EPDM Moisture Barrier for Hay Storage

I'm lucky to have a large area for hay storage, but I've had issues with the bottom layer of hay turning a bit moldy even though I store it on pallets to keep it off the concrete floor. This spring on a COTH thread I learned about using EPDM roofing material as a moisture barrier for hay storage. Unlike rubber stall mats, which in my experience can "sweat" on humid days, EPDM is specifically designed as a moisture barrier so it should buffer hay from ground dampness. Covering a large space with EPDM should also cost a lot less and require a lot less muscle than covering the same space with rubber mats.

When we had the roof replaced on our house, I was able to get a full roll of 12' EPDM from the roofing company for a pretty reasonable cost ($300). If you are patient and willing to call around, you might be able to find used or scrap EPDM for free or cheap, but I wanted to get it done soon before I restocked my hay supply.

When my hay supply ran low and I could reasonably move the remainder elsewhere, my wonderful niece and I lifted all of the pallets and swept out all the old chaff and dust and cobwebs. This was a deeply unpleasant task due to the dust and other allergens. We also found a disgusting pile of possible rat poop under one of the pallets. Face masks were a must! 

This doesn't look too awful pre-cleaning, but the space between the pallets is full of chaff, dust, cobwebs, and spiders.

With the pallets thoroughly cleaned, you can see the shocking amount of dust and chaff that had been hiding underneath them. So glad to get that out of there!

Next we replaced the pallets, disposing of some treacherously damaged or oddly sized ones and replacing them with nice solid ones from the pile at the feed store. I must not have taken a photo afterwards, but I ended up orienting all the slats in the same direction so that it's safer to walk across.

Of course there was one spot where I had to trim a pallet to get it to fit around a beam, and then cobble some scrap wood on to make it pallet-like again.

Then we unrolled the EPDM over the pallets, allowing plenty of overlap.

I trimmed the EPDM to fit it neatly around the beams. This stuff is not thick at all so trimming just requires a pair of scissors.

Here's the final product, trimmed to fit.

In theory the EPDM can go directly on the concrete with no need for pallets. I was too nervous to do that at first but I think I will get brave and remove the pallets before my next hay delivery. Pallets are not so fun to walk across when they're covered so you can't see the slats, even if you orient the slats in the same direction. I manage fine but I worry about someone else (husband, hay delivery guys) getting injured. Unlike stall mats, EPDM is extremely thin so it won't support your weight or stop you from turning an ankle in a gap between pallet slats.

About 8 months later, I haven't had any moldy bottom bales so the EPDM seems to be doing its job! It's also much, much easier to sweep out chaff and keep the area clean now that stuff can't fall down through the pallets. Cleaning the hay storage area can just be a minor maintenance chore instead of an annual sneeze-fest.

Stonedust Pad for the Gate Area

Last fall I added a stonedust pad to the gate area of my "winter paddock." It was a very worthwhile investment that basically eliminated the mud issue there. Here are some photos of the project, which I did in late September before the ground started turning muddy:

First I used the bucket of the tractor to strip the grass and top layer of dirt. I'm definitely no expert so the bottom was a bit wavy. I used the dirt to build up a low-lying area elsewhere on the farm. 

To choose the dimensions of the pad, I looked at photos from last winter to see how far out the mud extended at its worst, and tried to cover that area. This is what I came up with.

This is what almost 44 tons of stonedust looks like! At this point I was thinking I had gone a little overboard, despite doing some calculations and thinking I might even need a second load after this one (I did not!). This quarry calls it "31-#10 dry dust" and it was perfect for my purposes--not too stony, not too dusty! This pile cost $913 delivered.

Here I've spread out and flattened about half of the stonedust. I ran over it with the tractor repeatedly to compact it, in addition to using a rake and shovel to fine-tune the grade. There's still a pretty sizeable pile left for the second half. I ended up using some of the extra stonedust in the dry lot shed, where I had previously gotten a crappy load of super-fine stonedust that was dusty and didn't compact well. I also used some of it to build up thin spots in the path between the barn and the field, and some to make the gravel driveway more barefoot-friendly. I still have a small pile left for whatever comes up. All in all I feel like this pile has served me very well! 

After putting in the stonedust pad, I kept the horses off this paddock for a few weeks to let the stonedust get rained on and hopefully compact. This photo shows that when I then turned them out on it in November, the stonedust was quite deep and not as compacted as I would have expected.

To firm up the deep footing, I ran the tractor over the pad repeatedly again. You can see from the much shallower hoofprints that it was pretty effective. I haven't had to repeat the process or do any other maintenance since.

Here is the stonedust in action! In December 2019 (left) there was a fair amount of mud, compared to February 2021 (right).

Winter 2020-2021 Pasture Management

 Last year (2019-2020) I experimented with allowing my horses access to one of my three acres of pasture all winter. It seems a bit silly after investing so much money in a dry lot (which is still well worth it to keep the high-traffic areas mud-free!), but it really makes the horses happy, cuts down on morning yahoos when I open the gate, and reduces the amount of manure I have to clean. I was quite happy with how well it worked out and how quickly that acre rebounded in the spring, so I thought I would post an update after this most recent winter. You can see last year's photos in a previous post. 

During the second year, I still found this a reasonable practice for my situation: two horses on three one-acre paddocks that get rotated the rest of the year and tend to be extremely lush in the spring. There were a few days here and there when I kept the horses in the dry lot after heavy rain or snowmelt to let the water drain a bit, but for the most part they had full-time access to the field. We had another average-to-above-average precipitation year here (not much snow though!).

I did make one really helpful improvement in 2020, which was adding a stonedust pad to the gate area of the "winter paddock." I'm going to do another post on that project very soon!

Here are some photos of how the paddock held up throughout the winter.

December 28

February 5

March 4

March 28. Not my traditional pasture photo, but I found it and was really impressed with how quickly the grass improved between this photo and the next one, only two weeks later. I think Z would prefer if it stayed a little muddy though!

April 11, after the first mow of the season

May 9, mid-mow

As you can see, the grass has rebounded extremely well again. This acre has been resting since the end of March (about 5-6 weeks) and the horses could have easily been back on it before now. I also should have mowed it again much sooner, but life got in the way.

Here's a comparison of the gate area in December 2019 (left) vs. February 2021 (right). I'm very pleased with how the stonedust has cut down on the mud and made the area much safer!

How Much Does it Cost to Keep a Horse at Home?

When deciding whether to bring your horses home, cost is a major factor to consider. But in fact, asking the title question ("How much does it cost to keep a horse at home?") is like asking "How long is a ball of string?" 

3,712-lb ball of string. Length? Unknown.

The answer is always: it depends. It depends on so, so many things that there really is no one true answer. You have to consider factors like:

• How much hay will I need to feed?
• In some areas the grass may grow year-round, whereas in others you may need to feed hay 6+ months out of the year
• More land generally means more grass and less hay, but that depends on climate of course
• It also depends on whether you have any special needs horses who can't eat much or any grass
• How much land will I have?
• The more land, the more maintenance, higher taxes, etc...
• ...but in most climates more land = more grazing = less hay
• What lifestyle will my horses have?
• Stalling will cost you more in bedding and hay (not to mention time/labor cleaning stalls)
• Full turnout is more likely to require footing improvements to mitigate mud or a dry lot to save your pasture during wet weather; it can also be labor-intensive in its own way, depending on your setup
• What does hay and bedding cost in my area?
• Hay prices especially vary a lot by region!
• For a 50-lb bale of grass hay I've heard everything from $4 in rural, hay-growing areas to $25-30 in places like Florida where hay has to be imported
• Hay prices also vary by year depending on the weather and growing season; I've personally paid between $6.50 and $11 per bale over the past six years, with prices generally trending upward, and with no real correlation between price and quality
• Will I need to hire help?
• Going out of town will be much more expensive than if you were boarding; for a small farm you should plan on at least $50-100 per day for a farmsitter
• At minimum, you should have a backup plan in case of injury

If you are buying a larger, more expensive property than you would otherwise, you should also consider the additional cost of your mortgage, insurance, landscaping, snow clearing, etc. And if you're moving to the country from the city or suburbs, you should also factor in your longer, more expensive commute. You may even need to drive farther to buy groceries and other necessities. 

None of this even gets into what it might cost to build or upgrade horse facilities if you don't purchase a turnkey property, which is a whole other can of worms.

My nerdy self calculating horsekeeping costs

Marginal Cost of Another Horse

All that said, once you've brought your horses home and accepted all of the above costs, you may at some point wonder how much more an additional horse will cost. Perhaps your existing horse needs a companion, you'd like another riding horse, your spouse or child would like a horse of their own, you'd like a "guest" horse to take friends on trail rides, or you'd like to take on a resale project. By the time you're thinking of adding horses you should have a decent idea of what your existing horses cost. (If you want to see how I easily track my farm expenses, you can read a previous post here. And if you'd rather not do the math, I understand that too!)

I'll share my experiences with two horses whose expenses I tracked to the dollar. Both were resale projects so I wanted to know how much I was spending and whether I was actually going to make a profit (spoiler alert: the answer both times was no!). I wrote about the first, my adorable pony Gwen, previously here. As it turns out, the two horses ended up being at opposite ends of the spectrum in pretty much every way, including cost.

See what I mean about opposite ends of the spectrum??

Gwen (July 2018 - July 2019)

• 13.2 hh Welsh/Thoroughbred mare who required small amounts of grain and hay and did not need to be stalled
• Monthly "board" cost including grain, hay, and bedding: $50
• During that time, I was paying $7-9 per ~50-lb bale of second cutting orchard grass hay and $75-85 per roundbale (in the winter)

Harry (July 2020 - December 2020)

• 16.3 hh Thoroughbred gelding who required huge amounts of grain (10 to 12 lbs per day) and needed to be stalled during the day to eat
• Monthly "board" cost including grain, hay, and bedding: $263 (although really this is an underestimate because I needed to stall my other two horses with Harry, whereas normally they would be on full turnout starting in about October)
• During that time, I was paying $10 per ~50-lb bale of second cutting orchard grass hay

As you can see, I have experienced a pretty wide range of per-horse costs even at my one farm, and the range would be even wider if Harry hadn't sold before winter really set in.

Still, even $300 per month seems to me a pretty reasonable cost for an additional horse. In my area, board at a facility with an outdoor arena and excellent care typically costs at least $600 per month. Of course, the people running those facilities want to get paid for their time and labor, which I don't factor in myself. If caring for each additional horse takes half an hour per day (not counting grooming and riding of course), I can "pay myself" a whole $20 an hour and still break even! ($600 - $300 = $300 / (30 days in a month x 0.5 hours per day) = $20/hour)

So, despite the fact that I have yet to make money on a project horse, this is how I can justify someday adding a third horse to my herd again. 

2020 Fox Photos!

Happy New Year! Here's hoping that 2021 is less weird. 2020 sure was a good time to live on a farm! I've decided that I should institute an annual post on the foxes who frequent our property.

Our original resident fox, Basil, tends to make regular appearances in the fall, winter, and spring. His favorite spot to curl up is under a tree near the little creek that runs between the house and the pasture. He usually doesn't even lift his head to look at me anymore, unless I deviate from my routine. I have a lot of grainy cell phone videos of him but every time I point the DSLR at him he flees.

This day in March 2020, I briefly managed to catch him unaware:

Until he woke up and took off:

He was feeling braver a few days later:

I had a good laugh when the trail cam caught him in this compromising position, looking quite offended by the intrusion:

(Yeah, it's from 2019 but it's too funny not to include.)

It also caught him with his breakfast one day (sorry, bunny!):

In the summer he spends less time curled up by the creek, but in 2020 he made more frequent daytime visits than ever before. One day he surprised us all by lying down in the sun right outside the barn, much to the delight of our very loud coonhound!

I managed to sneak into the barn and take an artsy photo through the window of handsome Basil framed by red twig dogwoods.

The frequency of his visits probably has something to do with the cat food in the barn:

In spring of 2020 we had the best surprise of all: cubs! In keeping with the herb/Simon & Garfunkel theme, we christened the second adult Rosemary and the cubs Parsley, Sage, and Thyme. To be honest we can't usually tell who's who anyway but it's fun to pretend. Sometimes there was even a third adult, so there seems to be some sort of interesting modern family dynamic going on here.

Proud dad, or mom, or aunt...who knows really but what a gorgeous red coat!

The cubs were around a lot this summer but when fall rolled around and new neighbors moved in next door with five dogs, the fox sightings sadly became less frequent. I saw Basil for the first time in months on Christmas Day, curled up in a ball under his favorite tree, then again the next week. I'm hoping as winter sets in he will visit more again!