General Thoughts

The last few days I've been wrapped up in other activities so I've only done daily chores and that's it. Last night I had to do chores at the neighbor's in the dark. Luckily the yard light works and the moon was out. Having the horses at the neighbor's is a godsend and a worry. I don't like having them in only one strand of electric. Too many things could go wrong. So every morning bright and early I'm over to check on them and one of the last things I do at night is check on the herd to make sure everyone is fine. It's so relaxing to watch the horses. Having the big herd split really has made a difference. Everyone is much more relaxed. I'll be bummed when we have to put them all back together again.

This morning I let Tommy and Skippy out on the lawn as their tree pasture is eaten down. Skippy ran laps for a solid five minutes. He must have had a plan because he'd race a cross the pasture and then stop, turn around, and race back. He did this three or four times and each time he started off running he'd let out a few big bucks for good measure.

I'm hoping tonight to unload the round bales we picked up from our second hay supplier before we left on vacation. There's been no time to do any extra chores lately so I'm behind. I also got a call saying that 70 of my big square bales are stacked and ready for delivery. I didn't get ahold of my hay guy soon enough to tell him that I needed an additional 30 big squares to ensure everyone gets food this winter. If I remembered correctly, they are going to bale up those bales this afternoon and hopefully get them undercover before we get rain tonight. It'll be a relief to have our winter supply of hay tarped and ready. I'm not looking forward to paying the bill. We pay a bit more for our hay and could go somewhere cheaper but we get cheap delivery and the quality is outstanding. We pay $100 a ton. The round bales from our other hay supplier is $80 a ton but we have to pick up, otherwise delivery would drive the price up I'm guessing to almost that $100 mark. I also have to pay last year's hay bill of 70 bales at $100 a ton. Add to that the alfalfa at $3.50 a bale for the 100 bales I ordered and an additional 25 bales at $3.50 due to a miscommunication. I'm looking at about $450 in alfalfa alone. Two years worth of hay, I'm guessing will be close to $10,000. Yup, my stomach did a flipflop too when I heard that number. Hopefully my math is totally off on that number but I'm betting not.

I need to run to Campbell Supply and Tractor Supply at the end of this week. We were in last week and saw that grain was on sale. I want to stock up now that the humidity is out of the air. I have to spend money to save money I guess. But I'd rather buy extra grain on sale than to buy grain at full price. I would much rather go to our local co-op but I can't seem to find the time to call and get prices. I know a couple different co-ops take in orders from other stables so it wouldn't be that difficult to add to their list. But again, I can't seem to find the time to make that little call (and I can't hear very well so phone conversations are tough for me). Anyone want to do me a huge favor and call to get prices?