FOOD "Unforeseeable" consequences of corn ethanol fuel-Rising fodder cost, end of pet horses?

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Old Gray Mare

TB Fanatic
In my area the price of hay has sky rocketed and is still going up. It is almost double what it was this time last year. My hay seller confirmed more and more famers are putting former meadow, pasture land and fields of fodder into corn this year. Farmers are growing not much more than what they require to cover their own needs. There are shortages. Usually at this time of year in my area hay is cheap and plentiful. Not this year. There are shortages.

I am going to go out on a limb and make a few predictions:
1) I suspect there are going to be a lot of pet horses that starve to death this winter for lack of fodder and feed. They're getting caught between rising costs and a bad economy. Already there are Horse adds in the local paper like: Horse free to good home or will lease horse for free board with lessons.
2) The cost of beef this year may not go up as significantly as other meats because they can eat silage. In drought stricken areas farmers will chop their dying corn crops into silage to feed to cattle rather than take a total loss. Also famers and cattlemen will be thinning their herds if they foresee a major expense problem carrying them.
3) Meat animals that require corn to "finish" hogs and fowl will rise in cost to produce.
4) The price of lamb will not be coming down any time soon.
5) Goat meat will increase in popularity as they are browsers and prefer leaves and weeds to grass fodder. They will eat grass but prefer to browse like deer. Smaller breeds of goats will become a popular suburban pet and future family milk producers and/or dinner entrees.
 
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Jazzdad

Veteran Member
Pet horses left this area three years ago. There are at least a dozen horse boarding operations up for sale within a 20 mile radius of my location. No one keeps horses any more either for work or jumping or pleasure riding. That's too bad because I did barn cleanouts for lots of folks and got lots of decent high-carbon stall bedding for my compost but now there is none to be found. Only the doctor's kids have horses now. The Craigslist ads for free horses stopped two years ago because all the pet horses were given away then.

Now we see Craigslist ads for farriers looking for work and willing to travel. Farriers were impossible to find three years ago and if you weren't already a customer then you were out of luck. I'm waiting for large animal vets to actually lower themselves to look at a cow. So that I can laugh at them and send them on their way because there is no way I can afford a vet to look at my cows.

Pet horses are probably a bad idea anyway. They never got to ride and were kept as lawn ornaments and companion animals. That kind of relationship only benefits the owner, not the horse. These animals need to work.

Unfortunately, we still have news stories in this area about neglected horses. Some people can't bear to lose their pets but they can't afford to feed and care for them either. Sad.
 
cleobc

cleobc

Veteran Member
Lots of horses here still though the unregistered/grade animals, unbroke or unsound animals are very cheap. Hay is back up to what it was a year ago after a brief serious drop in prices last year. Not too much corn grown here but lots of hay for the California dairy markets and Asian exports. People here do cutting, reining, team penning, team sorting, trail trials, barrel racing, and lots and lots of roping. Good ranch horses are still used and bring a decent price. Good competition horses still sell fairly high. That said, I've cut down to two mares and will try to sell my colt at weaning to cut down on feeding hay for the time being. Planning to breed my hair sheep work ewes to a meat sire to get meatier lambs next spring. And hoping to find time to train my mares to drive. It seems like a good idea.
 
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dogmanan

Inactive
Boy the hay cuttings around here are some of the biggest and best i've seen in many years.[southwestern mi.]
They just cut last week around here for the second time and I don't think i've ever seen the cuttings piled so high.
I have to cut my four acre lawn twice a week.
Sad for the horses, wish I had more acres many more I would take the horses people are giving away.

later
 
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WalknTrot

Veteran Member
We have lots of hay up north...have had too much rain. Hay is cheap, but transportation is high to move it outstate.

The mutt horse sell-off started here when the economy tanked 3-4 years ago...that and when the slaughter market left the country. There are still free and cheap horses around, but not near so many.

Good horses still have good homes.
 
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Nancy in OK

Senior Member
Cattlemen and farmers around here are already selling some of their breeding stock, some as much as 25% or more. There is no hay, we have no grass and no water. Some ranchers I know are buying hay from Minnesota ($4-$5 loaded mile shipping + price of hay). We usually at least get 2 cuttings sometimes 3 if we have rain. This year, we cut 3 small fields. Some will not be cut at all this year, we just hope the grass will come back. It would have to rain 24/7 for a solid month for it to do much good around here (southern Oklahoma). Western Oklahoma and Texas are in worse shape. Two weeks ago, about 100 miles from where I live, people were bringing their ranch horses and some pleasure horses and tying them up to the auction barn fence and driving away. People here have been feeding cubes every other day all summer and some have been giving hay also. That makes for some mighty expensive cattle. There are cattle auctions that are turning away cattle because they have so many. I actually got 4 1/2" this last week of rain and it didn't make a dent in the pond situation. Some ponds are cracked and dry and people were watering their cattle from their wells. That was the first rain we've had in months.
 
T

Troke

On TB every waking moment
The Cultural Left has complained for years that food prices in this country were too low. I guess that is being changed.
 
Wise Owl

Wise Owl

Deceased
Maine has been dry also. We finally got about 2 inches a couple days ago but the ground sucked it up fast and the trees got it all. I have been watering the garden daily. Had to water the day after it rained as the rain went into the garden and got sucked up by the plants pretty quickly.

The blackberries are fairing well this year tho. Went picking this morning with a friend and brought back 4 qts each. Not bad for a couple hours in the brambles. Going back as they are just getting started for this year. Saw tons of them still pink or even green in places. That means blackberries for at least 3 more weeks to pick and put in the freezer for winter. (dh loves my blackberry muffin cakes...)
I am picking, stashing everything I can get my hands on this summer. I have a steady supply of horse manure from our friends. That is such a wonderful thing as I haven't had access to horse or cow unless I buy that sterilized stuff from the store. (not the same thing)
 
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Grammytomany

Inactive
My daughter just bought another (groan) yearling because the owner couldn't feed them. Daughter's friend brought the whole truck load (Big, Big Long haul van for animals) up from this woman's farm in Florida. They are all from prime stock but my DD said so very skinny, she felt awful. But, we have been bring back a lot of animals from the brink so this will not be new but the prices are so very high. She is a vegetarian but she raises her own eggs on organic feed that she buys from out west for them. I cannot imagine how expensive this all is. I did it for all of the children for years and now, of course, not working and cannot do it any longer. She even purchases hay by the TT load out of Canada. Cannot get goo quality here she says. I cannot locate any corn oil that isn't GMO so I am buying out of canada for that too. NON GMO. I use mostly olive oil first cold pressing. Thank GOD for that. We can no longer afford most of what is fresh in the store. This week I got a zucchini (small for myself), green beans for both of us, lettuce and parsley. We have our own beautiful tomatoes which are all coming in well. My son's peaches are coming in well and I froze up two big bags this morning for winter. We will eat the other six now and the juice is just flowing from them. His place is all organic too. Meat will be very expensive. I spoke to the butcher at our best supplie5r and said I can't find good pork and he said it is because they are not feeding them...they cannot afford to, so they are tough and not very tasty. Normally, I would have a lot frozen by now. We don't eat a lot of meat and I am NOT going to buy the chicken that is 89 Cents a pound again. Oh my word, the taste was awful. Never again. Stick with all natural organic or don't get it. I don't know what I would do if I had five children at home now. God bless you all. Good luck and put up as much as you can get.
 
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Grammytomany

Inactive
Old Gray Mare, My DD has always taken care of large animals on the farms of northern NH, Northern Main & Vermont. That is what she is trained to do. But there wasn't enough work for the vets so she worked for the small animal vets also. Her love tho' is all the large animals. She worked with a vet that took food in place of cash payment for the care that he gave the animals because a lot of farmers couldn't pay them. He continued even if they had nothing to pay with. His name was perfect. Dr. Blessing and indeed he was.
 
sopo

sopo

Senior Member
Last year, I went to a local rescue to bring home a horse. They had way too many going into the winter. 38. We ended up bringing 5 home. They got numbers down but have been swamped with new horses coming in from sheriff's departments. They are offering free adoptions trying to get the horses placed and have posted that they can't take any more at all under any circumstance. We were paying $32 for a 5' round of good grass hay. That is no longer available and the only other I found is $50/bale we pickup or $60 delivered for bermuda. I'm not worrying. God will provide. When I brought my Arabian home, he was skin and bones. Horribly thin (even at the rescue as they couldn't grain feed him) and now all 5 are doing well and healthy. God always provides even when we can't see a way.
 
Freeholder

Freeholder

This too shall pass.
dogmanan said:
Boy the hay cuttings around here are some of the biggest and best i've seen in many years.[southwestern mi.]
They just cut last week around here for the second time and I don't think i've ever seen the cuttings piled so high.
I have to cut my four acre lawn twice a week.
Sad for the horses, wish I had more acres many more I would take the horses people are giving away.

later
Click to expand...

I have several neighbors with only one acre of land (including what their house sits on) who have two horses (plus a llama in one case). Their places are mostly dirt lots, but one horse on four well-watered acres should be fine, and you might even manage to cut some hay off it.

Kathleen
 
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