Southeastern Drought

[A Yankee In NC]

Hi!

This is my first post to this forum.

I have been lurking about for two weeks..just reading and getting a sense of the members.

I am so excited! My husband has agreed to my getting a pony or mini!

We have found a pony locally (my husbands co-worker owns a large horse farm) and are looking forward to getting him soon.

Here's the thing...

I have oodles of small animal experience as a Veterinary Tech...

including guinea pigs, parrots, chinchilla, house rabbits.....etc..

I am a member of so many small animal forums i just cannot rmember all of them...

So,

I have zero experience with horses..except the small amount that I have gleaned from working for a year at a vet hosp that cares for the large and small of God's creatures...

My biggest concern is the drought here in NC and the effect it has had on the availability of good quality hay.

My husband heard a rumor that some people are putting their horses down because they don't hav ethe hay to feed them?????

Can this be true???????

Or just a bunch of silly gossip?

I have seen some pretty disturbing things done to animals since I moved to this region and think that perhaps it may be slightly true...

anyway..

I am glad to be here and look forward to getting to know you all and learn from you.

Happy Holidays!

ellen

 

[chandab]

Welcome to the group.

Unfortunately, with the drought, I imagine some of those stories are true. It would be better to put the animal down, then to let it starve to death.

The drought has definitely affected the quality and quantity of hay available; but there are many alternative feed sources, some not ideal, but will work in a pinch. [Many of the alternatives are expensive, but not so bad for one or two minis as compared to feeding them to full-size horses.] Please do check out the archives, there are tons of threads on just about any subject you can imagine. There is a search feature link at the top of the page to use to look up past posts.

A short list of alternative feed sources (always best to feed long stem hay, but these can work in a pinch; either as complete diet or to stretch limited hay): hay stretchers, hay cubes, hay pellets, complete feeds, beet pulp, and straw (not the best, but it does provide long-stem fiber). Any hay you feed should be mold free and as free from dust as possible; even older sun-bleached hay can provide adequate fiber as long as its not moldy or dusty (just need to supplement to make up for lack of nutrients in the feed).

Since you are new to minis; do NOT use Quest (moxidectin) dewormer on them, it has too small of a margin for dosing to be safe for these little guys. Bute tends to affect them more harshly, as well (really need to watch them for ulcers, if you must use Bute then treat for ulcers too).

 

[Suzie]

Hi! We are in western NC and depending on where you are located, I am sure any member of ECMHC can help you locate some hay. It is in short supply and expensive due to these odd conditions, but we all hope it is temporary. We have had rain now for a while which is very hopeful for spring hay.

Welcome to NC

 

[A Yankee In NC]

[SIZE=18pt]Let it rain .......let it rain............ let it rain[/SIZE]

I am thrilled to have awakened to it raining! I live in the severe drought area and am overjoyed that the wet stuff is fallin'!

Our dogs and cats are all huddled in the house...our boxer mix bored and looking for trouble ....guess she'll be in her room for the day....(yes, we have a pet room-can you see spoiled pets here? lol)

We've gotten spoiled with the dry weather of having everyone outside all day very day...

Have a great day!

 

[hahler]

Welcome to the board

A friend of mine also lives in NC and the rumors are true

she says that because of the drought people are putting the foraging animals down or just turning them loose

the latter is becoming a very big problem where she lives

dawn

 

[Charley]

Ahhh rain....we share the joy this morning in drought stricken Northern Georgia!

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain!!!!!!

 

[sfmini]

Welcome to the forum. Ditto what the others said on the hay situation.

Whatever you do, make sure you will have a supply for your new addition or you might be better off waiting. The roughage is ESSENTIAL to a healthy horse.

A good book geared towards adult first time horse owners is "Getting Your First Horse" by Judith Dutson. You can get it via Amazon or Barnes and Noble online, and sometimes in the Barnes and Noble stores. This book covers the gamut of horse care and ownership.

 

[Marty]

Welcome from Tennessee.

The drought has caused a lot of problems with many around here. Mostly everyone I know locally has sold their cows and horses months ago. The livestock auctions have been over flowing with horses and ponies, clearly a buyers market. My fields this year have been ruined.

There is hay to be found if you dig deep enough into your search and into your pockets. The price of hay has doubled and trippled, maybe fourpeld. But local hay this year still has not been up to par. What little hay there was to be found is coarse to say the least. I got lucky and found my good hay early on in the season where I have already been established as a client, but those who waited until fall did not.

This is not a good time to try and locate hay but it is not impossible. You will probably have some serious traveling to do right now to locate some and the price will be high so prepare yourself for that. You might have to look out of state. When you do find it, stock up. Bailing season for our region is usually around Memorial Day for the first cutting. That's when I start stocking for winter to be safe.

Good luck and best wishes in your hay search.

 

[Jill]

For feeding just one, or a few, minis a great hay substitute is hay cubes. They are available at Tractor Supply and any feed store. Soak them in water, and your horse will love them and be getting hay that way.

Another option is to use complete pellets for all or part of the hay (this is what we do here, for more reasons than stretching hay). Complete pellets already have the hay / roughage in them and you do not NEED to feed hay if you are using complete pellets.

 

[A Yankee In NC]

A good book geared towards adult first time horse owners is "Getting Your First Horse" by Judith Dutson. You can get it via Amazon or Barnes and Noble online, and sometimes in the Barnes and Noble stores. This book covers the gamut of horse care and ownership.

Thanks so Much for the info!

I will surely be going to the internet to look for a copy of that ASAP!

I love books and will be buying anything I can find to help me be the best horse parent that I can be!

ellen

 

[Bunnylady]

Merry Christmas from the Carolina Coast!

I'm new to mini's, (also to this internet thing, so please, bear with me) but I have been buying feed for other "critters" for a number of years. I'm thinking that if people are abandoning or killing their animals it's because they can't afford to feed them, rather than a lack of available feed. Chicken feed, etc. has gone up 20% or so in the last year. Coastal Burmuda hay was $4.00 a bale last year, this year it's $9. Good hay is still available, but I wouldn't wait to get it. Most of the suppliers in the Wilmington area run out in the spring anyway, this year I reckon it'll happen a lot sooner. Assuming normal rainfall, local new hay (not last year's leftovers) usually becomes available in May. Figure you'll need about 1 bale per week 'til then, and a good dry place to store it. In warm weather, the humidity gets to mine if I try to keep it for more than about a month. Good Luck!

 

[Leeana]

We've been fine up here in Ohio, actually have been getting our hay for 1.75-3.00 a bale. Our hay guy is right down from our house luckly. I got 75 bales a little over a month ago, and that to went fast. I'm hoping to get another 175 bales which would last me about 5 months if our hay guy still has any left, im feeling a little anxiety right about now ...hate that feeling. I'm doing a little thinking about the moment and i might be letting two other horses go with the two i have for sale right now just to cutt back some for now. If anyone around here had roundbales, that would be great ...but even i am feeling a little stressed and we have been spoiled up in our area for a while now with hay.

I may be putting one or two of the SR horses on complete pellets this winter too.

 

[misfitminis]

I grew up in Northeastern NC. We had to feed peanut hay one year about 15 years ago. It was awful. People were trucking small square baled (30 pound bales) hay in from West Virginia for $6.00 a bale. We had 5 Arabians all but one would eat the peanut hay. It was disgusting.. Most of the bales were moldy. My father still lives down there. He said more and more farmers are now turning their fields into hay fields. We had to drive 2 hours to buy hay in Virginia from our usual supplier.

The tough thing about that part of the country is that it either rains all the time or there is a drought. Everything molds. Our tack would grow mold over night.

Good luck!

 

[Cathy_H]

It's true that you do not need to feed hay if you feed a complete feed but we still do. We feed a complete feed but our horses still get pasture once a day plus hay every day........ These mini's will chew wood & anything else in sight if they do not get their chewing satisfaction in. So be prepared to replace any wood they are near if you do not feed any or much hay.

 

[CZP1]

Hi Ellen

Welcome to NC and the forum. I am a displaced Yankee here for 12 years. LOVE IT! No snow and cold.

If you have a Southern States near you. You might want to try their "Safe Starch" bagged hay. I feed that with regular timothy/clover hay I purchased from a person who got the hay from NY ($6.50 for 35# bale). The safe starch is about $16.00 for 50# but I only have two minis and it lasts me about a month and a half. My guys are on a dry lot too.

There is also a site www.nchorsenews.com it has a place on there where you can get hay in NC.

As another person mentioned the ECMHC.

Chris