As I still catching my breath, the next sink full of dish’s done, a load of laundry going, and Lily’s barley for her supper tonight simmering on the stove, just got back in from doing morning hay and getting the mail, my birthday CD is in! (Love how fast Amazon is!)

You see while the pasture has reached its very end, (in truth once again being overgrazed on the main pasture, there are major plans on this that are coming, but that’s a different update. needless to say, we have been feeding hay all summer long, just to make sure that everyone had just what they needed, along with the summer graze, it was not that much hay and it just makes me feel better knowing that it takes pressure off the pasture to a point and makes sure that even the most lowly of the herd can have enough to fill their tummies.

But now that the pasture is really done (we have had our first hard frosts), and without me bringing the bigger horse or cow out to graze in the front food forest area’s that I allow them to naturally keep into meadow, they went though a 800 plus pound bale of hay every two to two and half days, and that folks is a yikes, not that my hay supplier can’t give me enough hay but that is over a hundred a week in hay.. and that is just Yikes!

Needless to say, I was wringing hands just a touch out west at this crazy fast blow though the hay but if they need it, they need it-Right!?

Then I came home and watched my horses for a day, start to shake my head, start doing some math and then a frown was sure to cross my face..  time after time, watched one or the other horse dig deep in the bale in the bale feeder and then with a toss of their big head out comes ten, twenty or even thirty pounds of hay flying out of the feeder to the ground, shortly there after, a big or little foot trods on that good quality hay and then comes a pee and poo and look at that.. its become waste bedding..

Whoa!!! hold on there critters, amazing I am getting a full day and possible a two from the bale that I am hand feeding out, which is not to say they are not getting their needed feed and it is more work for me, but at this point well worth heading out every two hours to check and rake it back, you see, instead of putting it out for them in a huge amounts, I am putting out less and I am doing long lines for the sheep, and for the big critters, I have redone the fence a bit at the feeding area, and created a over the fence feeding, now when the horses toss the hay, I can just come back with the rake and flip clean hay back into the feeder, after the horse’s get the second crack at it, I rake it up and dump into what goes out to the sheep and look at that.. content horses, cows and cud chewing sheep, and a lot more bang for my buck on the hay..

More work for me for sure, but I will take it, till the lambs head out for freezer camp, the weekend is booked already, but we will see if there is any chance at all, that we can sneak in banging together a few more outside the horse feeders, ideally, this would slow down the amount of times, I would need to go and rake it back, but its really not that hard to do as long as I am home for the day 🙂

Think it might be time to also talk to my grain supplier about getting a load of whole barley to start the winter fodder growing, both for the milk cow and for the pigs, the expecting momma sheep and a limited amount for the horses.

This will help a great deal in slowing them down on the hay as well..