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TonyG | 03-31-2008 01:14 AM
Any horse/mule farmers here? It seems that Tn and some other states use horses to hobby farm. Anyone here homesteading with horses or mules.?

eat_beef | 03-31-2008 08:55 AM
Re: Any horse/mule farmers here? I used to raise Quarter Horses, both cow bred and runners. I still have a couple of mares left, but I found it's cheaper to buy a colt bred how you want him and ready to go than it is to breed and raise one. I'm down to 6 horses, and of those, 2 are pretty much worn out, 1 IS worn out, 1 is about half started, 1 is half finished, and I have one good mount.:confused_ma:

mtnman | 03-31-2008 09:44 AM
Re: Any horse/mule farmers here? Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyG (Post 1036648) It seems that Tn and some other states use horses to hobby farm. Anyone here homesteading with horses or mules.?
Remember, ONE working horse needs 10 gallons of water, 4lbs of grain and 20lbs of hay every day. That�s a lot of extra food to grow! You need TWO horses or mules to pull a plow.

TonyG | 03-31-2008 01:25 PM
Re: Any horse/mule farmers here? Quote:
Originally Posted by mtnman (Post 1036994) Remember, ONE working horse needs 10 gallons of water, 4lbs of grain and 20lbs of hay every day. That’s a lot of extra food to grow! You need TWO horses or mules to pull a plow.
This is the reason for the question. In a scenario that many seem to fear where fuel might only be rationed (or subsidized) to the big farmers, can a mule/draft horse farm compete on a small farm basis? How many acres does a horse need? Cow and a calf on an acre and a half. Does a 1600 lb drafter need 1 1/2? 2? 2 1/2? Lets say you've got the water running off the moutain, got 120 acres. Can 6 mules live off of 15 acres of that and still farm the other 105? Oh yeah, out of respect for TN Andy, 25 acres are woodland :D, thus leaving 80 acres for agriculture of some kind.

eat_beef | 03-31-2008 02:02 PM
Re: Any horse/mule farmers here? Sorry, I totally missed the question. I was thinking 'horse farming'= raising horses, rather than farming with horses. At any rate, I'm sincerely doubtful that you can run a cow/calf pair on an acre and 1/2, year round, without some serious imputs, be they fertilizer, feed, etc. A quarter horse is roughly equal to a cow/calf pair in grass needed. A draft horse would probably be double that, but I'm just guessing as I've never owned a draft horse. A working horse will REQUIRE grain to be worked any significant amount. My great grandfather was able to work his teams (horses and mules) off farm during the depression because he fed them corn, while everyone else's teams were zapped due to lack of nutrition. Another great-grandfather, in Mississippi, farmed 15 acres, because that was all 1 man and 1 horse could handle. (They don't have to be worked in teams.) Of course, these were small broomtail horses (think mustangs), and their output was significantly less than a QH, much less a Belgian, but their input requirements were significantly less, as well. I think you're barking up the wrong tree if you think you can farm 80 or 100 acres with ANY amount of horses or mules. Depending on the soil type, etc., etc., I would think 30 acres would be a WHOLE LOT to handle. Of course if you have children or someone to help, that's different, but you're never going to be able to compete with big farms and big tractors. That's why no one is using hoof power any more. Now of course it's a different story if there are no big farms/tractors with which to compete, but then you're talking about subsitance farming, not competing with the Jones's.

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