Hay and preparing for winter

It is always a bit of a stress getting enough hay stored away for the winter and the horses and cows will STARVE if we don't. It is difficult for people to get to the house to deliver, and it is much easier to get huge bales, but they are hard to move around and to get in to the hay store.

We have a farmer who has been delivering a bale of fortnight in to the bottom field for the last two winters and he is doing it again this winter. However we need more for the horses and sheep and the cows even need a bit more than that when it is cold and wet.

Last year we got some bales of the neighbour which fitted in to the hay store and he delivered with his tractor. This year he only has HUGE ones left. He came round to look at the stables and they will fit through the door of the stable there so he is going to put four of them in there for us in a couple of weeks - they are busy while the weather is sunny. We won't be able to move them once they are in there, so we will have to peel bits off and feed to the horses when they need it. In some ways this is good anyway as it means less waste than when they just get given a whole bale, but it is more effort.

We have now also bought 80 small bales

This is 60 of them

and twenty more

This is Doug getting out the mini digger to do some work outside the stables

This bit of land is outside the run in shelter and the horses spend a lot of time here in winter waiting for hay and food to magically arrive. It turns in to a stinky mud mess which they sink ankle deep in making it really gross doing their feet over the winter.
So Doug is scooping off some of the top soil and trying to give it a slight slope to the downhill and away from the stables.
For people who haven't visited this picture gives some impression of how steep all our land is. Photos always manage to make it look flat