Think someone is nicking my haylage

HaffiesRock said:
How big/heavy are the bales OP? You mentioned rolling one to outside your stable so I am guessing they arent huge? My bales weigh a minimum of 300kg and it lasts my 2 ponies about 2 weeks.
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Asked YO last night how much they weighed, they're the large 300kg round bales :) Rolled one to the stable last night with the help of friend and mother.... feeling it this morning my arms are killing! So we shall see how long this lasts...
 
NellRosk said:
Asked YO last night how much they weighed, they're the large 300kg round bales :) Rolled one to the stable last night with the help of friend and mother.... feeling it this morning my arms are killing! So we shall see how long this lasts...
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Ah my bales are only 200kg and last 5 horses 2 days = 20kg per horse per day. Yours last average of 6 days between two horses so 25kg per horse per day which is definitely more than even the greediest horses could eat.
 
Wagtail said:
Ah my bales are only 200kg and last 5 horses 2 days = 20kg per horse per day. Yours last average of 6 days between two horses so 25kg per horse per day which is definitely more than even the greediest horses could eat.
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Thank you for working that out, when you put it like that it's even more ludicrous! Especially as one is 14hh pony that really doesn't eat that much.
 
Was in the same situation last year, could not prove it at the time but 2 14.2 and a 13.2 yearling were going through a bale a week, the suspected family moved off the yard and hey presto it now lasts same ponies now 15.0 h each between 12/14 days i would make it well known on the yard so people know you are aware and also with yo. Maybe put a note on notice board asking everyone to keep an eye out, cover your hayledge in a particular way and if still going try the food colouring on the cover??? Hope you resolve it i know how frustrating and expensive it is when people steal ,which i don't think they see it as, but even 1 hay net is stealing!! Good luck
 
Definitely sounds like you have a thieve on your hands then :/

If I were you, I'd be sticking a big notice on the bale saying something along the line of "smile, you are on CCTV" or "BUY YOUR OWN YOU CHEAPSKATE!"
 
HaffiesRock said:
Definitely sounds like you have a thieve on your hands then :/

If I were you, I'd be sticking a big notice on the bale saying something along the line of "smile, you are on CCTV" or "BUY YOUR OWN YOU CHEAPSKATE!"
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Def this, amazing how a direct note has an effect!
 
showley1 said:
Was in the same situation last year, could not prove it at the time but 2 14.2 and a 13.2 yearling were going through a bale a week, the suspected family moved off the yard and hey presto it now lasts same ponies now 15.0 h each between 12/14 days i would make it well known on the yard so people know you are aware and also with yo. Maybe put a note on notice board asking everyone to keep an eye out, cover your hayledge in a particular way and if still going try the food colouring on the cover??? Hope you resolve it i know how frustrating and expensive it is when people steal ,which i don't think they see it as, but even 1 hay net is stealing!! Good luck
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It's just horrible isn't it, really makes me angry that someone thinks that's okay. I just wouldn't dream of doing it! We don't have a noticeboard but the bale is now outside my stable next to my straw, I've tied baling twine on it and put the cover on. The only difficult thing is that my friend comes up at different times to me so the bale will always look different to how I've left it.

HaffiesRock said:
Definitely sounds like you have a thieve on your hands then :/

If I were you, I'd be sticking a big notice on the bale saying something along the line of "smile, you are on CCTV" or "BUY YOUR OWN YOU CHEAPSKATE!"
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Hahaha I love the idea of a note, so tempting :D I do think it would cause friction though, I still don't have any proof that it is being nicked!
 
Bear in mind that there are several different sizes of big bales. Maybe if you measure it those of us who use similar or larger will be able to suggest how long it ought to last one horse and one pony. I have big 6 string Heston bales, and they last 4 horses, all living out, about 8 or 9 days. I don't give huge amounts though because they are out and have grass to pick at. Last year said 6 string hestons lasted 4 big horses (in at night out in the day) about 6 days.
 
Could it be possible someone is putting extra into your own horses?

Just asking as we had a livery that complained of hay going missing, she went around accusing everyone and taking hay from other people bales who she thought had stolen hers... turned out the yard owner was fed up telling her to feed her pony more so was putting in extra hay at night for him. (he was brought in at 3pm and had one leaf - small square bales - which he finished about 4pm and then he had to stand watching all the others eating)

Just a thought. if not id deff set up one of the cameras to see if someone is taking it, that way you can not only tell that someone is taking it, but also who it is.
 
Leam1307 said:
Could it be possible someone is putting extra into your own horses?

Just asking as we had a livery that complained of hay going missing, she went around accusing everyone and taking hay from other people bales who she thought had stolen hers... turned out the yard owner was fed up telling her to feed her pony more so was putting in extra hay at night for him. (he was brought in at 3pm and had one leaf - small square bales - which he finished about 4pm and then he had to stand watching all the others eating)

Just a thought. if not id deff set up one of the cameras to see if someone is taking it, that way you can not only tell that someone is taking it, but also who it is.
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It's a good idea thanks! But no it's a fully DIY yard and my stables are set away from everyone elses' so no chance of someone being up there and giving them haylage. :)
 
I have found that just tying it back up with baler twine or covering with tarpaulin and putting a rope round it is enough to put anyone off. Perhaps you need to speak to the other lady using your haylage officially and ask her how much she is using before accusing anyone though as it could make for a very uncomfortable silence ..... ;-)
 
Someones making a big profit on your haylage. Ours cost £10 a large retangular (which are more expensive to wrap than circular ones) bale to make. One bale lasts our 3 over a week. We got 94 bales off the field this year, sold about 40 as way too much for us to use. Lovely quality, certain no ragwort. Girls tuck into it like it's nectar.
 
Agree with everyone else put things in a certain way so u can tell if it's been moved and take a picture from every angle then u can be sure if it's different the next day
 
NellRosk said:
It's just horrible isn't it, really makes me angry that someone thinks that's okay. I just wouldn't dream of doing it! We don't have a noticeboard but the bale is now outside my stable next to my straw, I've tied baling twine on it and put the cover on. The only difficult thing is that my friend comes up at different times to me so the bale will always look different to how I've left it.



Hahaha I love the idea of a note, so tempting :D I do think it would cause friction though, I still don't have any proof that it is being nicked!
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As its haylage it would be easy enough to have the opening facing your stable so nobody could take from the back without seeing the note, but unless somebody was going into the bale they would not see the note. Or put the note under the cover.
 
mcnaughty said:
I have found that just tying it back up with baler twine or covering with tarpaulin and putting a rope round it is enough to put anyone off. Perhaps you need to speak to the other lady using your haylage officially and ask her how much she is using before accusing anyone though as it could make for a very uncomfortable silence ..... ;-)
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Love this idea! And then I'll make some comment like 'oh lucky you, mines lasting 2 horses 6 days which is really bizarre considering they're not getting that much....'

pip6 said:
Someones making a big profit on your haylage. Ours cost £10 a large retangular (which are more expensive to wrap than circular ones) bale to make. One bale lasts our 3 over a week. We got 94 bales off the field this year, sold about 40 as way too much for us to use. Lovely quality, certain no ragwort. Girls tuck into it like it's nectar.
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Oh my, lucky you :( yard owner claims he's not making a profit off it....
 
NellRosk said:
Asked YO last night how much they weighed, they're the large 300kg round bales :) Rolled one to the stable last night with the help of friend and mother.... feeling it this morning my arms are killing! So we shall see how long this lasts...
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That's a lot of haylage to be going that quickly in my opinion. We have 5 horses, all in at night all year round, ranging from 12hh to 16.1hh, and they get through a 350kg bale every 2 weeks.
 
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EquiEquestrian556 said:
That's a lot of haylage to be going that quickly in my opinion. We have 5 horses, all in at night all year round, ranging from 12hh to 16.1hh, and they get through a HUGE round hay bale every month (I'm not sure how big it is, it's as big as a large metal hay ring feeder.
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Something's really not right is it! Sorry but the more I think about it the more wound up I get, SIX DAYS!!! Can't believe it's taken me 3 bales and £117 to realise this!
 
The though of someone stealing from you is just awful :(

A few years back I was on a small quiet livery yard. The yard owner offered to feed for me in the morning during winter, if I would bring her horses in in the evening. It was no problem at all, she just asked you to open the field gate and they would take themselves in and you just shut the doors! I used to leave half a bale of hay and his feed made up in a barrow for the YO to put in the field in the morning. He then got the same again in the evening. Even with all this hay and feed, he was still looking thin so I upped his hay to 3/4 of a small bale am and pm. Anyway, one day I had a meeting offsite and was passing the yard so thought I'd pop up and see my pony. When I arrived the YO was down in her field turning out. My pony was eating his feed and next to him there was 1 slice of hay. 1 slice from the 3/4 of a bale! The empty barrow was back in the haybarn. Turned out the YO had been giving my pony the 1 slice, then feeding the rest of my hay, which I bought, to hers!! I moved on very quickly after that!
 
NellRosk said:
Something's really not right is it! Sorry but the more I think about it the more wound up I get, SIX DAYS!!! Can't believe it's taken me 3 bales and £117 to realise this!
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Sorry, just spoken to my Father, and he said that the bales are 350kg, and last 2 weeks, not a month :/ 2 bales last us a month.
But yes, I don't think it's normal.....
 
It seems thiefs dont think you will notice hay\haylage going missing. A thief on our yard who has small bales always seem to last her much longer than the rest of us even though she feeds the same amount if not more. She also has a magic tarpaulin that magically produces haynets. When you look she will have one net filled up ready and nothing else, by the next day another net will have appeared even though there was no hay left. Ive previously put a note with her name on and a not very nice message to her under my tarpaulin so when she went to steal she'd see it. She couldnt say anything as she shouldn't have been in my hay. I also leave things in a certain way so I know. Would love a CCTV camera to catch her out.
 
We were getting our bales of hay swapped for poorer quality bales, we always stacked the bales the same way so we new when it had been changed. Solved it by putting a large piece of cardboard under the top bale with 'get your thieving hands off' written on it. Got the message over with nothing said, can't say anything about accusing wrongly as she would have to be moving our hay to see the sign.
 
Many years ago I was on a small yard of about four horses. Three of us noticed that we were getting through hard feed (not haylage in this instance) very quickly. We all left a note in our feed bins along the lines of "please stop taking my feed". The following day she had gone. The yard owner said that someone had seen her leading her horse away at some ridiculously early time in the morning and she had left owing a couple of week stable rent unpaid too.
 
Had this years ago with hard feed before - no secret fellow livery was struggling but my oh was out of work and I could see the feed going down. Had seperate tiny feed store which was always loft open so not even subtle! they fed cheap mix, mine were on £40 a bag, feed tiny cup balancer which they were clearly feeding by the scoop load!

Note saying 'hi, i know you have found this winter hard financially but you chose to buy a 2nd horse. You are over feeding this feed, it is not meant to be fed as a mix and is expensive. You know we are on 1 income so please deal with your own financial situation and stop expecting my single income to supplement your 2 income family.'

Note vanished for a few hours then reappeared like nothing happened and the feed started lasting much longer!
 
When I was on a yard a girl boasted about how little feed she had to buy for her large wb. Funnily enough we'd been discussing that our food was being stolen. We had metal feed bins, left things certain ways and would find it had been disturbed. Went to YO, asked to put our own locks on the bins. She came down to locked bins the next day and threw a mental. Funny because anyone who wasn't stealing wouldn't have found this offensive.

I'd had it in a previous yard as well. Elderly horse with owner who didn't care started feeding my blue chip by the scoop, I was getting through a bag a week. People commented on how, for once, old boy was putting weight on. I kept my feed in metal bins, so I bought chains to go through the handles and padlocked them all. Soon after he began to drop weight again.....
 
cremedemonthe said:
I'm dying of curiosity too!
OP has gone quiet, may be they did point the finger and are at this present time gagged and bound and stuffed in a bale somewhere :)
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Lol!! I was actually going to do an update thread in a few days and let you all know but I may as well just say it here :) SO last Weds we heaved a bale up to our stables.... as we were going through a bale every 6 days by my calcs this current bale should be used up in 2 days. But it's still going strong!! There's loads left on it, it almost looks like a full bale. You can hardly tell any has been used and usually by this point it would be on the floor and not even resemble a bale anymore. Now I'm just debating whether or not to mention this to YO or just leave it and keep my head down.
 
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