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Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 12:42 pm
by Caroline
Does anyone know if the Alfa that I feed the horses is the same as people feed cattle? I would be using alfa in the winter just to help out when they come in at night. Normally the cattle would be eating only grass as we believe that if we rotate then 60 acres for 2 cattle and a horse will be fine for all year living out. It would only be in severe winter with snow on ground that they would be brought in each night to have a supplemented feed.
I have contacted various feed merchants but as of yet had no replies.
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 9:23 am
by Sylvia
With 60 acres and the number of animals you envisage, providing the land is pasture and not totally wooded or rocky, I think you will have to take a crop off it to keep it in decent condition. With the potential for obtaining all that hay or haylage do you need to buy in anything else?
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 10:53 am
by Caroline
I understand your point, but as a small holder(not farmer), we only actually own 4 acres and have rent free use of a landbankers further 60. It is old mine shaft land fill, so no houses can ever be built on it in the foreseeable future. However cutting it for hay is almost impossible as it is urban farming - very very dodgy block of flats down one side and bp garage the other and rest surrounded by new builds. Tonnes of footpaths which no one sticks to, settees dumped etc, trust me cropping is out of the question. So we just use field guard electric fencing with proper corner posts and the rest fibre glass portables. So we can strip when we need to increase/ deacrese grazing.
Long term we are thinking of a few pigs and sheep but animals have to pay their way so only ever enough for own meat supply and replenishment.
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 6:24 pm
by Duncan MacIntyre
I think if I were looking to give occasional supplimentary feeding to cattle in such circumstances I would use good hay or grass silage as that would most closely approximate to what they will be accustomed to. You do not want to make to sudden a change in feeding especially if they will only be a short time before going out again.
We have kept one or two Fell ponies for years and unless they are getting a lot of work, and I mean a lot, or getting old, they only need good hay all winter. I have never understood why so many horse owners need so many bags of different fancy feed. The point of saying this here of course is to suggest, if I dare, that good hay would be all that you would need for the horse and if you kept a bit extra it would be there if needed for the cattle.
Good hay seems to be getting scarce in my part of the country at the moment and today for the very first time my cattle have had a taste of big bale silage - the older ones are quite enthusiastic but the pen of 2004 calves look at bit unimpressed so far.
Duncan
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 11:34 pm
by Caroline
We only ever fed our old tb alfa, being a warm blood he needed that little extra at times, however our highland never gets anything other than grass, even hay makes her fat / obese in my vets opinion. We used to laugh at the liveries when they would say that there horse worked hard when all it did was hack out at the occ weekend -yep you guessed it pumped full of comp mix and wondered why it was a loony!!!!
Good ol' jess even scrub land makes her over weight. Natives of any type be it horses or cattle or good do-ers. So yeh maybe buying in quality hay is the way forward. I have a great supplier that we used when we had the yard.
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2005 9:40 am
by Sylvia
Caroline, from your description of the land are you certain it is suitable for any kind of grazing animal - all those footpaths (and presumably all those people with or without their town dogs or the other way around) and dumped rubbish etc. I would not think animals teased or chased by others would be easy to handle by their owners, how could you prevent them being interfered with? I expect someone else will immediately tell you they farm under similar circumstances and everything is OK but it would worry me.
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2005 10:48 am
by Caroline
Its not as bad as I make it out to be. When we had the livery yard here we did not have any problems, there are just certain parts of the land we leave fallow and encourage wild life on as they are the parts near the flats, its that area the stuff gets dumped. We have stock fencing used as a perimeter fence around our three band electric mains fencing.
When I say people do not stick to footpaths what I mean is that they wonder 5ft either side of them, not that they go through the fields. There is only one footpath that we graze over and that is on land we own and so people do not like to come close to the house and so avoid it. Kids are kids but they are not nasty, just to grow crops knowing that they will be walked on or the area near to the flats would have a fridge or settee on would be a waste of money as those crops would be ruined.
The only annoying thing ever is that the kids are always asking to feed the horses. If I have said no they are on specialist feed once I have said it a thousand times. Now and again you find the odd carrot.
The grass is actually great scrub land perfect my native. Some of the fields have been reseeded using proper grazing grass seed, and all land is harrowed and ragged.
I find that with innercity kids you should never discourage but try to encourage them in a positive and respectful way. Like I said never had a problem, they respect the land I fence off for grazing but in return I let them use the areas by the garage and the flats for them to do what they like, as they have no gardens. Basically I do not use land within 300m of those areas. That is where most of the footpaths are as well.
My mum lives in Devon and finds it unnerving here, but I love it and feel I am giving something back to the community. I am a townny and love being 6 miles from Brum city centre, my mum is a country person and finds it too noisy etc it all depends on what you like and are comfortable with.
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2005 2:21 pm
by Sylvia
I stand corrected, Caroline, it did occur to me that if you could communicate with the locals then it could be a useful, instructive place. Forgive me for being cynical but my experience of some people and their views of farm animals has led me to be cautious. Good luck with your venture.
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2005 3:22 pm
by Caroline
Hey no offence taken. We only can go on what we are told, and I did not put it across correctly. It is difficult for us on a forum to really get a good idea of what things look like etc, but then hopefully being on a forum lets us be able to explore ideas and learn to communicate more effectively then those that never write only talk. Just a thought.