When I couldn't post... I wanted to!
Had lots to say!
Now that I can... I've got nothing to say!! (0:
Just what is that all about??
Sooo... not much has happened here recently...
Still clawing my way to Spring.
Suffering through slow snow melting... And then more snow falling.
With Ye ol' Hubby reminding me that it's winter in North Idaho.
Oh, how I do love that man!
Wyatt turned three in February...
Had a fun little party!
His little buddy Cole came as well as several other kids, and adults.
Once again it was awesome to get to head over to the coast and celebrate!!
Wyatt's best girl Allie got him some gold fish for his pond. He somehow managed to catch and pet one. He wanted to kiss it too. But his mom persuaded him not to, and to put the poor little fish back into the pond so he could be with his friends!
We took a few pictures of Speedy. It was a last minute type of affair, and he didn't get a bit of spiffing up before we did it. I may be a bit partial to him, but even dirty and hairy, he is a fine looking horse!!
Trying to get him to square up, was nearly impossible.
He is so busy. Not in a bad way, but he really thinks he should be moving...doing something....not just standing there.
His buddy Roy who has some trust issues wasn't into the camera at all. If I turned it towards him, he nearly froze in fear... Poor ol' Roy! (0: He really is a nice horse, and really good to Speedy!
Speedy and his human mom discussing his inability to stand still and pose...
He really is a character!!
And that is all that happen in February. But hey, it was a short month so we shouldn't expect too much! (0:
And now as March has begun, I've seen my moose buddy Jeffery a few times. None that were conducive to me taking pictures though.
Then out of the blue, I saw this guy/girl.
I'm pretty sure it's younger than Jeffery, as it's pretty skittish. It was all I could do to get a few pictures of it. Hence the blurriness...
I think it's also quite a bit smaller than Jeffery, but I have no real way of gauging that...just a feeling! (0: I'm glad that they are eating what we call the Elk Brush! Haven't seen a single elk since we moved out here. I think I'll start calling it moose brush! (0:
Oh, and I guess I've changed my feeding a little bit around here.
Horse Girl suddenly decided to stop eating the round bales from the top down and started eating the sides out first. This has lead to a lot of waste... Even with the hay ring! Ugh.
Mindy had gotten me a a slow feeder/nibble net for my birthday that holds three square bales. It was made by someone locally. So I looked her up and found that she also makes round bale nibble nets!! I also ordered a couple of travel sized feeders. You know, for the horse trailer... and for the donkey's in this spring/summer when they go to the Jenny Craig for Men pen! (0:
So for the sake of sharing...
Here is a 500lb round after 5 days of Horse Girls abuse...eating from the side in.
....and the Hee-Haws dragging it out of the feeder, mostly so they can poop on it. Those little brats have been pooping on everything... I think it's because they have too much to eat... Maybe Jenny Craig for Men should start early... Well except the pen is snow locked and I can't get into it without a gross amount of effort. And then I'd have to figure out how to get water to them easily. Yeah, that probably won't happen until the spring thaw! So I'll just continue to grumble about their pooping on things for another month or so!
And here is another bale at 6 days out, with the net on it.
It's wonky in the feeder because that's how I placed it. I didn't take into consideration how the bale would handle after I removed the wrap from it before putting the net on... I honestly like to start my bale as close to dead center of my hay ring. It usually involves me scooting it around with my hay hooks. Hay hooks don't work if you can't hook it to something tight. Well couldn't do it with this one! (0:
You can see some hay hanging from the netting, that is thanks to the devil donkeys. Their little mouths can still waste a little, but honestly, at this point it looks like waste is down 80-90% even with the donkey's doing their best to make a mess!!
Today, the bale has been out for 9 days. At 9 days, I usually have to put out another bale. And that is making the equines clean up a little bit.
I jumped into the ring and tried to drag it more to the center, and it was too heavy to move easily. I'm guessing that it still has 150-200 lbs still in it. I'm crossing my fingers for 12-14 days out of my bales now. Hope I'm not being too greedy! (0:
At any rate, it's a definite improvement!!
4 comments:
No doubt you are going to be saving some $$ on hay now! Very good idea.
Moose are funny looking critters lol
Glad you are back online :)
Looks like the haynets are a good investment for you. Just curious, is your bale feeder too heavy to move? Does it come apart? It would be a lot easier to move it than to try to place the hay perfectly in the center.
Can't believe how much snow you have compared to us, you must be at a higher elevation.
I'm trying to figure out right now how to "figure" how long it takes for the bale feeder to pay for itself with waste reduction. I will probably have to have Chad help me... (0:
Shirley, the hay ring isn't too heavy to move. But it's been in the pasture since October (I think) and the snow, poop, hay build up along with everyone feeding has given it a definite "spot" where it sits. I couldn't move the feeder enough to make a difference without actually moving it to an entirely different location. Does that make sense? (0: Because we may actually be getting some snow melt, I will be relocating it, OR just trying the net without it once this bale is gone... I'm a little nervous about what the Hee-Haws might do to the bale even in the net if the ring isn't there to keep them off of it! (0:
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