Hello Horse Owners! What Are Your Tractor Regrets and Wishes?

[Silly Filly]

32 years ago, wife asked for a horse. She rode as a kid. I asked how much $ $450 later, we owned the ugliest bag-0-bones horse. He was the best horse for novice owners. I was a city boy, horses had a head & tail... pooped a lot. That's my prior knowledge. Wife knew to ride, not the details of horse care. SO we learned, boarding while we lived in suburbia. Today, we're hundreds of thousands $$$ into horses, farm, truck, trailers, tools, horse tack, horse stuff, horse d馗or, used horse shoes(the most expensive part of horses), tractors, etc. The years have been fun, a lot more than divorce or therapy. Best advice I can give is learn to ride and enjoy horses too.

I’m heading down that path. I’m from Toronto and moved to NC bout 7 years ago. I I took weekly lessons for a year learning english riding, basic walk trot canter stuff, mostly to learn how to safely handle horses, but that’s it. I should pick it back up though, if anything at least to tag along on trail rides or camp out at Love Valley.

 

[Silly Filly]

I think it was on a different thread where someone said

The horse is the most efficient means to turn cash into crap

I used to work on a winery and the owner (pharmaceutical CEO) said it was the easiest way to turn billions of dollars into millions of dollars lol. We’re building up the barn because we like hanging around like minded folks. it’ll either be leased out to a lesson facility or we’ll run our own boarding barn. Either way we’re not expecting to make any money on it. Just a hobby working outdoors, taking care of things and creating an enjoyable space for friends and guests.

We are also looking forward to any tax implications owning a bona fide farm has.

 

[bunyip]

My daughter was 8 and it was 'I want a pony', OK, will all be over in a week or so, she is now 33 and another daughter followed, have now just bought 38 aces to put the 9 horses on and bought a bigger tractor, 5 acres was not enough and Brutus the BX370 became too small, the new 58hp tractor has earned the name The Wombat, short, squat and powerful, I need to win a lottery and soon.

 

[WM75Guy]

Good point. We are looking at a UTV in the near future for grooming arenas and dragging pastures and just getting around the property. Designing the barn layout so we don't need to rely too much on vehicles hopefully. Shavings and hay storage as well as a small manure pile will be near the barn so everything can be handled with a cart and a wheelbarrow. As for the manure pile, I may build a ramp that dumps into a trailer or just leave it in a pile. I'm just concerned about having a trailer rust away with manure sitting in it. I'll be moving the manure every week to a compost pile further from the barn.

If it helps, we'll be tending to 25 acres of pasture, max 20 horses, 10 acres of woods we want to maintain as trails and 5 acres worth of common area, barn, ring, roads, mowed lawn, etc.

Having a manure pile near the barn is just asking for flies, even if it is only there a couple of days. We tried a dumpster 100' from the stables that was emptied once a week, used the FEL bucket to gather and dump the manure into it. Just generated too many flies, even with the fly spray system in the stables.

We now use our Mule with a Loyal spreader to prevent manure from stacking up. It pulls easily thru the barn and you can just fork into it. Really nice when we strip stalls. During really bad weather we use a few muck buckets to hold manure for a day, till weather permits to spread it.

 

[Birdhunter1]

That's interesting, how are your stalls configured to be able to back up into it with a rake?

Box blade, loader bucket, regular blade, landscape rake...... whatever is most convenient or already hooked up.
A lot of people build stalls with small narrow doors and wall panels in between.
My horses have access to the barn whenever they want it and are rarely stalled in it without access to a pasture. I built it as a run in type lean to but have gates that I can put in for stall dividers and gates on the outside that will swing shut.

 

[Birdhunter1]

In the previous photo I had the gates off their hinges as I didn’t have a reason to have divided stalls.
This photo I set it all up to show how they were configured on a 4H horse Facebook group page I’m the leader of.

 

[Birdhunter1]

When the gates are hung in place they can also be swung out in a manner like this and be tied off so as to confine a horse to a smaller area if one is needing to be more confined to be doctored on.
The middle stall I just drop 2x4 (true measurement) oak boards into holders since I don’t have a gate that swings shut and the horses won’t test it. Once I even hung a piece of electric rope fence across the opening with no charge placed on it and the old mate wouldn’t touch it.

 

[tallyho8]

Having a manure pile near the barn is just asking for flies, even if it is only there a couple of days. We tried a dumpster 100' from the stables that was emptied once a week, used the FEL bucket to gather and dump the manure into it. Just generated too many flies, even with the fly spray system in the stables.

I don't know why my manure pile (compost pile) is so different from some others who have a fly problem. My pile has been about 100' outside my barn for over 15 years and I don't ever remember seeing 2 flies in it at the same time. I think I have the right ratio of ingredients in my manure pile to make it compost fast as it gets very hot and if you turn a shovelful of it over it will be smoking. Most years I add over 100 yards to it and it composts so fast that the pile is never as large as a 20 yard pile. When I spread it in my pasture after 2 years it is nothing but good black dirt.

I get some flies in my barn every summer but not nearly as many as some of the other barns I have been to. One thing that reduced my fly problem was when I stopped feeding sweet feed.

 

[hosspuller]

I used to work on a winery and the owner (pharmaceutical CEO) said it was the easiest way to turn billions of dollars into millions of dollars lol. We豎*e building up the barn because we like hanging around like minded folks. it蛟､l either be leased out to a lesson facility or we蛟､l run our own boarding barn. Either way we豎*e not expecting to make any money on it. Just a hobby working outdoors, taking care of things and creating an enjoyable space for friends and guests.

We are also looking forward to any tax implications owning a bona fide farm has.

Watch out for the IRS. They hear horses and think hobby farm, not a business.

This is the requirement in Guilford county. Yours may differ a bit. BF farm status gives you some zoning and land use protections. A worth while status to get.

 

[riptides]

My daughter was 8 and it was 'I want a pony', OK, will all be over in a week or so, she is now 33 and another daughter followed, have now just bought 38 aces to put the 9 horses on and bought a bigger tractor, 5 acres was not enough and Brutus the BX370 became too small, the new 58hp tractor has earned the name The Wombat, short, squat and powerful, I need to win a lottery and soon.

LOL.

Ditto...ditto....