No hay!

It's easy enough for me to say with no horses and an empty field but climate change is here and carrying on as normal with the horse population we have on the land we have is starting to look indulgent, particularly when lots of people (not on this thread or here necessarily) are complaining about land use for renewables (although they probably think solar is a communist plot, whereas horse-owning is anyone's right in a democracy). I wonder what a land use survey aimed at protecting us for the future would make of horse ownership and the land it takes up.
 
kaiserchief said:
@Carlosmum I expect that was in June though? It wasn't hot enough to have repeated that epic feat later in the year when the grass finally started growing again after being burnt off during the heatwave which is what I was getting at (why there is more haylage about than hay this year).
Click to expand...
Most of our hay is made after 15th July as we are in several environmental schemes. the 24hr hay was in august.
 
Burnttoast said:
It's easy enough for me to say with no horses and an empty field but climate change is here and carrying on as normal with the horse population we have on the land we have is starting to look indulgent, particularly when lots of people (not on this thread or here necessarily) are complaining about land use for renewables (although they probably think solar is a communist plot, whereas horse-owning is anyone's right in a democracy). I wonder what a land use survey aimed at protecting us for the future would make of horse ownership and the land it takes up.
Click to expand...
Another reason why our yard owner should have taken us up on the offer to pay more and not have a fourth horse in the field 🤪
 
Burnttoast said:
It's easy enough for me to say with no horses and an empty field but climate change is here and carrying on as normal with the horse population we have on the land we have is starting to look indulgent, particularly when lots of people (not on this thread or here necessarily) are complaining about land use for renewables (although they probably think solar is a communist plot, whereas horse-owning is anyone's right in a democracy). I wonder what a land use survey aimed at protecting us for the future would make of horse ownership and the land it takes up.
Click to expand...
Solar can go on roofs, or on other parts of buildings. It doesn't need fields to graze in
And let's ask the land use survey what it thinks of golf courses, although I suspect they would be regarded more favourably than horse paddocks due to being (on the whole) for a Men's Hobby
 
cauda equina said:
Solar can go on roofs, or on other parts of buildings. It doesn't need fields to graze in
And let's ask the land use survey what it thinks of golf courses, although I suspect they would be regarded more favourably than horse paddocks due to being (on the whole) for a Men's Hobby
Click to expand...

Car parks would be a great idea, I'd love to be able to park my car in the shade in the summer.
 
cauda equina said:
Solar can go on roofs, or on other parts of buildings. It doesn't need fields to graze in
And let's ask the land use survey what it thinks of golf courses, although I suspect they would be regarded more favourably than horse paddocks due to being (on the whole) for a Men's Hobby
Click to expand...
Yes it can go on roofs, but not enough. It has to be as well as, not instead of :confused:

And yes, completely agree about golf courses, which currently take up twice the land solar panels do.
 
cauda equina said:
Solar can go on roofs, or on other parts of buildings. It doesn't need fields to graze in
And let's ask the land use survey what it thinks of golf courses, although I suspect they would be regarded more favourably than horse paddocks due to being (on the whole) for a Men's Hobby
Click to expand...

Until the equestrian industry pulls itself into the 21st century, I'm less inclined to immediately criticise the golf world, and a lot will depend on the golf course/club itself. My club's a heck of a lot more sustainable and climate friendly than any yard I know ;) Compostable loos, recycled water, constantly creating more habitats, zero light pollution etc.
 
Last edited:
They finally plugged in our solar car park after years and years of that half of it being closed
no one wants to use it for the electricity because it's too expensive.

we're also building 20k+ houses locally (within 10 miles of me) and not putting any panels on them, but we are going to have some one of the fields they're not building houses on instead.
 
ester said:
They finally plugged in our solar car park after years and years of that half of it being closed
no one wants to use it for the electricity because it's too expensive.

we're also building 20k+ houses locally (within 10 miles of me) and not putting any panels on them, but we are going to have some one of the fields they're not building houses on instead.
Click to expand...

Same happening where we are.
Big industrial park being built next to our local country park, huge warehouses - no panels of course.

Now even though we already have a large solar farm nearby, plans have gone in to convert an even bigger area of arable land to solar.
 
Seems some hay and barley straw has been tracked down. Going to cost me £80 extra a month to feed my overweight pony who no longer registers on the weight tape! 🙈. He must be over 600kgs and only 13.2. Gawd help me!
 
just let him graze, and lose the weight when it gets cold. The other horses aren't your concern unless it gets to the point of an actual welfare concern. We bought what we'd need for winter in August/July, to be delivered in batches of 100, anticipating it would get hard to find. It was only £6.50 a bale then but the absolute cheapest I've seen now is £8.50. feeling quite smug about that - plus got the 50 Timothy hirsehage for the contrary witch pony who's decided she won't eat hay of any description when stabled (even though she will eat it, & won't touch horsehage, in the field🙄🙄🙄).
I've seen straw for £5.50 per small bale - it feels like a really really long time ago that we were paying £3/£4 for hay 🫠
 
FieldOrnaments said:
just let him graze, and lose the weight when it gets cold. The other horses aren't your concern unless it gets to the point of an actual welfare concern. We bought what we'd need for winter in August/July, to be delivered in batches of 100, anticipating it would get hard to find. It was only £6.50 a bale then but the absolute cheapest I've seen now is £8.50. feeling quite smug about that - plus got the 50 Timothy hirsehage for the contrary witch pony who's decided she won't eat hay of any description when stabled (even though she will eat it, & won't touch horsehage, in the field🙄🙄🙄).
I've seen straw for £5.50 per small bale - it feels like a really really long time ago that we were paying £3/£4 for hay 🫠
Click to expand...
They’re all in together. Field owner won’t allow fencing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top