Easy Keeper Feed Sponsorship - $500

The Easy Keeper Feed Sponsorship covers the cost of hay for one horse. This hay is dairy quality. I've joked with our hay supplier that if they really wanted to go through all the paperwork, their hay could be certified, it's just that good.

We currently feed 3x3x8 square bales and assume one bale per horse per month. I can't remember the weight of these bales but I think they are about 900 pounds (don't quote me though). Each horse is fed a half a "sliver" in the morning and a half a "sliver" in the afternoon/evening.

We have always used the big square bales but next year we are going to try our hand at using round bales instead. The hay supplier doesn't care in what method we get our hay. And with two little ones running around, I'm opting to use round bales this year with cinch nets over them for the upcoming year. I have two cinch nets and will purchase another cinch net. We'll have two round bales in the big herd and one bale in the small herd (mare herd).

We do offset the easy keepers with alfalfa during the very cold polar vortex type weather. We avoid graining the easy keepers to ensure no one founders. We may give a few handfuls of sweet feed to some of the easy keepers that are moving more towards the hard keepers (Dude and Ivan).

We are very lucky to get the "good guy" discount with our hay. The only catch is that our hay supplier asks that we don't pay for our year of hay until the first of January and in most cases, we don't know the price of the hay until late winter/early spring of the next year because he's waiting to see if prices will drop. Our hay supplier is really looking out for us!