More Cold, More Snow

 

Another snow day with frigid temperatures. That seems to be the theme of this winter. With that being said, it's a good day to look at the day to day in Chugwater, which varies from minimal effort to rescue efforts that absorb most of the day. The benefit of the big pasture and the big herd in Chugwater is that it is largely self-sufficient. The ranch has three year round waters. One is a natural spring that flows year round. If that develops ice, it means that we're in a particularly bad storm, so it's a nice gauge when the weather turns and we're feeling bad about ourselves in the doom of winter. If the spring is flowing unencumbered, we can't complain too much. On the other hand, if ice develops around the edges (it never freezes over), we get to complain about the weather a little. The other two waters are solar waters that overflow, thus keeping both the cisterns and the tanks relatively ice free. The windier it is, the better they perform. We do, however, have to wipe the snow off of the panels every day. That being said, that is easier than draining hoses, other than the miles of plowing to get to the panels.

Feeding fluctuates between no effort at all and an all day operation. The horses typically graze from mid-April to sometime in November or December. I'll elaborate on the grass maintenance below, but we do watch the grass grow across the ranch daily. As dull as it might sounds, it has to be one of the most fun chores for us. Haying has gone through iterations. For the last few years, we fed daily with a Hydrabed, unrolling enough hay for a 24 hour period. That worked great, but we did have quite a bit of loss due to wind, mainly as we drove from feeding spot to feeding spot. The biggest issue had to be the snow. There were many days that we plowed the way with the tractor with the Hydrabed immediately behind. We even had storms so severe that the path drifted in the ten feet between tractor and truck. We had storms when the tractor dragged the Hydrabed through the snow with a tow strap for miles. This did work, and we made an adventure of it, but it makes it challenging in these severe storms.

Now, we put out full bales of hay and let the herds free feed. The main herd (34 horses) has four bales for this storm, giving each horse easy access to the feed. Typically, we feed two bales and let the horses rotate on and off of the bales. This works well and creates little waste. The horses take turns napping and eating, which we monitor from the house to ensure the horses all eat. On average, the horses in Chugwater eat 15-25 pounds of hay per day per head. This is compared to 30-45 pounds per head per day at the homestead. The grass helps a lot with the horses up here, even in the winter. We replenish the bales when they run out, unless we have a warm spell when they prefer to graze.

With the essentials covered, we go on to daily checks. We do check every horse every single day, or as close to it as is safe, rain, shine or blizzard. The main herd eats by the house in the winter, so even in the worst of weather, we can use binoculars to watch behavior and check for anything obvious. Unless the weather is dangerous, as it is today (-40 wind chills), we go out and check each horse closely. Sometimes this is on foot or by vehicle (skid steer with plow, truck, UTV), but most of the time this is via dirt bike. Much of the ranch is not easily accessed by truck or UTV. We do have the ability to evacuate horses from the entirety of the ranch via a relatively short walk to one of the many gates around the perimeter.

That being said, dirt bike is easily the fastest way to check the entire ranch and, by far, the most fun. We have become decent at riding bikes over the years, so we can get into all of the nooks and crannies on the ranch with good speed. This means that we can keep a close eye on every horse and address any needs for each individual. It also means that we monitor the grass around the ranch for overgrazing, grass quality and quantity, and weeds, which allows us to make adjustment with hay supplementation as needed year round.

There have been times when our daily checks have not gone well. One time, a gelding ended up on the neighbor's property. It's rare that the horses are close to the fences, much less causing problems with them. We looked over the entire ranch and eventually found a hole in the fence. The gelding was not far away on the neighbor's property. Rescue efforts often take multiple people. One person stays with the horse, so we do not lose track of them, while another gathers trailer, if needed, medical supplies and a halter. This time, the gelding did not require a trailer or medical care, so we decided to lead him back to the main herd. This meant a long walk (about 2 miles) while the weather turned into a sleet storm. It's rarely worth the time to hook up a trailer just to haul them two miles back to the herd. This time, we got to fix the fence in a storm.

Rescue efforts are not common, but they do occur. True emergencies are rare here, especially since we have so many horses. More often, our efforts are related to turning out a new horse (we always take them to the herd before letting them go) or day to day care.

Every horse operation has its own quirks and needs. It's interesting to hear how various operations work.