| Maryvet's Blog |  |
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| Purpose of this blog | Here's where I share my observations and practical knowledge gained from working with Caspians (and a few Thoroughbred interlopers) every day. As a veterinarian, I've had a life long interest and book knowledge of horses. True horse sense developed after moving to the Missouri countryside and sharing my life with these wonderful horses. Please send your comments and questions to maryvet01@yahoo.com. |
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Automatic Waterer |
While building our horse facilities, I debated about the pros and cons of an automatic watering system for the horses. Mindful of the slimy moss buildup in most livestock tanks, I was skeptical of the maintenance associated with the automatic waterers sold by "big name" companies. However, the hassle of hauling fresh water was equally unappealing, especially during the winter. By chance, I saw an advertisement for “the horse drinker” made by Bar-Bar-A. It appeared to meet all of my criteria--fresh water during all seasons, and low/no maintenance. I was skeptical that the horse drinker could really be that good. After reading more at Bar-Bar-A's website, I decided to take the plunge and installed 4 horse drinkers in the mare and stallion barns. |
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 beat the slime |
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The waterers arrived in very big boxes, and they weren’t very impressive at first glance. But once they were installed, I saw the beauty of the Bar-Bar-A system for water delivery. The large paddle in the bowl activates water flow when pressed, and the bowl drains completely when the horse is finished drinking. The Caspian horses all learned how to use the waterers immediately, and they really enjoy having water whenever they want it. Because the water is always fresh from the tap for each drink--cool in the summer and warm in the winter—I think they tend to drink more than they would from a stagnant source. The bowl is basically self-cleaning (unless one of my aspiring circus performers decides to stick a hoof into it), and there’s no standing water to support algae or insects. And for cold climates, you can’t beat a waterer that needs no electricity to remain functional below freezing. Our waterers worked fine in the zero degree weather we had last winter. For dealing with snow accumulation, I could usually brush the snow off the edges of the bowl and then run some water to melt the remainder. A heavy ice accumulation sometimes required a bucket of water to help melt ice on and under the paddle that activates the water flow. But if that’s the most taxing thing I have to do all year to deliver water for my horses, I consider that insignificant. |
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Check out the Bar-Bar-A waterer for yourself at: http://www.horsedrinker.com/ The Bar-Bar-A horse drinker costs about the same as most other major brands of waterers, but I have yet to see any other model that achieves this level of performance. And don’t limit yourself to horses—the “horse” drinker works for a number of animal species. |
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Hay Saver |
Do your horses waste hay, pulling or pawing it out of the feeder and then trampling it? Although we love our Caspians, they were vexing us with their hay-wasting ways. We were feeding hay in oval water tubs. The tubs were sturdy but proved to be too convenient for pawing and nose-tossing large volumes of hay onto the ground. The hay waste was bad enough, but cleaning up the mess was the really annoying part of the problem. We needed a better solution and found it at a local farm store. This is an 8’ diameter feeder designed for feeding large round bales to horses. I like the open-top design of the feeding slots, as there is nothing to bump the horse’s head if they raise it quickly to get out of the way of a bossier horse. You can find several variations on this basic design. |
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This feeder is comprised of 3 panels
that each form one third of the circular unit. The panels are pre-drilled for
bolt assembly. We used 2 panels to make fenceline hay feeders in our horse
pens. The feeders don’t take up much space, they’re super strong, and they
really cut hay wastage. |
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We considered removing the panel legs in
order to get the unit down to ground level, but realized the unit would become
even sturdier if we buried the panel feet in the ground. So, after a little
pickaxe and shovel action and the addition of some eyebolts, we had achieved
our goal. |
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After buying one feeder and testing the
prototype, we purchased a second feeder. Using the 6 panels from these 2
units, we were able to make 3 fenceline units so that each of our 6 horse pens
has a hay feeder. We think we’ve solved our hay-feeding problem. |
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Update on Hay Feeder |
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