How to save $25,000/year with 6 horses

As I was creating pastures yesterday, my mind continually thought about everything we are doing and how I can get the word out to others. I love to save people money and tell them about things that work. Adaptive grazing principles work with horses. You, your horses, and your pocketbook will benefit.

Today I want to tell you how I am currently saving $2000/month by NOT feeding hay and NOT cleaning stalls. The process is incredibly simple, and it also makes your pastures healthier. Our farm is not fancy. It is an old Angus cow farm from the 18th century. Many buildings are hanging on by a thread, and the infrastructure is very much in need of repair. We are very aware, and we are working on it! The money that we save through adaptive grazing allows us to spend money on what matters. Right now, the most important thing is that our animals and our pastures are thriving. I am so proud every time I go out and look around. Everything is glowing.

As a successful business owner in the property management space, I want to apply business principles to farming. If we can’t focus on decreasing excessive farm expenses to make farms more affordable, the next generation will never want to attempt this industry. What’s worse is how we house horses has been shown to cause significant harm via increased stress indicators. . You can check that information out in my other blog article discussing the latest Kentucky Equine Research on stress indicators in stalled horses. Their research is challenging the status quo.

Today I am discussing saving money with horses. As I created a new pasture space for them, I calculated how much hay we do not have to feed them and how much shavings we do not have to purchase. (When we feed hay at shows, we only feed hay purchased from Nicole@ SweetGrassFarms.)

Today, I made this video going over a new pasture space, and it only took about 45 minutes. I have six horses and created their living and eating space in 45 minutes. Let that sink in for a second. If you have cleaned stalls before, the average stall takes about 15 minutes, including filling water buckets, taking horses out to pasture after or bringing them in, replacing shavings, and sweeping up after. Folks, you are MOVING if it only takes 15 minutes/horse. That would mean cleaning stalls for six horses takes an average of 1.5 hours. Some barns take much more time, so the savings could continue to increase if the barn work is more tedious.

Here’s what I do NOT have to do/pay for by creating a new pasture space:

1. Clean stalls- Savings of paying barn help and an additional 1-hour day, 7 hours a week, or 365 hours/year. At $12/hour, that’s a $4380/year savings.

2. Shavings- $200/month or $2400/year in savings.

3. Barn utilities- Savings of at least $100/month or $1200/year.

4. Hay- Savings of $60/day for my situation- $1800/month or $21,600/year in savings.

That’s a total of $29,580 saved with 6 horses.

I have a large run-in barn where the horses can always go. I let the animal decide what it wants. It’s amazing what happens when you do that. Each of my pastures is connected to the run in the shelter so they can decide when they want to get shelter.

So how do you save over $25,000 a year if you have six horses?

For any of this to work, you have to think differently. You have to step away from current industry norms. The horse industry seems to be a big competition on who can create the most prominent and prettiest barn. It is just a little ridiculous when you think about it because none of it focuses on the benefit to the horse. It is all who can create the best aesthetics. Horses were meant to graze continuously in their herd. They wouldn’t run to the prettiest build barn if they had a choice. I want to encourage horse and land owners to use horses (and other herbivores) to work their land for them. Think about what spaces are not currently fenced in and wonder if they could put their horses there instead of turning on their mower. This is how you get healthy soil and don’t have to supplement it with hay. Think about heavily wooded areas that could be thinned to create more pasture space. You win by looking around and being creative with what you have. You may have too many horses that your land can handle. Leasing land may be a good option. Just drive down the road and contact landowners whose land looks forgotten. I bet they would be grateful if animals started grazing it. The ideas are endless.

If you want a jump start on adaptive grazing with your horses, sign up for our adaptive grazing mini course on our website. You can connect with us by clicking this link if you need more help.

The money you save could be used for things that matter. I’d love to hear your comments on what good things you can spend money on instead of things that may not matter.

Step 3: Portable Fencing Equipment for horse pastures

Hi there!

You are now committed to looking into what you will need for portable pastures. Pat yourself on the back! You are on your way to implementing your adaptive grazing plan. 

You can purchase the equipment needed for adaptive grazing for less than $500. You can have adaptive grazing spaces around your farm and get your horses out on a paddock within a week.

Here is the list: 

1. Polywire/Poly Tape - $50-$100

2. Step in posts ($152/50 posts)

3. Energizer (solar or Energizer+battery) ($250)

4. Shade (optional)- FREE (TREES)!

1. Poly Wire/Poly Tape: You first need to decide if you want to use, Polytape or Polywire. These products are equally effective, but the polytape will take up more room on your reel than polywire. Some horse owners feel their horses can see the polytape better than polywire, so they naturally want to use something more visible. In our experience, if you move the horses during the day when they can see the new space, it doesn’t matter either way. We feel the poly wire is easier to roll up and put into the stakes than poly tape. It also doesn’t sag much since it isn’t as heavy as the tape strands. 

2. Step-in posts are essential to your adaptive grazing plan. We are currently using plastic step in posts. The downside to these posts is that they break with excessive force during significantly colder weather. We now use a rubber mallet to pound them in because it has become very dry in our region over the summer. The “step in” option wasn’t effective, and the mallet has been a game changer. When you are pulling them out, they may feel stuck. If you gently kick the bottom of the post to loosen the stake, it will pull up easily. If you carefully put them in and pull them up, they will last many seasons. 

3. Fence Chargers: Thank goodness for technology and the many options on the market for electrifying portable fencing. We have used many options, and they all tend to work well. We may prefer one option over the other depending on equipment cost to animal ratio or portability of equipment. 

• Solar Chargers: Solar chargers work great when you are moving animals daily. This solar charger will work great for you if you have a lot of sunshine, as we do here in South Carolina. They are light, durable, and generally dependable throughout the year. Our favorite solar charger is the Gallagher series solar charger. It has withstood many moves, and the parts have not broken on the device. It offers a consistent charge and continues to work after over two years of constant use. Another option is to use an energizer plus a marine deep-cycle battery. You will need two batteries so that one can be charged and ready at all times. We like the Speedright 1000 plus a 12 V battery for our horse paddocks. This way, the weather will rarely be an issue affecting fence performance.

4. Shade- Depending on where you are and your land, you may or may not have available shade. We are in South Carolina, where it gets sweltering during the summer months. Horses can and do often go without shade, but we know that given a preference, they would always prefer to have shade available. We have constructed a shade mobile out of an old hay wagon. It now has adjustable “wings” that expand during implementation and fold up during moves. A great option with adaptive grazing is that you can easily incorporate shade into your daily pasture plan if you have trees near your grazing areas. A couple of ideas include:

• Make a set of trees or barn your central point to your pasture rotation. You can rotate circularly if a bunch of trees is in the middle, or you can make a path back to the shade, as I did here in this video.

• Use a mobile shade device- If you are handy and willing to test out your engineering skills, building a shade mobile will unleash all sorts of possibilities on your farm. With shade options, your animals will be more comfortable and peaceful, grazing on your pastures. A shade device can be as simple as a big frame with a tarp covering. Be creative, and it will blow you may blow yourself away!

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