greybeard
Herd Master
I've heard it said, but never heard it from anyone that actually had it happen.
It's always .."I knew a guy that had a friend, whose cousin was married to a guy that fed guts to his dogs and they started killing...."
High Desert Cowboy- How far is it up north?
- Thread starter High Desert Cowboy
- Start date
It's always .."I knew a guy that had a friend, whose cousin was married to a guy that fed guts to his dogs and they started killing...."
Baymule
Herd Master
I bought a starved mare from a kill pen and have been giving her beet shreds soaked in water to soften them up. Had her 3 months and she went from skeletal to becoming nicely rounded. She also gets a 14% pellet and all the hay she wants. Maybe the beet shreds would help your horse.
Bruce
Herd Master
Hay burners for sure, high metabolism I think.
Ridgetop
Herd Master
Some horses are easy keepers and some are not. The higher the protein in the ration, the leaner the animal. When we were getting first and second cutting hay for our dairy goats, they were giving us a very high yield. BUT we were feeding our saddle horses the same high protein hay, it was summer, and the kids (and we) were riding almost every day, The horses lost so much weight I was worried that the animal control people would come out and impound them! We kept increasing their hay ration but they just kept getting skinnier. Finally someone suggested that the hay was too rich for them. We switched to a much lower quality alfalfa and added some oat/barley hay mix. They put in weight in no time.
I felt incredibly stupid since I was teaching the 4-H project kids about the importance of feeding the appropriate ration for weight gain and holding fair animals at the proper weight! DUH!!!
I felt incredibly stupid since I was teaching the 4-H project kids about the importance of feeding the appropriate ration for weight gain and holding fair animals at the proper weight! DUH!!!
greybeard
Herd Master
People test hay and look for protein but tend to pay too little attention to the fat #s.
Ridgetop
Herd Master
Agreed, but testing hay is usually out of touch cost wise for the people that are buying 1 ton or less at a time. If you have enough animals, you should buy by the field, and then do the testing. We used to buy the second cutting from the fields that had sold the first cut to dairies, that way the dairy did the testing and we knew we were getting premium alfalfa. however, since we ere feeding high yield dairy goats, we were supplementing with rain wen they were in milk. We fed pound for pound grain to milk, then cut back little by little on the grain until they were stabilized on their maximum production and styed there. This is (like all dairy production) labor tensive, but we got maximum production for minimum cost.
Wouldn't work for a large commercial style dairy, but they usually buy by the field and test their hay anyway.
Wouldn't work for a large commercial style dairy, but they usually buy by the field and test their hay anyway.
greybeard
Herd Master
It must be different in your neck of the woods.
I can get any kind of hay tested for way less than what a single 5x5 round bale currently costs. Random cores from 10-20 bales, put them all in a ziplock bag a mail them off. If you need 100 bales tested, a composite sample from every 20 bales Around $20 per sample (plus whatever a gallon sized ziplock bag of hay costs to mail or UPS) for NIR sent to West Texas TAMU, Canyon Tx and about the same if sent to Weld in Colorado.
NIR= DM, CP, SP, RDP, ADICP, NDICP, est. lysine and methionine, ADF, NDF, lignin, starch, WSC, ESC (simple sugars), NFC, fat, ash, RFV, RFQ, (w/ 48hr NDFD), TDN, NEl, NEm, NEg, ME, DE, Ca, P, Mg, K, S, Cl.
Results are emailed back or US Postal mailed, customer's choice.
I can get any kind of hay tested for way less than what a single 5x5 round bale currently costs. Random cores from 10-20 bales, put them all in a ziplock bag a mail them off. If you need 100 bales tested, a composite sample from every 20 bales Around $20 per sample (plus whatever a gallon sized ziplock bag of hay costs to mail or UPS) for NIR sent to West Texas TAMU, Canyon Tx and about the same if sent to Weld in Colorado.
NIR= DM, CP, SP, RDP, ADICP, NDICP, est. lysine and methionine, ADF, NDF, lignin, starch, WSC, ESC (simple sugars), NFC, fat, ash, RFV, RFQ, (w/ 48hr NDFD), TDN, NEl, NEm, NEg, ME, DE, Ca, P, Mg, K, S, Cl.
Results are emailed back or US Postal mailed, customer's choice.
Bruce
Herd Master
If that would actually work! What a cost saving
- Thread starter
- #619
High Desert Cowboy
True BYH Addict
Bro’s always been a hard keeper and I’ve put him on every type of hay available. But he’s a good horse so I keep him around.
We’ve had such a nice mild winter with occasional snow that quickly melted the next day. Now as my ewes are starting to show it dumps snow on us, and this time, it’s here to stay. It’s wonderful we’re getting much needed moisture but I swear sometimes the big man upstairs has it out for me. But we’ll push on and all will be well, ideally.
The snow has also led to terrible traps and I had to give my boy quite the talking to. He and his buddies had dug a large hole in the ground and spent the summer keeping toads in it. Well before it snowed he covered it with a rubber mat, we still don’t know why. So imagine my surprise to be walking through 6 inches of pure snow and suddenly hit a pit fall while carrying a bucket of water. I’m pretty sure everyone within a 100 miles could hear my string of expletives. I got inside with a sore knee and soaking wet and I know my boy had put two and two together as he was nowhere to be found. Kids, you gotta love em but they may kill you first.
We’ve had such a nice mild winter with occasional snow that quickly melted the next day. Now as my ewes are starting to show it dumps snow on us, and this time, it’s here to stay. It’s wonderful we’re getting much needed moisture but I swear sometimes the big man upstairs has it out for me. But we’ll push on and all will be well, ideally.
The snow has also led to terrible traps and I had to give my boy quite the talking to. He and his buddies had dug a large hole in the ground and spent the summer keeping toads in it. Well before it snowed he covered it with a rubber mat, we still don’t know why. So imagine my surprise to be walking through 6 inches of pure snow and suddenly hit a pit fall while carrying a bucket of water. I’m pretty sure everyone within a 100 miles could hear my string of expletives. I got inside with a sore knee and soaking wet and I know my boy had put two and two together as he was nowhere to be found. Kids, you gotta love em but they may kill you first.
B&B Happy goats
Herd Master
Sorry you fell into the hole, but reading it I almost fell over laughing with the image your story created. Hope your knee is ok.
