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Re: [RC] Free feeding square bales - Quentin & Libby Llop

Beekeepers used to come and collect the strings (from round bales) from my feeders. It's great stuff for smoking hives. Libby

heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Our hay is two-string, but our alfalfa is baled as tightly as the California 3-stringers (and the bales weigh about 120 lbs apiece). Our grass hay is between 90 and 100 lbs per bale, and not quite as dense, but still nowhere like the sorts of bales you describe (the one-handers). You hit the key thing--which is to free feed small bales, you need to leave the strings on. I've done this, and it can be a hassle with a big group of horses to police up all the strings later. I can see it being more feasible with just a few horses. Heidi


    -------- Original Message --------
    Subject: [RC] Free feeding square bales
    From: kathy swigart <katswig@xxxxxxx>
    Date: Fri, December 26, 2008 9:19 pm
    To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

    I do it all the time and have been doing so for years.  But then,
    California three string bales do not, generally, meet this
    description from Heidi:

    > The biggest problems with intermittent free feeding of small
    > bales are that 1) they are less densely packed,

    Those wimply little two string things that you can pick up with
    one hand I have noticed are less densely packed, but that is only
    true of the three string ones if you buy cheap (by the bale) ones.

    And they stay pretty densely packed if you leave the strings on,
    which is what I do.

    I have a big water trough (that no longer holds water because it
    has holes in the bottom) that I tip a full bale (~110# to 120#) of
    bermuda grass into.  It is under a shelter in the rainy season to
    keep the hay dry (and keep the hay out of the mud if it escapes
    from the trough), which lasts for three horses about 3 days.  They
    get supplmented with 7-9# of alfalfa hay once a day (whenever it
    is convenient) which gets separated into as many piles as there
    are horses and put into small water tubs.  Individual horses may
    also get extra grain or whatever supplements, but they are
    separated out for this (usually when taken out to be ridden or
    fussed with in some way).

    Depending on the mood of the person who buys it (which is not me),
    they also will get oat or orchard grass hay thrown in for them in
    the same individual troughs (or on the ground) at random intervals.

    I have found that the most important thing when using this feeding
    method it to not put anything OTHER than the bermuda hay into the
    big feeder....ever.  If you start putting something that they may
    like better in there with the full bale of bermuda, they will go
    "digging" for it (even if it isn't there) and throw the bermuda
    all over the place trying to ferret out every last scrap of
    something better (even if it isn't there).

    Invariably, some of the grass hay, after a while, starts to end up
    on the ground around the trough, at which time, no more is put out
    for them until they "clean up."  Depending on the weather (and the
    fastidiousness of the horses), this "clean up" is something they
    are required to do about once a month.  And I make sure that I
    make them do it when I know I am going to be out soon enough that
    they won't go for too long without something to eat.  I don't make
    them clean up down to the last scrap (and, in fact, some of it
    does get spread around as bedding on purpose--and it is cheaper
    than most of the types of real bedding that can be had around here
    anyway).

    However, they usually learn the clean up routine fairly
    easily. Especially if you "train" them that they aren't going to
    get anything more until they do (so the first few times you may
    have to let them go for a while with less than full rations until
    they figure out that that is all they are gonna get).

    Some horses are just pigs and are gonna waste hay as bedding no
    matter what, but most of them figure out the program pretty quickly.

I find that it works best with bermuda hay for several reasons: 1) there is no "good part" of bermuda hay, so no particular reason
to go digging through it for something better; 2) they don't like
it very much so they just pick at it all day long, especially
after they learn that it is always gonna be there; 3) around here
is is much more consistent palatability that any of the other
available grass hays so I don't have to wonder whether they are
going to pick at it all day long or throw it around because they
are convinced that they could find something better or that it
tastes so bad that they refuse to eat it at all; 4) it is cheaper
than all other grass hays.

    But yes, it is very easy to free feed three string bales of grass
    hay.  For most horses, the best thing to do is leave the strings
    on so they have to work at getting it; and by the time it is easy
    to get at (i.e. they have eaten enough that the strings have come
    loose) there is less of it to throw around anyway.

    kat
    Orange County, Calif.
    :)

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Replies
RE: [RC] Free feeding square bales, heidi