Wednesday, December 1, 2010

A Busy Weekend...Starting N.O.W...

A day of rest (Yep...I wasted a perfectly beautiful day by taking a nap)...and starting tomorrow, I'm off and running...

I'm tired of messing with square bales, not to mention the cost. Oiy Vey!!! Sooo....A friend hooked me up with a rancher who puts up big round bales and I'm off tomorrow to check them out. He even delivers, so I'd have an entire winter's supply of hay right here. If the winter stays nice, I'll pitch it. If the weather gets crappy...just watch me drag bales into the pasture and let those ponies self feed. LOL...Some people call it being lazy...I call it being efficient!

Friday and Saturday...I'm loading up Moon and Spooks and going to a barrel racing clinic.

A couple of weeks ago, I was much surprised to have my neighbor (the veterinarian) knocking on my door. His wife is a PRCA barrel racer and she told him to stop over and invite me to a special barrel clinic she and Sue Smith are putting on.

I kind of held off deciding if I wanted to go or not. The Honey and I did have other plans for this weekend, but they fell through, so I decided, Why Not?

Interestingly enough, my brother knows Sue Smith and he told me she is a good hand. He thought she would be worth going to.

We are also having company for the weekend. They arrive on Friday. Saturday evening is the VNV/LV MC Christmas party and...

On Sunday, I told Meg, we are getting the round pen set up, a cross fence put up in the pasture and I have a couple of horses that need their feet trimmed.

Sooo...Just in case, you all don't hear from me for a few days....

10 comments:

Sherry Sikstrom said...

busy girl! we feed mostly round bales here, gotta watch them for waste on the here and there esp if they are stored outside, but still much cheaper than squares.I do buy squares for the babies and in the barn its worth the extrra cost for a few to feed indoors.and I can get a better read on how much the babies are eating

cdncowgirl said...

You lazy woman you! ;)

One of the benefits of having our own hay is that it didn't cost a whole lot more to bale the squares than it did to bale the rounds, they're just way more labour intensive (both to get off the field and to feed) Once the bale fork comes for the tractor the boys will be on rounds. George & Rootbeer will still be fed squares so I can more closely monitor how much they eat, they're such little fatties!!

Sue Smith? Officially jealous here. At first I thought you were going to say you were off to an Ed clinic lol. I seem to remember you having good things to say about Sue though, and she's definitely someone I'd like to take a clinic with.

Have an awesome time!

ps- isn't Sue the lady that trims/shoes her own horses?

Laura said...

Sometimes busy is good! Sounds like you have some fun stuff going on. Hope the clinic goes well for you! I expect a full report when things calm down! lol

Mrs. Mom said...

Remember to sharpen your hoof knife ;)

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

We have to tear up and replant our 'pasture' next spring and then will have our own hay. I'll have that put into squares. I do prefer them when I am keeping horses up. But for the winter, rounds are the only way to go with this many horses.

The cost of squares was pretty decent this last summer. Almost everything I bought was $3 a bale. But man did all of that go fast and now squares are selling for $5.

Cdn-Yes, Sue is the one who shoes her own horses. She also breeds and raises. She is more about 'horsemanship' than just being a barrel racer. Ed is definitely on my list of clinics to go to. He doesn't have his 2011 schedule out yet, but as soon as he does, I'll pick one that is fairly close, as early in the year as I can. I'm going to do my best to figure out how to click with Moon this year and get over whatever I am doing that is causing so much problem for us as second barrel. After all, I only have one more year until Meg graduates and I am kind of hoping that when that happens I have at least 2-3 horses that are Pro worthy. :-)

Crystal said...

Sounds like a fun clinic!
We only fed rounds around here cause thats what we feed our cows and so thats all that gets made. The babies get free choice round and the others get grass and sometimes I will fork them some hay if they need it (which they definitly arent going hungry this year).

One Bad Pixie said...

Goodness! Being busy is one thing, but going overboard is another. Try not to overdo it, would ya?

That's awesome that the vet's wife thought of you and invited you to the clinic. The number of ties you have with Sue- well, It's amazing it took you this long to meet up with her. You should be able to pick up a few things and be well tuned when the time comes.

Anonymous said...

Better busy than bored...

When we moved to Georgia, I was shocked at hay prices. I was paying $11 for 150lbs, 3 string squares of orchard-alf mix. Local Timothy rye of the same weight (which my boy does poorly on) was $7. Hay here is $6 for a 30lbs bermuda square! I was in sticker shock! So, we are feeding rounds, bought from the local feed store and delivered for $70 a round, 400-500 lbs. Yikes! That's for Bermuda-Fescue mix and we go through 4 rounds a month for just my two horses. They free-feed and eat a ton (metaphorically) in order to stay at weight. Next winter, I'll be better prepared as I'll have more time to scout out what to get where.

AKPonyGirl said...

I am so jealous - Ground not frozen and hay for $5/bale.

I needed to pound a couple of fence posts in for tarps but with the temps below zero for a week I can't see any posts being pounded for the next six months.

Hay? Don't even get me started. I have a good relationship with two hay producers. I get my bluegrass/orchardgrass square bales for $11/bale. Most bales run in the 50-60 pound range. That's $440/ton. Ouch!

Rising Rainbow said...

I am jealous of anyone who can feed those round bales. Sounds much simpler to me with horses outside as long as there's not some bully driving everyone else off.

With horses inside we have to go with feeding that Lindsay can understand and that means good old fashioned flakes. We have enough trouble with weight on them as it is. Our one attempt with round bales was a real mess.

How was your clinic??