. Anything! Shoot Nerf darts at him? He wouldn't even bother to stand up. New dog/cat come in? He would go up and say hi and would threaten only if needed. Throw a pillow at him when he was sleeping? He would just open his eyes. He loved everyone and was extremely friendly, he was extremely popular with everyone who met him. Unfortunately in spring of 2014, I noticed a lump on his elbow. We brought him to the vet who did a biopsy and it came back as cancer. It was ingrained into his elbow joint, the only options were to amputate, put him through chemo or let him live it out. Amputation and chemo would give him 2-3 years left of his 14-15 year life expectancy, letting him live it out would give him 1-2 years. Since he had bad arthritis anyway, we opted to not amputate and chemo wouldn't be worth it for only one additional possible year.
We let him live his life, he did very well. After surgery he gained his weight back and got back up this normal, not even close to chunky weight of 19lbs. I would drain the tumor of fluid about every other month and all was well. This spring I had to start draining the tumor every month and it had quadrupled in size, it was the size of a small apple on his elbow but he was still in good spirits and didn't seem in pain. Over the summer he started limping and slightly losing weight, but not a large amount. In July he stopped eating dry food and would only eat wet food. In September he started losing weight quickly and went to eating only a quarter can of food twice a day when he needed at least a full can twice a day. He was still in good spirits and I was waiting for one other "thing" and I was going to make that call. On a Thursday, he was playing with Danica and was his normal self. On a Friday I went to PA to move another load of stuff and got back Sunday night. When I got back, he wasn't right. He moved really slowly up the stairs and didn't meet me at the door but it was 9p at night so I didn't think about it. He ate normally. Monday morning, however, he wouldn't stand up and wouldn't eat anything. Including treats, something he had never refused. So I made the call and let him go. It was so sad, he was my buddy, my friend. That was October 12th.
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| Hairy cat can make a full 2nd cat |
Mouse was a weird cat, we got her in our neighbor's divorce. No, seriously. Right after SO and I got together, we moved into a townhouse apartment. The neighbors were nice enough, they had a 2 yr old daughter and a cat. We lived there about 6 months before the neighbors split and were getting a divorce, when SO and I came home one day we saw the cat outside. She was desperately trying to get into a door, any door. The neighbors just kicked her outside to fend for herself, despite never being outside before. SO paid the pet deposit as my birthday present and Mouse came to live with us. She was 9 months old and had been the runt of the litter. The neighbors took her bc she was so small and had a lazy eye, they figured she would die but she had lived. We got her fixed and UTD on shots and lived pretty happily together. She was always a grumpy cat, she didn't like other people, hated to be pet anywhere other than her head and shoulders, despised vets and didn't like other animals. We made the mistake of sending her to MI to live with SO for 3 weeks during the transition to living in MI. She was SO happy as a single cat. The look on her face when everyone else moved to MI was priceless, she was pissed and she didn't forgive us for over a year. Seriously. She wanted to be an only cat and didn't let us forget it. She never, ever played with the other cats and only tolerated the dog.
Mouse has always been in good health, which is good considering her dislike of vets, but this July she started being off. She lost weight, didn't want to really eat and finally looked bad so I brought her in. Her T4 (thyroid level) should have been 2-4.8 and it was a 26. We had to play with medicine levels and treatments to find what worked but by late September we had her leveled out and pretty happy. October she did very well, she got ringworm (from the vet's office, its the only place that makes sense) but was in exceptional weight, ate very well, took her meds like a champ and her coat was looking really good again. After some home remedies/horse treatments failed, I got meds to treat the ringworm was advised I should shave her down too. Yikes, did I want to live? Lol! I went to PA over the weekend and got back on Monday. Mouse was still great and she got a bath with the special shampoo but didn't shave her. Yesterday Mouse ate her entire breakfast. I bothered her at lunch and made her sit on the couch for a little bit. She was fine, her ringworm scabs weren't as prominent. I was rushed after work and went out to ride quickly, when I came back in to feed dinner to the inside animals she was already gone. When she didn't come to her bowl, I looked for her and found her in front of the dog's bowl. She was lying down, looking asleep if not for her open eyes and stiff body. I am in shock as it was so sudden, I wasn't ready. With Arimus I was able to prepare and expected it, I didn't expect this with Mouse. I can only assume it was a blood clot or her heart gave out, I am pretty sure she didn't suffer. I have now lost 2 buddies in 30 days :( RIP guys, I am glad I was able to improve your lives as much as I could.
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| Grumpy cats can still play, just not with others |
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Kitten spam
This kitten, I swear. She is a cutie. Also a terrorist, but still a cutie. She actually made friends and played with our Maine Coon before he succumbed to cancer. She has decided she doesn't mind the dog (finally) and will play with her despite the dog having no real idea what the heck the kitten is doing. She has this (annoying) habit of walking on my face to help wake me up when she hears the alarm go off. If she isn't already snuggled with me, she will walk on my face and plop herself on my face/neck. Helpful kitten helps.
She is already a chunky 4lbs and is really growing. It is crazy to remember that she was 1.8lbs when I found her at the beginning of Sept. She is now UTD on shots, microchipped and was just spayed. She tries to play with the other 2 indoor cats but they don't really have any desire to be friends. Yet anyway. I know the oldest won't make friends, she hates everyone except SO and I, but I think the other (only now? :( ) tabby will make friends with her soon enough.
So here is kitten spam as filler. Why? Because 3 back to back trips to PA (load, drive 11hrs there, unload, turn around, drive 11hrs home within the same weekend) makes for little to no blog material. So...here you go.
She is already a chunky 4lbs and is really growing. It is crazy to remember that she was 1.8lbs when I found her at the beginning of Sept. She is now UTD on shots, microchipped and was just spayed. She tries to play with the other 2 indoor cats but they don't really have any desire to be friends. Yet anyway. I know the oldest won't make friends, she hates everyone except SO and I, but I think the other (only now? :( ) tabby will make friends with her soon enough.
So here is kitten spam as filler. Why? Because 3 back to back trips to PA (load, drive 11hrs there, unload, turn around, drive 11hrs home within the same weekend) makes for little to no blog material. So...here you go.
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| RIP :( Playing with Danica before cancer took him |
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| Friend time or warm body? |
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| Attack cat |
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| Now with extra bitey! |
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| Cuddle Queen |
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| Watching carefully for things that need attacked |
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| Extra snuggles after her spay. Nekkid belly! |
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Let's talk about nets. Slow feed hay nets
Ever since I have owned App, which is 20+ years now, he has been a pig. Not a swine kind of pig but a pig in his stall. Although I have cleaned a lot of stalls in my day and, overall, he isn't THAT bad, he isn't that good either. He does a great job of mixing his poo in his bedding and will mix his hay in with the pee and poo as well, because only the best will do his delicate palate. He is also a waster and will waste his hay if given an ounce more than that which will satisfy his starvation. Ah horses.
When I moved to MI and I had to pay for hay, I knew exactly what I was going to do. I was feeding exclusively in hay nets. And I have, exclusively. I have the 2" hole slow feed hay nets in stalls and I double bag for outside use so that they can eat even slower. Cause I am a bully that way lol. I use the cheaper nets (tough one, shires, etc) and usually buy them at trade shows for $6-9 per bag. I usually end up going through 2-4 bags a year as they get holes in them (thanks to my velociraptors) and I have to semi-regularly (few times a month) do "net surgery" where I have to fix/replace the drawstring or tie holes shut with baling twine until I deem the net deader than dead and replace it. I have done this for 5 winters now and it has worked well enough. In the dead of winter I can fill 3 bags with 16lbs of hay each and after 12 hours, the horses either still have just crumbs left or they have been without hay for only an hour or so and have barely a forkful of waste. That is really good IMO.
On the plus side with this method, I have very little waste, the horses have hay for long periods of time, I can control exactly how much hay they are getting, I can control inventory and it is very high quality hay that I can inspect very closely as they are square bales. The downside is time and effort. When people help out, they HATE the nets. They take me about 10 mins to fill and hang, others take twice as long. You then are carrying the hay 10-15+ pound bags from the barn to their hanging spots. There is a LOT of poop around the hay spots as the horses stay there almost 20 hours a day. There is a LOT of urine spots around there as well and App has zero problem urinating exactly where he is eating. This causes some dropped hay to be urinated on as well, which then has to be thrown away. *sigh*
This winter I have this whole up-in-the-air about the move. Will I? Won't I? When will I? I didn't want to buy a full years worth of hay only to sell the property a week later and lose that money. I am not looking forward to taking care of the entire farm by myself through the winter either. If I didn't work full time, it wouldn't be any big deal but I work full time, take care of the 10 acre farm full time plus try to find time to ride, visit SO in PA, see friends, etc. I have a lot going on. One idea I had to reduce work was to try round bales.
Now, just to be clear, I hate round bales. I have hated round bales for a very long time. Why do I hate round bales? There is just so much waste. There is so much dust in the bales. You can't see when there is mold or when quality has degraded. Most are stored outside so the top few inches of the entire bale are already crap. Did I mention the waste? I have read that horses waste up to 50% of a round bale, I wouldn't be surprised! They tear it out of the bale, drop half of it, stand on it, pee on it, poop on it, use it as bedding and you watch your dollar bills be chucked into the dumpster. Ugh!
But I want to reduce work. I want to save time. I am willing to try anything. So I called around and found someone who has round bales and kept them inside. And would deliver a 4'x5' for $45. Okay, fine, I will try it out. I got 3 and made a note that I wanted to order a net. I looked up the cost of round bale nets, they are $150-$200. Eek! Perhaps a round bale wouldn't be so bad I said. I put a round bale at the end of my arena on a Wednesday. The horses KNEW it was for them as I was removing the string and I felt like someone opening the doors of WalMart on Black Friday, I would have to do my business and jump back FAST. The horses, well they were in HEAVEN. They certainly liked the hay and stood in front of it all day. That evening, I looked on in horror. The waste, omg. I threw the equivalent of at least 2 flakes of hay out every single feeding as they were covered in urine/poop. I raked the unsoiled hay that was left on the ground into a pile behind the bale so hopefully they would eat it later. The big round bale lasted my horses 9 days before it was eaten to the ground. Gone people. The farmer said a bale should last 2.5 weeks and they ate it in 9 days! Plus it was taking 15-20 mins per feeding just to clean up the mess of the hay and all 3 horses had a cough. This was not working.
I researched and did my homework. I found the cheapest 4x5 slow feed hay net was about $170. Well damn, that is out of my budget. So I started dong more research. Looking on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, wholesalers. There are some sellers who sell repurposed fishing net however they couldn't tell me the tensile strength and I knew my heathens would destroy the netting if it wasn't strong enough. I was not willing to take the chance on the $40 plus shipping for it to be destroyed within a week. I finally found a seller who sold bulk netting by the foot.
I learned you want a minimum of #30 net, #36 or #42 netting. These nets have a break strength of 300lbs, 350lbs and 400lbs, respectively. So strong enough for velociraptors.
There is also a very large range of hole sizes and I knew 4" holes would not work for us. Hell, I didn't even want 2" holes, I wanted 1" holes. Unfortunately 1" holes in the size I needed was too cost prohibitive so I ended up with 1.5 inch holes.
No where seems to have the measurements for round bale nets. How much net do I need? Why is this a proprietary secret? I knew I needed a minimum of 9" high and 16 feet around, I ended up buying a 10x20 net. Your results may vary, however for a 4x5 round bale, it is a little large but the size makes it very easy to install the net. I would recommend it again and even for a 5x5 bale.
I then found a old clothesline and tied the 10' sections together so it would be round. This took about an hour, hand tying knots in 1.5 increments with a 25' line. To save $100? Sure I can do that! I then took a heavy duty metal quick link and wove it through the net for the bottom and wove the remainder of the rope through the top for a drawstring. Score!
I used the tractor to bring out a new bale and threw the bag on the bale like a pillow case. I then flipped the bale onto its side with the tractor and closed the drawstring. I scooped up the bale and set it where I wanted it and, since I had plenty of drawstring left, I threw the drawstring over the rafter to help "tie" the bag up so the horses wouldn't be walking on it since I don't have a round bale ring. We are now coming on day 4 of them having round bale 2 and it is looking much better. The waste is about identical, if even less, than the hay bags when using square bales. It takes me about 30 seconds to rake up the single fork full of hay that is scattered around the round bale and I throw it behind the bale for them to eat later. And now, it is virtually no work.
Overall I am impressed! I didn't expect it to go this well and I am pleasantly surprised. I think the bale will now last the 2.5 weeks that I expected, there is virtually no waste and the round bales are significantly cheaper than square. The cough each horse had has also went away since they can't shove their heads deep into the bale. If I had more funds, I would have preferred the 1" or 1.25" holes but I think 1.5" is working well. And, after 4 days, not a single tear in the net. Win! Let's see how it holds up long term now....
When I moved to MI and I had to pay for hay, I knew exactly what I was going to do. I was feeding exclusively in hay nets. And I have, exclusively. I have the 2" hole slow feed hay nets in stalls and I double bag for outside use so that they can eat even slower. Cause I am a bully that way lol. I use the cheaper nets (tough one, shires, etc) and usually buy them at trade shows for $6-9 per bag. I usually end up going through 2-4 bags a year as they get holes in them (thanks to my velociraptors) and I have to semi-regularly (few times a month) do "net surgery" where I have to fix/replace the drawstring or tie holes shut with baling twine until I deem the net deader than dead and replace it. I have done this for 5 winters now and it has worked well enough. In the dead of winter I can fill 3 bags with 16lbs of hay each and after 12 hours, the horses either still have just crumbs left or they have been without hay for only an hour or so and have barely a forkful of waste. That is really good IMO.
This winter I have this whole up-in-the-air about the move. Will I? Won't I? When will I? I didn't want to buy a full years worth of hay only to sell the property a week later and lose that money. I am not looking forward to taking care of the entire farm by myself through the winter either. If I didn't work full time, it wouldn't be any big deal but I work full time, take care of the 10 acre farm full time plus try to find time to ride, visit SO in PA, see friends, etc. I have a lot going on. One idea I had to reduce work was to try round bales.
Now, just to be clear, I hate round bales. I have hated round bales for a very long time. Why do I hate round bales? There is just so much waste. There is so much dust in the bales. You can't see when there is mold or when quality has degraded. Most are stored outside so the top few inches of the entire bale are already crap. Did I mention the waste? I have read that horses waste up to 50% of a round bale, I wouldn't be surprised! They tear it out of the bale, drop half of it, stand on it, pee on it, poop on it, use it as bedding and you watch your dollar bills be chucked into the dumpster. Ugh!
But I want to reduce work. I want to save time. I am willing to try anything. So I called around and found someone who has round bales and kept them inside. And would deliver a 4'x5' for $45. Okay, fine, I will try it out. I got 3 and made a note that I wanted to order a net. I looked up the cost of round bale nets, they are $150-$200. Eek! Perhaps a round bale wouldn't be so bad I said. I put a round bale at the end of my arena on a Wednesday. The horses KNEW it was for them as I was removing the string and I felt like someone opening the doors of WalMart on Black Friday, I would have to do my business and jump back FAST. The horses, well they were in HEAVEN. They certainly liked the hay and stood in front of it all day. That evening, I looked on in horror. The waste, omg. I threw the equivalent of at least 2 flakes of hay out every single feeding as they were covered in urine/poop. I raked the unsoiled hay that was left on the ground into a pile behind the bale so hopefully they would eat it later. The big round bale lasted my horses 9 days before it was eaten to the ground. Gone people. The farmer said a bale should last 2.5 weeks and they ate it in 9 days! Plus it was taking 15-20 mins per feeding just to clean up the mess of the hay and all 3 horses had a cough. This was not working.
I researched and did my homework. I found the cheapest 4x5 slow feed hay net was about $170. Well damn, that is out of my budget. So I started dong more research. Looking on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, wholesalers. There are some sellers who sell repurposed fishing net however they couldn't tell me the tensile strength and I knew my heathens would destroy the netting if it wasn't strong enough. I was not willing to take the chance on the $40 plus shipping for it to be destroyed within a week. I finally found a seller who sold bulk netting by the foot.
I learned you want a minimum of #30 net, #36 or #42 netting. These nets have a break strength of 300lbs, 350lbs and 400lbs, respectively. So strong enough for velociraptors.
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| Net porn, all naked and on display |
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| 1.5 in holes, bale after 3 days of nonstop eating |
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| Room for everyone! |
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| See those sexy knots, hand tied by me personally |
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| Easily able to obtain hay through the net |
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| Nom nom nom |
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Fails, wine and kitten
This is a very short, melancholy, wine filled post. That I couldn't proofread. Sorry peeps, feel free to skip.
Mia was successful in recovering from her abscess and I went to PA for the weekend. A nice short 11.5 hour, one way drive. I got the call on Sunday morning, Mia was very lame again, this time on her left hind. The diagonal opposite of the last lameness. Of course she was. When I got back Sunday night (after another fun 11 hour, one way drive), she was almost 3 legged lame. Very uncomfortable and unhappy, she had zero desire to put her heel down and her hoof was very warm. I slathered ichthammol on her hoof 2x a day and she is much better now. She is still short at the trot but pretty sound at the walk. I weaned her off of bute yesterday so I am hoping to see her true pain level tonight. I don't think it has popped but it isn't causing her as much pain. Another week lost!
Things have been very hectic here and it is affecting me more than I would prefer. The biggest one is that our farm here in MI still hasn't sold. I am extremely down about the whole situation, I think we were lead astray by our realtor at the start and it was priced way too high. I also don't know what she is DOING other than listing it on websites. The video that was taken has never been posted on youtube or put on realtor/zillow/etc. This has caused stress from knowing whether I need to buy hay for the winter to how am I going to plow since I sold the blade for the tractor to regrets of our selling stuff I could use but sold because this was supposed to sell fast. Ugh. Add wine.
Things are not super better at in other aspects, the brake lines blew in the van as we were bringing it to PA, thankfully we were only 10 mins from the house at the time. Wine night. The tires on the car trailer are dry rotted so SO stole the tires off of my horse trailer so he could move the racecar. My trailer is literally sitting on blocks. Fail. Add more wine. Then today, for example, I got a showing request. Awesome! Except I was working and they wanted a showing in 2.5 hours from when I got the call. UHHHH!!! I have lived in a "staged" house condition since it was listed so it doesn't take long to have it go from "clean, ready to go" to "staged" but I was working! I took off of work for the 2.5 hours to finish staging the house, dragging the arena, sweeping the barn and stashing all of the animals/toys/litter boxes/etc and I was SO impressed with myself because I got it done. All by myself in 2.25 hours!! I took the 15 mins to go eat a banana and check in on work when I saw an email. The people canceled 15 mins prior to their arrival. Are you fricken kidding me?!?! They ended up rescheduling for tomorrow but geez. Was so bummed. Guess what is happening tonight? Wine.
The bright spot, however, is this dang kitten. She is SO sweet and fricken adorable. And a ferocious panther. She sleeps under the covers and cuddles ALL of the time. With EVERYONE. She is really good for car rides and I even brought her to the farm store and she wasn't scared of anything. Very inquisitive and curious of who would pet her. So damn cute. She is now 3.5 pounds and SO big in comparison from when I got her. She now has her own collar, flies up and down stairs and chases the other cats in an attempt to play. Anyway, here is kitten spam, doing what she does best. Cuddling.
Mia was successful in recovering from her abscess and I went to PA for the weekend. A nice short 11.5 hour, one way drive. I got the call on Sunday morning, Mia was very lame again, this time on her left hind. The diagonal opposite of the last lameness. Of course she was. When I got back Sunday night (after another fun 11 hour, one way drive), she was almost 3 legged lame. Very uncomfortable and unhappy, she had zero desire to put her heel down and her hoof was very warm. I slathered ichthammol on her hoof 2x a day and she is much better now. She is still short at the trot but pretty sound at the walk. I weaned her off of bute yesterday so I am hoping to see her true pain level tonight. I don't think it has popped but it isn't causing her as much pain. Another week lost!
Things have been very hectic here and it is affecting me more than I would prefer. The biggest one is that our farm here in MI still hasn't sold. I am extremely down about the whole situation, I think we were lead astray by our realtor at the start and it was priced way too high. I also don't know what she is DOING other than listing it on websites. The video that was taken has never been posted on youtube or put on realtor/zillow/etc. This has caused stress from knowing whether I need to buy hay for the winter to how am I going to plow since I sold the blade for the tractor to regrets of our selling stuff I could use but sold because this was supposed to sell fast. Ugh. Add wine.
Things are not super better at in other aspects, the brake lines blew in the van as we were bringing it to PA, thankfully we were only 10 mins from the house at the time. Wine night. The tires on the car trailer are dry rotted so SO stole the tires off of my horse trailer so he could move the racecar. My trailer is literally sitting on blocks. Fail. Add more wine. Then today, for example, I got a showing request. Awesome! Except I was working and they wanted a showing in 2.5 hours from when I got the call. UHHHH!!! I have lived in a "staged" house condition since it was listed so it doesn't take long to have it go from "clean, ready to go" to "staged" but I was working! I took off of work for the 2.5 hours to finish staging the house, dragging the arena, sweeping the barn and stashing all of the animals/toys/litter boxes/etc and I was SO impressed with myself because I got it done. All by myself in 2.25 hours!! I took the 15 mins to go eat a banana and check in on work when I saw an email. The people canceled 15 mins prior to their arrival. Are you fricken kidding me?!?! They ended up rescheduling for tomorrow but geez. Was so bummed. Guess what is happening tonight? Wine.
The bright spot, however, is this dang kitten. She is SO sweet and fricken adorable. And a ferocious panther. She sleeps under the covers and cuddles ALL of the time. With EVERYONE. She is really good for car rides and I even brought her to the farm store and she wasn't scared of anything. Very inquisitive and curious of who would pet her. So damn cute. She is now 3.5 pounds and SO big in comparison from when I got her. She now has her own collar, flies up and down stairs and chases the other cats in an attempt to play. Anyway, here is kitten spam, doing what she does best. Cuddling.
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| Sleepy sleep |
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| Why did you disturb me? |
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| What you doing? I get you! |
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