Must-Haves for Horses..?

[secuono]

Lugging 40 lbs bales even through a few inches of snow is hard work.

In the interest of disseminating information *and* proving I *am* trying to help rather than merely be a wet blanket <g>, I would point out that a plastic kiddie sled (toboggan/boat style) makes this pretty easy, at least once you've tromped an initial path if the snow is deep

However, at the same time,

As far as snow, 2yrs ago we got 2ft, other than that, rarely snows enough or lasts longer than two days.

I do not think you are hearing me. It is not just snow, it is ANY OF A LOT OF REASONS why having only a week or two supply of hay is dangerous. What happens if your car breaks down? What happens if you are snowed in for two days at the same time as you discover half the bales you bought are moldy? Or... and this is honestly by far the most common reason for people running out of hay... what happens if your supplier runs out temporarily? This is really not AT ALL uncommon.

It is not a matter of "oh well he will survive being hungry for a day or two and I can feed him apples and oatmeal out of the kitchen." That does not do it. Horses need large amounts of roughage and they need it more or less continually, not let's skip a day. Colic is not infrequently fatal. You just CANNOT be in a position where you could even POSSIBLY run out of hay.

A number of horses also cannot deal gracefully with switching batches of hay every week or two, *that* can make them colicky. If you buy car-size batches from TSC they WILL be from different batches, sometimes very very different.

So the number of bales you can cram into a car is not really even relevant here IMHO. Even if your TSC sells hay (I didn't realize any of them do, I suppose it doesn't surprise me tho) it will be more expensive for decent quality and will come in too-small amounts and from too-diverse batches.

You simply need to find a farmer or hay dealer. It is really not difficult at all (tho this time of year you would have a bit more trouble and spend more for the hay, simply b/c it is late in the season). I would recommend taking along an experienced horse person to check the hay out with you before you buy, or at least talk to some local GOOD boarding/breeding barns (i.e. not people who are tending to cut corners) and find out where they recommend you get your hay from.

As with horses, not all hay is created equal, there is great hay, good hay, perfectly-fine-for-idle-horses-with-a-ration-balancer hay, poor hay that your horse will dwindle on, and actively-bad hay that can make him sick or dead. It is NOT just a matter of is it green and nice-smelling. Protein % is a significant issue and for that you need either a lab analysis or advice from a very experienced person.

(Another advantage, therefore, of buying your whole winter's or year's worth of hay at once, aside from convenience and price, is that you will only have to worry about quality and shopping *once* )

Pat

Yes, I realize I need to buy in bulk. A neighbor came over today to say hey again and he will be back next week to mow the grass, I will ask him where he gets his hay from and hopefully I will have a person to order IN BULK from. The barn is large enough with water going away on all sides for a mass amount of hay.

As for the sled idea, that is a great one. I put our little chicken killer to work this past winter pulling 50lbs of chicken feed 250ft to the barn. She's 16lbs herself and it was very easy. It's a great idea all around for dogs to work and to make moving things easy.

I'm under a ton of stress right now with the move and now my lost birds, so I'm sorry if anything comes off rude.