Time Saving Tips

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AmandaBrown

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I am in need of some time saving tips! I have two horses - one a retired mare out to grass at a local farm and one an ex-racehorse being retrained on part livery. Both of them I see to in the evening after work. My mare I just have to check rugs/legs etc and then plough through the mud to give her and her field companion haylage - not sure any time can be saved there. I am positive I can save time with my other horse but could do with some tips! He eats as much as he breathes - therefore I spend my life filling haynets/ soaking hay. He is messy in his stable and can take up to 3 barrows a night out. Any tips would be fab!!
 
Pre fill haynets and do there feeds in advance. Can you deep litter the stabled horse? Save time mucking out and do a 'big' muck out at weekends or when you have more time?
 
Prefll haynets, leave in turnouts, make feeds in advance (you don't have to buy tubs, just put them in carrier bags and then tip the bag into the tub) Deep litter your stabled Horse.

Not sure you can save time with the other Horse, but how about speaking to the other owner and arranging to do eachothers every other day? therefore You get a bit more time for your other Horse and your retired Horse still gets seen too, that is of course you trust the other livery.
 
Pre-filling haynets is a bit difficult as he has 5 per day and I don't have room to store them (on livery). Deep littering would be an option but something I have never tried. Do I basically take the worst out and top up with bed each day? Thanks for tips!
 
ellie_e said:
Pre fill haynets and do there feeds in advance. Can you deep litter the stabled horse? Save time mucking out and do a 'big' muck out at weekends or when you have more time?
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2nd the haynets....what a time saver to do a big batch in one hit especially in the winter if you work. Have done feed trugs in past too...provided Roland Rat isnt going to eat it all.
 
Deep littering - take only the poos out and leave the wet in. Try not disturb the base. Take the wet out if it rises to the surface. But if it doesn't then leave it be. Add in fresh bedding when needed. It is back breaking when it comes to digging up, but does save so much time.
 
AmandaBrown said:
I am in need of some time saving tips! I have two horses - one a retired mare out to grass at a local farm and one an ex-racehorse being retrained on part livery. Both of them I see to in the evening after work. My mare I just have to check rugs/legs etc and then plough through the mud to give her and her field companion haylage - not sure any time can be saved there. I am positive I can save time with my other horse but could do with some tips! He eats as much as he breathes - therefore I spend my life filling haynets/ soaking hay. He is messy in his stable and can take up to 3 barrows a night out. Any tips would be fab!!
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Couldn't you try a hay bar in his stable instead of nets takes less time to fill, can't believe he has 5 so many:eek:
 
I made my own haybars, two pieces of board fixed across a corner of the stable - you could do that if the YO would allow 8 screw holes in the walls? If you made it plenty deep enough (leave room to extract the rubbish from the bottom) you could put 5 nets' worth in there, and a weight on top such as a big heavy log stops them pulling it all out all over the floor.
Saves loads of time. And deep litter, ideally with an absorbent base such as flax, and a topping of straw. Poo is easy to lift off with straw and the base if deep enough absorbs all the wet.
 
Don't talk to me about haynets - on my deathbed I will probably be regretting the amount of time I have spent filling the damn things up. Could he not go on haylage instead - I only feed half the amount of haylage that I used to for hay, don't have to soak it and have cut my hard feed bills right down. The horses love it too!:)
 
I fill up 4 haynets so there's 2 for the day & 2 for the following day. I hose them & leave them to drip so I don't end up soaked when hanging them! I also have a 1 barrow in 1 barrow out rule. My horse is extremely messy so I basically empty it everyday which takes 5 minutes as I use minimal bedding ( we have large stables I have rubber mats)
 
Sorry wasn't finished****

Only use turnout rugs when shirt of time as it saves time doing changes & also allows them to dry on horse. I also make up feeds for next day & leave them inside feed bin :D
 
gelderlander said:
Don't talk to me about haynets - on my deathbed I will probably be regretting the amount of time I have spent filling the damn things up. Could he not go on haylage instead - I only feed half the amount of haylage that I used to for hay, don't have to soak it and have cut my hard feed bills right down. The horses love it too!:)
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Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure your supposed to feed more haylage than hay because of the water conetent in haylage as it means that haylage weighs more than the same volume of hay and you actually need to feed more by weight to make sure they are getting enough fibre? that is my understanding but I could be wrong
 
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