Putting in a horse pasture- thinking about my land/hay/etc

[Cow]

So, I have a 40 acre chunk of land outside of town of which there's 14 acres of tillable land we rent out to a guy planing soybeans for ~$1,100/yr. My wife wants to take an area of that, about 1.5 acres(makes sense if you saw the layout of the property) and fence it in for a horse and a donkey. She already has the donkey, the horse will be a freebee. They're "rescue" animals.

She knows what she's doing with the animals, I honestly don't but that's OK. I had my fill of livestock on my dad's cattle farm growing up.

I've got my Ferguson TO-30 with FEL I bought as a snow clearing/garden tilling/general utility around the property machine. What can I do with it as far as cleaning up the horse manure? My wife mentioned that at the horse barn where she works they use a drag harrow(or what sounded like one from her description) to work the manure back into the ground. I'm sure the fergie could handle that. I already have a small disc I thought might work but I don't think I want to disturb/rough-up the soil that much. Drag harrows are not pricey as far as I know. It's also been suggested I may need to brush-hog it. I guess my fergie can handle that too.

One thing I'm wondering is if there's any easy tractor way of collecting the horse manure for my garden... or is it just plain easier with a shovel and a bucket?

Another thing... since she's got these critters that need fed, would there be any point in me getting some implements and/or a larger tractor and instead of renting that field baling square bales for the horsies? I've got no idea how much hay I can get out of my land, what stuff costs, how much they eat, etc... Really if I'm honest I just think it would be fun to actually work my own field. I kinda had it in my head that maybe some day if I had the time I might try to grow some specialty crop out there.

If it helps, I live in WI so we have a short growing season. I've also got pretty sandy soil- the farmer doesn't seem to have any trouble with his corn/beans but I have a hell of a time keeping my garden watered.

Ideas, thoughts, "you're nuts", etc appreciated

 

[Cow]

Good suggestion, but I failed to mention the non-tillable land is my house and the woods.

 

[Allan in NE]

Run the critters on the non-tillable land.

Allan

 

[Janicholson]

Several Ideas. The 14 acres might make between 40 and 125 65 pound small square bailes to the acre after the field has been established. As many as 3 cuttings in some places could make it more. If 100 that is 1400 bales. How much you need depends on the animals.
You should not purchase equipment to bale. It will either be old and troublesome, or new and way out of financial reality. You are also (from your question) not an hay farmer. Having someone custom bale it makes sense. Check prices locally with neighboring farmers. If hay is going to cost 3 to 4 bucks per bale, the payback for the custom baling will be pretty quick. Distributed manure in a field can be spread with tires being pulled behind your tractor on a 8 foot pipe using a chain hitch. (do not turn sharp!!!) Jim

 

[gene bender]

1.5A is not big enough for two critters as you will be buyinh tons of feed for them. Fence the timber then have fun finding them after they get out horses need the best of fence money can buy the money you get from rent will help pay for their keep

 

[Anonymous-0]

get rid of the donkey, skip the horse, and enjoy the freedom :shock: Acre and a half won't do you much good.... set up a leanto and fence off about 5 acres of the other stuff. And buy the little hay you'll need in round bales........

 

[Nebraska Cowman]

I'm with Dave. Skip the animals. But if your set on
it a lone horse will pretty much drop his manure in
a certain area and you can scoop it up. Donkeys are
even worse and will actually make a pile.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I agree with davey.....Have u thot about a goat...LOL

 

[Anonymous-0]

do as the wife wants and stay out of hot water and she will find out and let her change her mind and you will be the hero.

 

[paul]

You're nuts. But, many go down that path to have some fun, so you aren't the first.

14 acres of hay should put up enough hay to feed 25 head of big critters. Making hay is easy to learn, costs $5000 in equipment, and takes a lifetime to master - makeing the hay is _Very_ time sensitive to make good hay, so is difficult to do even if you don't have a real job.

Putting out 2 critters on land you don't live on is pretty messy - watering, and checking on daily.... She's nuts....

1.5 acres really isn't enough to graze on, you need a 1/2 acre of a yard for wet/winter/ bad times. Then a 2 acre - or bigger for more critters, and once she gets 2, she;ll have more - pasture to keep them well-grazed. Be best if that was split into 2 seperate pastures so you can graze one, rest the other one, grows and feeds much better.

I'd sure fence in some of the unused land and let the farmer rent the good land.

No good, only costs and expense, can come from this, might as well continue to try to make some money from the property. Making the field smaller or a fence on the side makes it worth less and less to farm, oddball corners and such just mess up farmland in rowcrops.

Good luck with it, and people have done more foolish things than this, so my message is accurate, but in jest.

--->Paul

 

[showcrop]

(quoted from post at 14:07:38 12/24/11) So, I have a 40 acre chunk of land outside of town of which there's 14 acres of tillable land we rent out to a guy planing soybeans for ~$1,100/yr. My wife wants to take an area of that, about 1.5 acres(makes sense if you saw the layout of the property) and fence it in for a horse and a donkey. She already has the donkey, the horse will be a freebee. They're "rescue" animals.

She knows what she's doing with the animals, I honestly don't but that's OK. I had my fill of livestock on my dad's cattle farm growing up.

I've got my Ferguson TO-30 with FEL I bought as a snow clearing/garden tilling/general utility around the property machine. What can I do with it as far as cleaning up the horse manure? My wife mentioned that at the horse barn where she works they use a drag harrow(or what sounded like one from her description) to work the manure back into the ground. I'm sure the fergie could handle that. I already have a small disc I thought might work but I don't think I want to disturb/rough-up the soil that much. Drag harrows are not pricey as far as I know. It's also been suggested I may need to brush-hog it. I guess my fergie can handle that too.

One thing I'm wondering is if there's any easy tractor way of collecting the horse manure for my garden... or is it just plain easier with a shovel and a bucket?

Another thing... since she's got these critters that need fed, would there be any point in me getting some implements and/or a larger tractor and instead of renting that field baling square bales for the horsies? I've got no idea how much hay I can get out of my land, what stuff costs, how much they eat, etc... Really if I'm honest I just think it would be fun to actually work my own field. I kinda had it in my head that maybe some day if I had the time I might try to grow some specialty crop out there.

If it helps, I live in WI so we have a short growing season. I've also got pretty sandy soil- the farmer doesn't seem to have any trouble with his corn/beans but I have a hell of a time keeping my garden watered.

Ideas, thoughts, "you're nuts", etc appreciated

Do the right thing by your renter. Talk to him in advance and make sure that he hasn't already applied inputs that he won't realize return on if you take it out from under him.

 

[VicS]

Just go for it, what is $1100 between friends. I am using 17 acres for just 3 horses now. I bale about 5 of it for hay. pasture the rest. Will probably buy another horse this winter. One thing about horses, you aren't surprised when you don't make any money. you knew up front you wouldn't. lol Vic

 

[donjr]

Gotta jump in. It's your ground, and your life. But you really need more pasture acreage, or fence in some of the woods and some open ground. The more paddocks you have, the better your grass will be. But the grass needs a rest between grazings. You can find an older NH or JD baler in decent shape for a grand or so, but you still need a mower and a rake for hay. And a wagon or trailer and some teenagers to help get it in. So look at maybe $5K for machinery. Another tractor with live hydralics and pto wouldn't be a bad idea, so add another $5 or 6K. Then theres fencing. Figure $7 a post plus installation. If you go with board, it's higher cost, or cattle wire, which may be somewhat cheaper. Or hi-tensile, which all the horse people around here frown upon (know a few who have it and get along fine), which will cost less, but you still have to figure close to $1/ ft by the time you get the hardware and tools and gates.

Now, figure about 1 bale per day for two animals, and some grain. I hear the cost of grain is about $20 a bag, so you can probably make one bag last close to a week if you're careful. Don't forget a run in shed and water, preferably piped in. So, look at about $2 or 3K for that. You can always borrow a manure spreader if you didn't pi$$ the guy off too much who was farming the whole place, and may still be farming about half of what he was doing before. So try to keep on good terms with him. If his rent is kept lower, it may solve your hay problem and your labor problem in one quick motion. And may give you somewhere to get rid of the manure problem. I wish I had more of it; I even take it off a little horse farm I sell hay to.

Next hurdle is the livestock. I know Mom wants the critters. So did my daughter. Two 'free' ones. "We've got hay and pasture" was the way she put it. "I've got hay and pasture" was the way I put it. And then I reminded her that it costs roughly $2k per year for vet, farrier, and all the other necessities the well groomed nag expects including feed.

If money is no problem and you don't mind tying yourself down, because someone has to check on them and feed every day, go for it. But, think it out. There's a lot of fencing flling down around here because folks have had a horse or two for a while, and the little light bulb finally came on and they realized you just can't eat that big hunk of meat out there in the paddock. And they could go on vacation again, and afford a new vehicle sooner if they didn't have that expense. Just sit down, think about it for a few days, and look beyond next month- and talk to Mom about it first before you jump into it.

Have a Merry Christmas from us in Maryland-

 

[pat sublett]

Tell the people to keep the horse. Since you already have a donkey, buy him 6 sheep to guard from the cayotes. Better yet give somebody a free donkey, if you can. Heard a story about guy that took a donkey to the local livestock auction, put a sign on his trailer that said free donkey, went inside to watch the auction. When he came out to go home, hoping someone took the donkey, there were 2 donkeys in his trailer. The neighbor across the road had 2 donkeys he loaded them up took them to the auction awhile back. He brought both of them back, nobody would take them. Somebody shot one of them. That one thought the garbage truck was his Mommy. You knew in advance when it was comming because he would start braying. He jumped the fence one day and ran up the road after it. I hate the old thing got shot but it's been a blessing. Not only did he think the garbage truck was his mommy, he thought that he was a rooster and was suppost to crow every morning at sun up.

 

[Rich_WI]

(quoted from post at 16:07:38 12/24/11) So, I have a 40 acre chunk of land outside of town of which there's 14 acres of tillable land we rent out to a guy planing soybeans for ~$1,100/yr. My wife wants to take an area of that, about 1.5 acres(makes sense if you saw the layout of the property) and fence it in for a horse and a donkey. She already has the donkey, the horse will be a freebee. They're "rescue" animals.

She knows what she's doing with the animals, I honestly don't but that's OK. I had my fill of livestock on my dad's cattle farm growing up.

I've got my Ferguson TO-30 with FEL I bought as a snow clearing/garden tilling/general utility around the property machine. What can I do with it as far as cleaning up the horse manure?

If you have a lean-to for them, they will poop up the area around it pretty good. Usually I only use the loader in spring because all winter they fill one spot and it freezes down so about april or so, the pile thaws out enough to scoop it up. Summer they spread it out themselves when on the pasture but they do clump it up more than cattle.

(quoted from post at 16:07:38 12/24/11)My wife mentioned that at the horse barn where she works they use a drag harrow(or what sounded like one from her description) to work the manure back into the ground. I'm sure the fergie could handle that. I already have a small disc I thought might work but I don't think I want to disturb/rough-up the soil that much. Drag harrows are not pricey as far as I know. It's also been suggested I may need to brush-hog it. I guess my fergie can handle that too.

I have a drag harrow (like this one http://www.external_link/3-point-landscaping-utility-equipment/drag-harrow-4-ft-x-4-ft--2128626) but I only need it when the horses make piles out in the pasture and refuse to eat in that area any more. Horses are more neat and clean than cows, they pile up areas more and dont eat close to it at all. Cows will drop manure anywhere and eat to inches of it.

A disk will distroy what little pasture you will be able to keep in that 1.5 area, it will be 1/4 or 1/2 dirt as it is. Same with a bush hog, not needed because they will eat it down to a putting green and dirt as it is.

(quoted from post at 16:07:38 12/24/11)One thing I'm wondering is if there's any easy tractor way of collecting the horse manure for my garden... or is it just plain easier with a shovel and a bucket?

You will get alot from the winter pile that freezes, beyond that its probably easiest and fastest to just shovel it to a pile then move the pile when its big enough.

(quoted from post at 16:07:38 12/24/11)Another thing... since she's got these critters that need fed, would there be any point in me getting some implements and/or a larger tractor and instead of renting that field baling square bales for the horsies? I've got no idea how much hay I can get out of my land, what stuff costs, how much they eat, etc... Really if I'm honest I just think it would be fun to actually work my own field. I kinda had it in my head that maybe some day if I had the time I might try to grow some specialty crop out there.

I dont think it makes financial sense to buy equipment and start baling for yourself but hell, there is worse things you can do with your money. It keeps you out of the bar anyway. Here is a comparison: I have 8 acres fenced, 4 sections of about 2 acres each that I rotational graze with 3 horses that are 1000 pounds each. I have been just squeaking by and not having to feed hay in the summer but things get pretty thin during drought years and now its been a while since I spread fertilizer so I am facing that cost this year (or next). My winter costs have been running about 18 small round bales a year and this year they were $30 each. I assume your 2 animals would be a little less unless your wife likes to feed them fat, then maybe about the same so your winter costs would be about $500. Now there is no way you can feed them on summer pasture of only 1.5 acres so you gotta feed some in the summer so figure about half winter costs or about $250. If you keep renting out the 14 acres you bring in $1100 and you are only paying out $750 for hay. And thats without buying any haying equipment. So I think you are saving by just buying hay but like I said, there are more expensive hobbies than a haying hobby so if you enjoy it, go for it.

(quoted from post at 16:07:38 12/24/11)If it helps, I live in WI so we have a short growing season. I've also got pretty sandy soil- the farmer doesn't seem to have any trouble with his corn/beans but I have a hell of a time keeping my garden watered.

Ideas, thoughts, "you're nuts", etc appreciated

Sounds like you got similar soil as I got, its hard for me to keep the garden watered. Just keep in mind you have to always have some spare hay on site for when the pasture starts burning up, it happens fast and if the animals tear it up, it takes a year or more to nurse it back to being useful again.

Oh, and you're nuts but if it keeps the wife happy its all good.

 

[northvale]

1 horse will need about 100 small bales a year. Unless you plan to sell hay, its not really worth getting involved in all the equipment. Plus, the horse is gonna be the work.

 

[aFORDable]

My advice if you are determined to have the horse and donkey is buy the needed hay and forget buying the needed equipment. For two animals you can buy alot of hay for what you would spend on equipment. Also, you don't have to worry about cutting it at the right time and it getting wet, etc. The manure should be simple. Find a 3pt. blade you can buy cheap and it will allow you to drag the manure to spread it out. I'd run the first year "bare bones" and determine what you need and can justify as you go. No need to tie up a bunch of money on stuff you'll rarely use. M2c

 

[Cow]

Btw I should probably point out my wife is the one determined to have a horse and donkey. Married guys will probably get that. And she actually is a farrier... and she spends the rest of her time working at a horse boarding/therapy place.

The horse thing isn't going away. Right now I think I'm leaning towards just getting her pasture set up for the spring with a shelter and buying hay. We'll see about going farther later.

 

[Anonymous-0]

(quoted from post at 22:21:18 12/24/11) Btw I should probably point out my wife is the one determined to have a horse and donkey. Married guys will probably get that. And she actually is a farrier... and she spends the rest of her time working at a horse boarding/therapy place.

The horse thing isn't going away. Right now I think I'm leaning towards just getting her pasture set up for the spring with a shelter and buying hay. We'll see about going farther later.

Don't know how much the donkey will eat, but if you figure a roundbale (700 pounds?) a month and set up a feeder with net so they don't waste it, you should be good. Pasture will flex what they eat accordingly....... Nother thing.... If you are converting cropland to pasture, expect it to be soupy for several years before hardening up.... I have 2 places that are 3 and 4 years in that are not "ready" yet.....
A chain harrow or old bedspring will be your friend..... I also went out and bought hay equipment and just got a bigger tractor and am seriously thinking about selling the hay stuff this year and buying ALL hay. Having 15-18 horses and a full time shift job doesn't leave much time to flex with weather windows
Have fun

Dave

 

[Ken Macfarlane]

Fence in as little as possible, fence some woods, buy hay in round
bales. Here at least under about 1000 small squares a year, buying
round bales is cheaper than doing it yourself even if the land is free.

 

[leej]

(quoted from post at 06:21:18 12/25/11) Btw I should probably point out my wife is the one determined to have a horse and donkey. Married guys will probably get that. And she actually is a farrier... and she spends the rest of her time working at a horse boarding/therapy place.

The horse thing isn't going away. Right now I think I'm leaning towards just getting her pasture set up for the spring with a shelter and buying hay. We'll see about going farther later.

ow that BO has signed, lifting the prior ban on US horse meat, they might stand a chance of being worth a little something more than just burning up hay, someday!