Compressed bales

Today's big research project was two fold; compressed bales and Renegade Boots. I haven't done much with the "research Renegade boots" action item I have on my list of to-do's for the day however I have spent the better part of the morning looking at opinion after opinion on compressed hay bales.

I struggle with hay for a few reasons; storage I suppose is the biggest challenge for me, delivery comes next, stacking/handling of course is always an issue as well, price fluctuations...Consistency, as a result of the earlier mentioned problems, then becomes a problem!

I started using the compressed bales a couple weeks back, I have used them in the past however usually it's cause I am in a pinch and have to "run out and grab hay". I hate hate hate being in a "pinch" like that; I rather doubt I am alone there.

I like the compressed bales; it's easy to maneuver, priced about the same, saves tons of room (no pun intended) and generally makes my job a bit easier. The problem I continue to run into is how much to feed when dealing with compressed bales. Regular bales are a piece of cake, they flake off with ease and toss really well (come on admit it throwing hay is therapeutic!). The compressed bales flake off as well but the flakes seem so tiny that I have spent the last two weeks wondering if I am under feeding or over feeding; I can "feel" the weight of a regular flake with no problem and no longer second guess myself. I can not say the same for compressed bales.

Kate and I used to have a fish scale that we attached to my very handy "hay holder"; imagine a large piece of tarp with baling twine weaved through the top on either end than tied together to create a hay hammock of sorts. We'd weigh the hay using the scale and the hay hammock then off to feed we'd go. Somewhere between the summer months the handy fish scale got lost however the hammock managed to stay put so I decided yesterday to use the hay hammock to measure the compressed hay. I sat down and decompressed a flake that would normally serve as "breakfast". Much to my surprise and relief it felt just like a "normal" portion grabbed off a "normal" bale. Off I went to give Mr. Patch his breakfast :-)

This system of sitting on one bale, decompressing another bale and lugging the portion up to the pasture in the hay hammock seemed brilliant (still does). The horses seemed to loved it too; no longer was I plopping down an odd looking piece of hay cardboard in front of them! Admittedly it was somewhat entertaining to see Texas fling an entire flake about ten feet when I first brought them the compressed hay. I did however think it was unfair to up and change things on them considering the amount of change they've seen in the last month or so. All that being said, I now sit and decompress four bundles/flakes/portions at each feeding. Since I am home we've been feeding smaller portions more frequently. The problem with my oh so brilliant system is that it takes me about twice the time to feed now, Leo thinks the hay hammock is a super cool place to sit contributing to the time it takes, and I can only feed one at a time. No more four hay piles in the pasture at once...unless I make more hay hammocks ;-).

When everyone is in for the night and we are having dinner it's no problem at all because I can decompress, deliver the pile to the stall, repeat three times, bring the horses into the barn, put the last decompressed pile in the shelter and everyone is nice and tucked in! It's breakfast and lunch that need some work in the timing department.

This morning Patch was in the shelter, everyone else was in the barn and I was planning on feeding outside. First I brought Patch a decompressed pile inside the shelter in the hopes that he'd stay put. I went about decompressing and delivering out three more "breakfast portions" to the pasture. The first delivery brought Patch outside the shelter following me, he proceeded to munch on the new pile while I went for breakfast number three. I came out, he followed me to the next eating spot and started munching on that; to save time that happened on the forth delivery as well.

I kinda figured it was some sort of poetic justice that Patch was finally able to pile hop without anyone bothering him. He eats super slow so no one was in danger of Patch eating their breakfast up and it was kinda cute anyway.

Amber came out first and went to a pile, Patch moved and settled into a different spot. Katie came out, Patch gets pushed yet again, resettles. Texas came out and everyone got pushed out of their pile while he strutted about sniffing through all three before settling on one. I don't really know who ended up back in the shelter eating because I went inside, I imagine Patch finally went back there.

It's snowing here so everyone came back in and lunch, although it took me half an hour to get it together, was without pile hopping.

All in all I think I will stick to compressed bales. For the most part it seems the biggest problem people face with them is over or under feeding because the bales are so different then a normal bale. I am confident that my hay hammock will resolve that problem for me. Consistency can be wrapped up nicely too because I'm buying from the same place each time and not having to "shop" around. Delivery can be solved as well because in a pinch I can toss them into my car trunk (it's deceptively large). The convenience factor drops a little because I am breaking apart each meal for each horse however we're not in it for the convenience factor now are we?!

I suppose I could go do my due diligence on Renegade boots before I drift off into la-la land and tell you how cute Patch looked today hopping from pile to pile, or muse on how regal Texas looks as he walks into the pasture or even how Katie has taken to slinging her blanket to the side as much as Amber does.

The boots look amazing and were recommended by someone I admire so off to research...

Happy Monday!

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