All brushed and no where to go … well … we could go down and experiment some more with the idea of a free bale in the hay barn. And away we went. Today’s observations led to yet another alteration in the presentation of the loose feed bale. In the beginning I started with the bale tucked into the southwest corner of the barn. The donkeys could then gather ’round and pull at it all they liked. Then I switched to the bale with cut down pallets as a guard to keep it from falling apart. Third time out I moved the bale more to the centre of the barn so the girls could move around it. Today I just tipped it over back into the corner and let them at it without the pallet guards.
Long story short – I think the current bales of timothy hay are delicious to the jennies but they are coarse and there is more waste no matter how I serve it up. It isn’t suited to feed bags as the strands are too long and coarse to pull out of the bags. It isn’t suited to the feed bins as the jennies prefer to toss it around and search out the seed heads. So … one bale in a barn it is. The other bale (in the back paddock) is locked away and I pull off enough to make a good sized pile against the back field fence.
I’ve learned that our hay varies greatly over the year. Some bales are green soft grasses. Some are mixes of soft green grass and crunchy coarser grass. Others are dry, spicy and full of seed heads. Seems the donkeys are quite happy with any of them. And I’m learning to relax a little more about the variety too. No matter what we get they don’t seem to be suffering! 😉
The Meadow View 