| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| mydakota |
Posted - Aug 05 2011 : 10:58:03 AM
Day before yesterday Hubby and I spent a few hours hauling 4 tons of bluegrass hay. For the last 7 years, I have been buying the most beautiful orchard grass hay I have ever seen from a Powell Butte farmer who is an absolute maestro of a hayman. Wonderful, beautiful hay from a fantastic guy who also happens to deliver and stack it in my barn. Love my hay guy. However, my gelding has developed an obesity problem. He is cresty, and has more cellulite than I do. At the same time, I have a mare who is ulcer prone and must have hay in front of her at all times to combat that. So obviously, I can't feed my beautiful hay from my wonderful hay guy free choice, because Dakota would just eat until he exploded. So, my most recent attempt at an answer to this dilemma is to find some hay that has a lot less sugar in it. I actually went in search of "poorer" hay. I found it. We hauled 4 tons of it. I refer to it as my "steamed green bean hay" and my other hay as my "cheesecake" hay. Each horse is now getting one flake a piece, morning and night, of the beautiful hay, and the hayrack is just full at all times with the "steamed green bean" hay and they have free choice access to it. My gelding is acting as though I am trying to kill him. Every time I go outside, he is hanging over the gate, trying to get my attention. If I make eye contact with him, he walks over to the feeder and puts a great deal of effort into looking pitiful. He will even pick up a mouthfull of the new hay, work his jaw a couple of times, and then spit it out--staring me down the whole while. Can you say "spoiled"? LOL! I think this just may work!
Downside, while we were stacking the new hay, I fell through a crack in the stack and impaled my forearm with a hay hook. Man it hurts. I thought I would never get done milking this morning!
HearthCricket Farm. Where the door is always open, and the coffee is always on. |
| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| mydakota |
Posted - Aug 06 2011 : 1:58:35 PM
I've seen pics of such. The drylot where he spends most of his time is only abut a half to maybe three quarters an acre. My pasture is about 3 1/2 acres, but he only gets turned out there for maybe an hour at a time because he can't have more access to grass than that. He is such a little tubby!
HearthCricket Farm. Where the door is always open, and the coffee is always on. |
| StrawHouseRanch |
Posted - Aug 06 2011 : 09:55:13 AM
There is definitely some kind of dynamic about creating a track. You will immediately see much more movement. Our track circles a pasture that is only about 3.5 acres at the most. I put flakes of hay out along the track, and they are pretty much in motion all day. It has to do with the width of the track...the narrower the track the faster they move.
So, in some places along our track I have nice relaxing wide stretches, and then there are some places where I've narrowed it down a bit, and they move through them at a greater pace. Right now I have all four of mine on the track, but generally I have Prince and Bird, my two easy-keepers on the track, while Missy the mule and Domino in the center, since they don't have any problems with weight gain.
The only thing that separates the track from the center is one strand of electrobraid fencing strung on a combination of pigtail step-in posts and a few t-posts to give it some stability.
Paula
Farmgirl Sister #3090
A Beehive is the ultimate Home Sweet Home
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| mydakota |
Posted - Aug 05 2011 : 10:49:52 PM
Oh gosh. He got MUCH fluffier after this pic was taken. He looks positively fit here. :-/
HearthCricket Farm. Where the door is always open, and the coffee is always on. |
| Candy C. |
Posted - Aug 05 2011 : 5:13:50 PM
He does look like an "easy keeper!" LOL!! Hope your arm is okay!?!
Candy C.
Farmgirl Sister #977
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| mydakota |
Posted - Aug 05 2011 : 2:20:07 PM
I have a slow feeder set up at each end of the pasture, on the opposite side as the run in shed and the water. The pic of the slow feeder above shows it with a single net. Since then, they have been double netted in an attempt to slow him down even more. They wander from feeder to feeder (to water--to shelter) all day. I have not fenced out the center to form an actual "track", but they do spend the whole day going back and forth.
HearthCricket Farm. Where the door is always open, and the coffee is always on. |
| oldbittyhen |
Posted - Aug 05 2011 : 2:12:12 PM
I don't know how your pasture/corrals are set up, but, I have had over the years a few that gained weight just by looking at hay, so my finding was, feed at the highest/fartherest point of your corral/pasture, and water at the opposite end, make them work for it...
"Knowlege is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad" |
| mydakota |
Posted - Aug 05 2011 : 11:29:04 AM
I have slow feeders and small mesh nets in about 4 spots in the drylot and have used them for a couple of years. They do help, slow him down, but he is a very easy keeper.
HearthCricket Farm. Where the door is always open, and the coffee is always on. |
| StrawHouseRanch |
Posted - Aug 05 2011 : 11:18:23 AM
My easy-keepers lost their fat and cellulite after we set up a pasture track (aka paddock paradise) and put them on a diet of hay. It is amazing how well it works!
So sorry to hear about your hay stacking accident. I am forever stepping in those darned cracks and nearly twisting an ankle. I can only imagine how bad it would be while holding sharp tools at the same time!!
Paula
Farmgirl Sister #3090
A Beehive is the ultimate Home Sweet Home
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