Preparing for Winter

[winchester]

I know we are only in August - but its got to be done! I have to start preparing for winter...

I have a 3 1/2 acre field that will be having 3 horses on it over the winter. Last year the top half of the field got very wet and we was feeding them 1 big round bale of hay a week which after December was a nightmare at rolling the hay through the mud away from the very boggy gate.

Do people usually feed hay or haylage to their horses in field during the winter?? basically because of work it helps that i just hay them once a week to last them due to light/weather conditions.

If Haylage, would you put bales in your field now wrapped and then unwrap them as and when needed or would the horses try to tear through the wrapping?

Anyone else got any good ideas for coping with horses living out 24/7 in the winter mud?

know any places to get round bale hay or haylage for a decent price in Hertfordshire??

Many thanks

 

[1275gta]

Could you stack the wrapped bales in the field and put a fence round to stop the horses getting to them. What about putting the black stuff with holes in in the gate way, think their called feild mats.

 

[dwi]

Can you not take a small bale up with you once a day when you go to check on them?

If I gave D more than she needed for that day I'd be losing alot as it would get blown away and trampled into the mud.

The best thing I've found for keeping mud at bay was a tip from on here, put your dirty shavings in the gateway, soaks up the mud and stops it poaching.

 

[ofcourseyoucan]

putting your old shavings in the gateway works for about 3 days then you have even deeper squelch to get through. you could scrape top off the soil in gateway and put some hard core down, that does work!

 

[Mickeymoo]

I was at a yard where they put shavings in the gateway and it turned to mush very quickly and kept pulling my horses shoes off. Cost me a fortune..

I have made my beds deeper and bigger ready for winter. Im having a good cleanup this weekend, then they can come in whenever they are ready. Mick will tell me when he's had enough of being out at nigh.. bless him.