A Dying Breed: The Small Square Hay Bale ~ Horse Hay

It is pretty amazing when you think about it. Take two people, a hundred tons of horse hay in small squares and pull it off hay wagons and stack it ready for winter. That's what we do at Willowview Hill Farm. Two people, pushing 60 - well O.K. now one is 60 and the other 57 - but still. Kids are grown and flown the coop eons ago. Spread across the Northeast USA with an occasional weekend day to come home and empty a couple of wagon loads, the hay season requires some guts for very little glory.

A conversation with a local farm mechanic who services many many farmers in the Catskill region was revealing. He knew almost no-one that still does small squares.

"Sure, I know cows not horses. I know the big bales are bad for horses. But cheap horse people buy them," he says, the early morning sun beats down on his dark locks and his accent is foreign.

No-one wants to handle the small bales anymore. Sure, the baler is approximately S35,000 instead of $90,000 to get a farmer started. Yet still, the small square farmer is a dying breed. And let's face it, the workload is humongous. The capital for the equipment needed even without insurance is over $100,000. for a reasonable size baler/cutter and turner plus wagons.

So the round hay baled for cows, with high moisture ( equals dust), a higher level of dead critters ( = botulism), is becoming more and more common around horse farms.

Horses become trapped in the huge metal hay racks, designed for low energy short legged cows not horses. Foals in particular are susceptible to damage this way. The hay is mostly wasted, because the horse is a picky eater. For good reason. Pay the vet or pay for hay we used to say.

In today's market the small square bale may fetch $4.50-$5.50 in the Catskill region. Take off the diesel cost, the machine wear and tear, the man hours operating and servicing equipment, the small windows of great weather for horse hay curing ( without the 20 chemical/preservatives that can affect horses and are completely untested on horses), the labor to stack, the building to stack the hay up properly and then the time to re-load the tractor trailer or end user with a horse trailer, and you have yourself a very expensive and labor intensive program.

If you are buying hay or making hay please do yourself a favor and read the 7 Deadly Sins of Haymaking. If you don't have this information you may be the first on the call line for the Fire Department.

The farm equipment mechanic told us that we are one of the last farmers he knows of in the area that puts up small squares.  And farm work as we know is very dangerous.  Last September when my husband was servicing the baler, the chain caught the oil rag he was holding and sucked his hand into the multi-chain mechanism resulting in a severed thumb. We have had many close calls over the years. One time another mechanic had switched up the parking brake to make a repair and had not properly reset it. When my husband hopped out the tractor with the brake on, to remove a bale that had escaped the wagon, the whole rig proceeded to move slowly forward. It inched and gained speed. He was between the baler and the wagon. Thankfully some guardian angel must have been present because I saw it start to go and shouted to him. He ran after it and managed to scale the steps and stop it. Not something I'd recommend as that in itself is dangerous. But these things or versions thereof happen every year. You must always be diligent. When you think everything is OK then you are headed for trouble. 'Familiarity breeds contempt,' as the saying goes. Even though we are avid horse breeders/horse people and know the benefit of the small squares, even we have looked at round baling our crop.

So when you head out in search of some high quality hay for your horses this season please take time to think about what effort for very little financial return has gone into the production. Small squares will not be around for ever. The workload is just too hard and the costs too high.

Size Matters ~ When Designing Your Horse Stalls

The trend in horses to larger sizes in general, especially for competition horses in English disciplines has tasked show organizers, barn builders and equestrian property developers with building bigger and bigger stalls to accommodate the larger breeds such as Friesians and Warmbloods of all varieties. Even the once breed specific sizes for Andalusians/Lusitanos and Lipizzaners have been magically melded in the DNA system and deemed acceptable by the registries and the breeders are now producing 16.3 h.h. competition sized Spanish line horses. But this bigger is better trend has been going on a long time. Well relatively. So why are show organizers adding new knock up or temporary stalls that are 10 x 10 and calling that good? Many competitors won't entertain bringing their expensive horses to temporary stabling that is that small for fear of damage via the horse either becoming cast in the stall, or neighbors too close for escape or both or just the lack of comfort for the horse to lay down and get back up. Especially those with the larger breeds of horses which make up the majority of the showing community.

The issue with temporary stalls being larger in lay out brings with it the increased issue of strength of the walls. A tenacious horse who dislikes his neighbor or any upset horse can bang almost any temporary stall into his neighbor or to the ground. A 12 ft. spread rather than a 10 ft. would seemingly increase the risk. But the stall systems do exist to address this issue.

A very beautiful multi-million dollar farm located here in the Catskill Mountains and currently on the market has a wealth of horse barns. Something for the stallions, mares in foal and working horses. Buildings everywhere. But all the stalls are 8/8 or at best a whopping 8 x 10 ft. Why? The owner had a Paso Fino breeding business. Now of course it is hard for him to sell because who can use those tiny stalls? Not many horse owners are solely pony owners/breeders or Paso Fino breeders.

Many converted dairy barns came with low ceilings and even if the concrete floors were drilled out the stalls were made to 10 x 10ft. How useful is that when you come to resell?

There are the other extremes of course. Stalls that are built to 12 x 16ft or 18 ft with modern low bowed double front doors. Perfect for the amiable mellow horse but what about when you introduce a new horse that is nervous, or a mare and foal. We all know foals will rear and jump and will many anxious horses of any age.  How safe are those doors plus with all that space to get up to speed even horses not adept at jumping from a standstill will have a good go at it, hanging stifles and shortening their careers as a result. So yes, stalls can be too big and of course, doors too low.

In days of yore barns came with hay above, high beamed lower levels for draft horses that came in from a day of toil and were rested on thick straw beds with headroom. No poll evil to worry about there.

Draft Breeds of Yore

When buying a trailer we worry over size. Well I hope we do.  Unless ponies is all you do then why buy a diddy ( little) sized trailer with a low ceiling height and narrow width. A full size trailer does not cost that much more. When designing stalls, or adding temporary ones there seems to be a flawed mentality i.e. 'the horse(s) I have to-day is  a 15.3hh horse so I will build a small stable and that will suffice'.

Stalls of a good size i.e. 12 x 12 help your horse in so many ways. He can lay flat out. He enjoys better air circulation. If dividing walls are grilled he can avoid his neighbor if he wishes. If you are in the stall working on him you have safety room whether to skip out the stall, groom or blanket him. He can turn around without bumping into something. He is less likely to get cast and if he does get cast he is much more likely to be able to right himself.

So if you are entertaining a barn conversion, a renovation, a new build or are addressing temporary stabling for an event please consider the size of the stall. Your daily life using the facility, your horse's well-being and comfort and your show/event entries will be much improved by making a prudent choice.