Money and time saving methods

[poacher82]

So following on from H&H's 'make your money go further' this week, thought I'd see what other methods / kit etc people use every day. Sure it's been done on here 95 times before, but I'm curious!
Whether it saves you money, time, sweat or all of the above...

Here are my latest:
1) Hay bar (a fake off ebay actually!) - love it, saves so much wastage as my horse was a 'trampler'. Already thinking I may have bought in too much hay this year!
2) A dustbin with holes drilled in the bottom, for soaking hay. Last winter, being tight (I thought clever, but hindsight is marvellous!) I used old alfa sacks with holes in the bottom. A nuisance to fill, and the number of times they tipped over when filling with water and soaked me. Grrr. £20 on a plastic bin has been so well spent.
3) An old water tank (like in your loft!), with lid, at my field. Saves a lot of time as I can store rugs in the dry at the field, rather than hanging on the gate in all weathers.
4) A sack barrow/parcel truck for towing water barrels when the taps froze. So much less backbreaking than carrying them 100m across ice every day.

I really want:
A hay hutch, as aforementioned trampling horse wastes stacks in the field. Going to try making one with another £20 dustbin and a tyre to stand it in. £100 for a glorified dustbin seems quite expensive to me.

And what didn't work?
Leaving a hosepipe trickling in a drain. Thought I was very clever keeping my water going in the -10 temperatures, but apparently not. Eventually after 4 weeks I had run dry the two holding tanks of our hill water supply. My neighbours and I were fine, but the shooting lodge further down the line ran out of water. Cue one unhappy estate manager. Oops. No bill, as they realised I'd just been dippy, but I'd better not do it again. Hence the parcel truck...

So, what does everyone else do to save time, effort and of course money?

 

[Supertrooper]

Two main ones this year are -

1) not using haynets, saves lots of time filling them up and better for the horses.

2) leaving outdoor rugs on them overnight, just check the fit am and pm and remove regularly

 

[horse_lover]

I tried the haybar, but it didnt work for my horse, he is a bit of a fussy eater so if he didnt like the haylage on top he would pull the whole lot out incase there was different stuff underneath. He then trampled it in his bed. Since I moved yards and have to buy my own haylage he gets it in a net again. I agree though it definately takes longer

 

[Trekker]

Poacher82 let me know how you get on with the hay hutch..

I thought the same as you and making one out of a plastic bin..although i think it may blow over or the horse will get the lid off..

A black plastic bin is alot higher than the hay hutch and it may be lighter..

Would love to hear if you come up with a solution..

I love the idea of the hay hutch..at least your hay is protected from the snow in it..

Keep me posted..at least we've got till next winter to devise our own..lol

 

[mystiandsunny]

Extra rugs not extra feed - if the tips of their ears are warm, they won't need extra feed on top of normal supplies, whatever the temp.

Duvet rather than extra thick stable rugs when it gets really cold - cheaper, warmer and can be washed in the launderette without rousing suspicion.

 

[poacher82]

RE the duvet for an under rug idea, has anyone ever come up with a turnout version? Sleeping bag?!

 

[poacher82]

I tried the haybar, but it didnt work for my horse, he is a bit of a fussy eater so if he didnt like the haylage on top he would pull the whole lot out incase there was different stuff underneath. He then trampled it in his bed. Since I moved yards and have to buy my own haylage he gets it in a net again. I agree though it definately takes longer

Oh dear! Thankfully my boy doesn't seem to have worked that trick out yet!

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

The bin with holes in was for soaking hay, not instead of a haybar lol.

 

[Janette]

Ok, I'll admit it - I'm a tad dim...... I thought the point of soaking hay, was to soak it...... the holes in the bottom of the bin will let the water run out.
(btw, I'm not blonde, I'm grey... )

 

[0ldmare]

Ok, I'll admit it - I'm a tad dim...... I thought the point of soaking hay, was to soak it...... the holes in the bottom of the bin will let the water run out.
(btw, I'm not blonde, I'm grey... )

I AM blonde, but I'm not getting it either

 

[c2b]

Someone on here but I can't remember who made a hay hutch out of a compost bin! Ah there you go.

There was also a thread somewhere with photos of a home made hay hutch but I can't find it now.

1. Compost bin - love the idea of a Hay hutch but cannot afford one, use a compost bin! works a treat, and whats even better, you can get them free or dirt cheap from council at this adress http://www.getcomposting.com/. i then secure them using large ground pegs and string though small holes i made in the bottom so the little beasts cannot play footbal with them

My money/time saving bit is I buddy up with another livery at the yard. One of us does the morning shift the other the evening. Saving us one journey each. Our horses have to be in at night!

 

[wellsat]

I deep litter, saves me huge amount of time mucking out my dirty beast and keeps him nice and warm.

I tried conditioning feeds when I first got G but had the best results with Speedibeet, Alfa A Oil and ad lib carrots, much cheaper!

 

[Ginge Crosby]

* my haybar is a super duper cheap version - plank of plyboard across the corner where his hayrack goes, enough room for him to eat out of it without bashing his head on hay rack and keeps the waste that he pulls through out of his bed.
* Switched to paper bedding a couple of months ago, £4.50 a bag compared to the £7.50 for shavings. mucking out with rubber gloves on; when he's stabled in the day i muck out in the morning but leave him a pee patch of the wet from the night before, which gets taken out in the evening when i skip out
* when he goes back into the stable and starts to have a wee i catch it in a bucket to save more bedding
* I use one haynet and a hayrack, i fill 3 or 4 haynets at a time and use them over a few days
* my boy is notorious for pulling front shoes off a few weeks after being shod; now he wears over reach boots when turned out and he doesnt pull them anymore
* always save broken stuff as u never know what it could be used for; old leadropes for dragging full tub trugs or using as replacement leg straps
* use baler twine or blue rope to mend haynets (cos they're bloody expensive to buy new!!)

my boyfriends parents own a pub so i get alot of stuff from them like:
* 2 old fridges for storing rugs and equipment
* a variety of large industrial tubs/buckets with lids (like mayonaise pots and hot chocolate tubs) which i use for feed supplements (so i can buy the refill packs instead of the boxed versions - get more for your money)
* LOTS of old newspapers which i cut up and use to top up his paper bedding

Most of my first aid supplies come from pound shops/supermarkets as its much cheaper than buying equine specific products:
* use nappies as foot poultices instead of animalintex and gaffer tape
* use cheap dermoline cream
* got a gel cold pack from £ shop, has been invaluable!
* digital thermometers off ebay

Same goes for general horsey supplies - sponges, buckets, cloths for tack cleaning, towels.... the list goes on.

I had an old fleece that was used as a dog blanket for the back of my car for my friends dog; when she moved away i used his fly rug as a template and made a full neck fleece with straps and fastenings off ebay. my friend has asked me to do one for her too!

I think a 'make do and mend' attitude helps me save alot of money - quite hard to stick to when u have a rug shredder like mine! But i use an old turnout to patch the new ones, with waxed thread and seal seams with stormsure. I patched his fly rug with net curtains bought from a charity shop.

I'm sure alot of those have already been done at some point or another in these threads but there u go!

 

[Queenbee]

Two main ones this year are -

1) not using haynets, saves lots of time filling them up and better for the horses.

2) leaving outdoor rugs on them overnight, just check the fit am and pm and remove regularly

I always leave te outdoor rugs on, infact I sold my stable rugs because I don't use them anymore. Leaving the outdoor rugs on has the added benefit of of drying them out overnight and the horse doesn't have to expend any extra body heat warming up cold rugs.

If you are going to use haynets then buy a bulk load of haynets and fill them up a weeks supply at the weekend so you save time during the week.

for feed, I generally use chaff or fast fibre since it lasts for ages and ages and is excellent value for money, and I add to this a vit and mineral supplement or lick

Go barefoot whenever possible definatley in the winter, saves on shoeing costs and use keratex once a week to help harden the hoof (saves loads of money)

 

[LadyLuck1977]

I made my own hay steamer last year large bin with lid with a hole drilled about 2" from the bottom, a wallpaper steamer pop the hose in the hole and in the bottom of the bin I put a mesh tray that i got from garden center to allow steam to circulate better works great and alot cheaper. i think in total it cost £40

 

[monkeybum13]

Deep litter.
I take the wet out once a week, it's time saving and also money saving - it costs me £3 a week to have a nice thick straw bed with good banks.

I'm going to go against the grain and say hay nets can be time saving and money saving.
It takes about 10 minutes to make all hay nets for the week on a weekend so when you want hay you just need to grab a hay net. By weighing they hay it's money saving as you don't feed too much.

 

[domane]

From a money-saving point of view, our employers had some plants delivered last summer in a box made around a pallet. I asked if I could have it and it's been wonderful for feeding the boys in the field...

I get very little wastage and littlies feed through the slats in the sides. We added the cross bars on the top because my TB has the habit of plunging his nose in and then knocking it all out the other side so this now prevents him from doing that without banging his schnoz! But it's been FAB for a freebie!

The other time saving thing I did this year was try my TB living out 24/7 for the first time. I'm lucky because I lease 4 acres of well-draining sandy soil but I couldn't have picked a worse winter could I? However, he has grown a fantastic coat which only needs a MW combo to keep him snuggly, even in -15 temps and he has positively thrived so far. Indeed, I had to swap him to a different rug last week that he hasn't worn for a couple of months and I and I had to let the belly straps OUT! Gaining weight in winter is a previous "never" for him... and he has a much happier disposition from being out too.

 

[SpruceRI]

Love all the ideas, will try some of those.

I've got an underug made out of an old sleeping bag that I bought from an auction for £4.

My hay feeders are a tractor tyre and a JCB tyre. The JCB one is better because it's deeper.

I carry the hay out into the field in a large plastic trough. Saves dropping it all over the place.

I mend everything or keep parts and make other things. I used to keep my neds at a farm where they had a huge bonfire pile. I got so much discarded wood off that pile! Made jump stands galore!!

Plus they chucked 3 broken garden rakes on it, plastic boxes, a shovel. I had all that off! Replaced the handles on the rakes, now have one in my back garden and 2 at the stables!!

 

[poacher82]

Ok, I'll admit it - I'm a tad dim...... I thought the point of soaking hay, was to soak it...... the holes in the bottom of the bin will let the water run out.
(btw, I'm not blonde, I'm grey... )

Sorry, one of those failure to explain posts! A large dustbin, with a couple of teeny holes drilled in the bottom. Stands over the drain grate, chock full of hay, and fill with water from hose and night before's leftover water bucket. Once it's brimful, I turn off hose, and leave it to drain. Takes over an hour to drain, plenty long enough to get rid of any dust (admittedly not particularly dusty hay and not particularly dust-affected horse) without leaching so much nutritional value as I believe is the case if you soak overnight or something.

Does that explain my wierd theory a bit better? Disclaimer in case it still seems silly idea = I am blonde-ish!

Oh, and best bit is if you set it up in the morning, by the time you come to empty it in to barn at night it's damp but not dripping all over you!

 

[poacher82]

Blimey ALJ7 you are queen of this game! Gonna try some of them!

 

[Paint it Lucky]

My Dad recently managed to pick up an industrial sized paper shredder for free from work (they were going to chuck it out, nothing wrong with it they had just decided not to shred things anymore?!), so I now shred all the waste paper that comes through the household, junk mail, newspapers, used envelopes, old magazines etc, my family read a lot of newspapers so I easily get the equivalent of one normal sized bale of paper a week, which then goes into my horses bed and is saving me lots of money on shavings

Before we got this I was using a smaller paper shredder that we had anyway, although sadly it broke as it couldn't cope with the amount of stuff I was trying to shred through it!

 

[Kub]

I have a couple of things. OH made me a hay box for coblet, as he was terrible with haynets, would waste so much by trampling it around. Now there's hardly any wastage (though had to had an emergency fix as looks like Harry sat on it last night lol!).

I use old feed bags and shavings bags for bin bags, I mend everything myself (rugs, fields, gates, stables) and keep any old bits and pieces just in case, this has worked out quite well. Trugs I get from Asda/Tesco when they're on offer, much cheaper, and tend to use human cleaning products for him so shampoos and things are much cheaper. Only use horsey stuff when I buy proper whitening shampoo.

We also have a freezer each at our yard to store our stuff. I got an old metal shelving unit from freecycle which OH kindly put a door on the bottom half with a lock so I can keep my show rugs and bits in there and the top part I keep all my bottles and little odds and sods on

 

[Chellebean]

So following on from H&H's 'make your money go further' this week, thought I'd see what other methods / kit etc people use every day. Sure it's been done on here 95 times before, but I'm curious!
Whether it saves you money, time, sweat or all of the above...

Here are my latest:
1) Hay bar (a fake off ebay actually!) - love it, saves so much wastage as my horse was a 'trampler'. Already thinking I may have bought in too much hay this year!
2) A dustbin with holes drilled in the bottom, for soaking hay. Last winter, being tight (I thought clever, but hindsight is marvellous!) I used old alfa sacks with holes in the bottom. A nuisance to fill, and the number of times they tipped over when filling with water and soaked me. Grrr. £20 on a plastic bin has been so well spent.
3) An old water tank (like in your loft!), with lid, at my field. Saves a lot of time as I can store rugs in the dry at the field, rather than hanging on the gate in all weathers.
4) A sack barrow/parcel truck for towing water barrels when the taps froze. So much less backbreaking than carrying them 100m across ice every day.

I really want:
A hay hutch, as aforementioned trampling horse wastes stacks in the field. Going to try making one with another £20 dustbin and a tyre to stand it in. £100 for a glorified dustbin seems quite expensive to me.

And what didn't work?
Leaving a hosepipe trickling in a drain. Thought I was very clever keeping my water going in the -10 temperatures, but apparently not. Eventually after 4 weeks I had run dry the two holding tanks of our hill water supply. My neighbours and I were fine, but the shooting lodge further down the line ran out of water. Cue one unhappy estate manager. Oops. No bill, as they realised I'd just been dippy, but I'd better not do it again. Hence the parcel truck...

So, what does everyone else do to save time, effort and of course money?

OOh I'm after a hay bar! which one did you buy?

 

[poacher82]

OOh I'm after a hay bar! which one did you buy?

I'll try and find the ebay seller name for you. It was over 60 days ago so has dropped off my ebay account, but it must be hidden in there somewhere if I figure out where to look! Might even have the invoice somewhere.

I had a quick search, and there isn't one the same on ebay at the moment so maybe they are out of stock (or business?!) but it's great. It's basically just a less snazzy version, and cost £50 ish inc P&P so quite a bit cheaper.

There were threads on here about making them from rubber mats, but I wasn't that adventurous!

 

[Persephone]

There are instructions on here somewhere to make a haybar from a rubber mat. £ 50 sounds a lot to spend on a fake.

(says she who bought the genuine thing for her mare, only to find it hanging off the wall and a chunk bitten out of the top edge after the first night )

 

[Ginge Crosby]

Blimey ALJ7 you are queen of this game! Gonna try some of them!

lol lets just say that being on enforced maternity/banned from riding has left me with ALOT of spare time to do these crazy things..... plus whenever i see any new ideas in magazines and stuff i'm the first to try them out!

I love the hayrack made from pallets - such a good idea if you have a variety of different sized horses.

 

[HLOEquestrian]

Sack-trucks are definitely a life-saver for taking water containers across the fields!