Altivo

Still waiting. Our regular provider of the last couple of seasons still says he will have hay for us, but not yet. As of this morning we had three bales left.

A supplier from Wisconsin, with whom we had some hard words three years ago, did promise at least 120 and perhaps 150 new bales this morning. He called at 10 am saying he had "equipment problems" and wants to reschedule. (The market price here this year is $8 per bale, more than double the price at this time last year.)

Fortunately, we took some action on Sunday anyway. Went to our local feed store and got 40 lbs. of sugar beet pulp (dried shreds) and 40 lbs. of alfalfa cubes. Worked out all the necessary proportions and math to substitute the beet pulp for part of the horses' essential roughage, which reduces our hay requirements by a third. Given that Tess can be on grass as long as the weather is good, the reduction is more than a third.

We can stretch those three bales for nearly a week. We can survive longer than that if we put the boys out on grass, but that has various logistic problems not the least of which is that they haven't been on grass this year and would need a very gradual introduction to it.

The alfalfa cubes can substitute for some hay, but they have a higher calorie content and really shouldn't be substituted one for one. I don't want to reduce the amount of roughage any further lest we have colic issues.

Beet pulp is funny stuff. It's the leftovers from pressing sugar beets to extract and refine the sugar content. That process is very efficient, so there isn't a lot of simple sugar left in the pulp. There are, however, some starches and minerals and a portion of the cellulose is digestible for horses as well. By weight, dry beet pulp is about one third as nutritious as dry oats, which is pretty good. Almost too good when compared to grass hay. So we soak the pulp in water to expand the bulk. A pound of dry pulp, which is pretty woody in texture, becomes seven pounds when soaked in three pints of warm water for 30 minutes or so. This can be substituted for three pounds of hay. Our horses are used to getting their hay moistened, so that's not a big change for them.

I tried a bit of the dry pulp myself. It reminds me of various 100% bran breakfast cereals. Faintly sweet, very chewy, with a bran-like texture. I've never fed it to horses before, and my nutrition books say some will refuse it at first. At least we didn't have that problem.

I offered a handful of moistened pulp to each of the boys. They nibbled at it, and apparently were quite surprised by the texture (which is like partly cooked oatmeal) and both of them reared up and bolted away from me. Then they came back sheepishly and asked for the rest, which they did chew and swallow. Tess was more sanguine about it, and may have had it to eat before. She sniffed it, tried a bite, made funny faces at me, and ate the rest. Then she licked my hand to get any leftovers. All three of them did completely eat last night's portion, and licked out their feed tubs. I guess even faintly sweet is still irresistible.

This morning I put Tess out on the grass, which can replace both hay and the beets for the morning. Made a portion of beets for the boys, who gave me a "What, again?" look when I dumped it into their feed bins, but resigned themselves to eating it once I added the small amount of grain they normally get. Then they went into the yard with their reduced quantity of hay.

With any luck, the hay guy will get his wagon (or whatever) fixed and still bring the load today. Tomorrow would be OK except that Gary has plans to be in Chicago and would have to change them.

You with that hook in your hand,
Love never made a fool of you.
You used to be too grand.

Won't you take this advice I hand you, like a mother?
Or are you not seeing things too clear
Are you just too far gone to hear
Is it all going in one ear
And out the other?

Hay there! You with the stars in your eyes,
Horses have made a fool of you
Who used to be too wise.

You can still buy loads of hay just like a brother
But they will only become too dear
And the ponies will drink your beer
Then they will kick you out on your rear
Just ask your mother.

It's hay time again. First load today. The first load is easy to stack because it goes at floor level. Except for one thing. We still had about 100 bales left, and didn't want to bury those so they would be two years old before using them. So we had to move the old 100 bales, some to a spare stall and the rest to the boys' barn. Only then could we unload 142 more new bales and stack them.

Pluses? Same price as last year, which was very reasonable compared with the year before. We like this supplier. Only two bad bales in the load, very wet somehow. The rest is all fine, and nicely dried.

Minuses? We're both going to be sore tomorrow. ;p