Iowa Draft Horses and Mules
Iowa Draft Horses and Mules
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Feeding Hay With Horses
For several years I fed small bales of hay in the same convenient spot beside the barn. Come spring, I would have quite a pile of manure to haul away. Although I enjoy spreading manure with a team, I don’t care much for loading the manure spreader! I decided a better way would be to feed the hay in different areas of the field and let the horses spread their own manure. I built a couple of hay bunks big enough to hold all the hay I would feed for one day. My plan was to have one bunk in the field while the other was parked next to the hay shed, ready to be filled. While the horses ate their grain I would fill the bunk with hay for the day. Then I would hitch up one horse and drag the filled bunk out to the field, hitch to the empty bunk and bring it back. This worked well until I had several horses of different ages that would fight each other at the bunks. That is when I started to haul hay on a sled and spreading the bales out far enough that the horses each had their own pile to eat from. Instead of putting on a full harness each day I tried to come up with something that was light and fast to put on. My first attempt was to take a breeching off of an old harness and put it over the horse’s neck to use like a breast collar. I used a ½” rope for tugs with a large chain link tied to the end to hook to the sled. This worked well on frozen ground or on snow but when the spring thaw came the load was too much for a breast collar. So I then settled on the system I use now. I use a work collar and a set of hames with the ½” ropes tied to the hames for tugs. Instead of a bridal I use a snaffle bit with snaps that I fasten to the halter. The advantage of the removable bit is that I can put it under my coat when I first go out to chore and my body heat will warm up the bit before I put it in the horse’s mouth. This method of feeding has taken care of the manure-hauling problem and has the added benefit of letting me hitch a horse every day. I usually have 4 to 6 broke horses on the farm so by hitching a different horse every day they each get worked every week. They are not on the sled for very long but they do learn to stand while I hitch and are stopped and started several times while I unload the bales. This keeps them well trained for spring fieldwork. One negative with the sled is that it slides too easily on snow and can run up on the horse. I put a foot-peddle on my sled with a bar of steel that will jam into the ground when I step on it to slow it down when needed. I hope these ideas will encourage others to use their horses year round.
Jim Stuart
Stuart Belgians
New Virginia, IA
For several years I fed small bales of hay in the same convenient spot beside the barn. Come spring, I would have quite a pile of manure to haul away. Although I enjoy spreading manure with a team, I don’t care much for loading the manure spreader! I decided a better way would be to feed the hay in different areas of the field and let the horses spread their own manure. I built a couple of hay bunks big enough to hold all the hay I would feed for one day. My plan was to have one bunk in the field while the other was parked next to the hay shed, ready to be filled. While the horses ate their grain I would fill the bunk with hay for the day. Then I would hitch up one horse and drag the filled bunk out to the field, hitch to the empty bunk and bring it back. This worked well until I had several horses of different ages that would fight each other at the bunks. That is when I started to haul hay on a sled and spreading the bales out far enough that the horses each had their own pile to eat from. Instead of putting on a full harness each day I tried to come up with something that was light and fast to put on. My first attempt was to take a breeching off of an old harness and put it over the horse’s neck to use like a breast collar. I used a ½” rope for tugs with a large chain link tied to the end to hook to the sled. This worked well on frozen ground or on snow but when the spring thaw came the load was too much for a breast collar. So I then settled on the system I use now. I use a work collar and a set of hames with the ½” ropes tied to the hames for tugs. Instead of a bridal I use a snaffle bit with snaps that I fasten to the halter. The advantage of the removable bit is that I can put it under my coat when I first go out to chore and my body heat will warm up the bit before I put it in the horse’s mouth. This method of feeding has taken care of the manure-hauling problem and has the added benefit of letting me hitch a horse every day. I usually have 4 to 6 broke horses on the farm so by hitching a different horse every day they each get worked every week. They are not on the sled for very long but they do learn to stand while I hitch and are stopped and started several times while I unload the bales. This keeps them well trained for spring fieldwork. One negative with the sled is that it slides too easily on snow and can run up on the horse. I put a foot-peddle on my sled with a bar of steel that will jam into the ground when I step on it to slow it down when needed. I hope these ideas will encourage others to use their horses year round.
Jim Stuart
Stuart Belgians
New Virginia, IA
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