Large boarding barns! Systems for graining a barn of 30+ horses?

[Marginally_Safe]

I have a barn of 30+ horses (that actually get grained), and am hoping to cut down the amount of time making grain bags/containers, the feeding of the grain itself, and just making it overall easier.

We have cut it down so all the horses are on either a ration balancer, or a ration balancer and a senior feed if they need extra calories. A handful of people use different grain but make their own bags.

We have tried scooping straight off the cart, and using a small supplement container for each horse. This works but is still a pain.

We are thinking of making grain bags for just the horses that get supplements but hoping someone here has a magic system!

[fivestrideline]

Are you graining in the barn or pasture? That’ll change the method.

For me, having done sole charge of up to 35, the easiest was a metal rolling bar cart (as in, a cart with bars at multiple heights). It was maybe 6-8 feet long, and we had enough hooks for everyone in the barn. Buckets were labeled with horse names, I’d scoop in the feed room off the chart and hang the buckets in stall order. Then just dragged the thing down the aisle and dumped buckets as I went. Easy.

The place I worked that had multiple barns connected by a gravel road, we did the same bucket method but loaded them in the back of the gator and drove around. Smaller loads but it was fast.

I find it best to have an updated feed chart (or binder, that was a biggest place), and labeled everything just in case you have to call in a helper due to sickness or an emergency. Scooping off a cart, or really any other decentralized and memory based method has come back to bite me every time. Soaking feed makes it far more complicated as well. (Though for that I’d scoop, lay all the buckets in the wash rack, and hit them with the hose. Chase the pig out of the barn and by then everything was done soaking ).

[cnd8]

There are about 20 where I board, and all are fed in the pastures. Each horse has their own bucket labelled. The buckets are stacked in the pasture groups (there are 2-3 horses in each pasture). The buckets are loaded into the bed of the John Deer Gator for feed time and she drives from pasture to pasture.
They feed all the horses, and then when they come back to the barn feed room, they “reset” all the buckets for the next feeding (feed and supps), so the person who feeds next doesn’t need to do any prep work. It’s very efficient. Soaked feeds are placed in the AC/heated bathroom so they don’t spoil.

[Obsidian_Fire]

In the barn I worked at all were on a RB with a handful of special needs types. Everybody had a container with their name on it. We had 3 different stable areas to provide feed to. We’d start with ‘barn A’, all the horses in that barn. In the feed room gather up their feed, put it in the cart. Those with supps it got added to their container in the feed room. Go to Barn A, deposit feed, return to feed room for the next lot.
Special needs cases, in this case some oldies who needed beet pulp etc., soaked feed, of course are handled as needed.
Those who used supplements or non-barn provided RB, required to bag their own, clearly labeled.

Sorry but it is a PITA with that many horses! Not sure there’s much more streamlining that can be done.

[trubandloki]

@fivestrideline, do you have any photos of this cart that carries all the buckets you are describing?

[Arzny]

When I had a barn of 40-50, we had a cart that was large enough that we could stack the buckets. I always stacked in order, so I could dump as I went down the line.
I made grain in the feed room off of the feed chart there, then would go down the row feeding. The only thing added after feed was in the cart was oil. That container was on the bottom of the cart and their stall chart had the amount of oil they needed.

[beowulf]

I’ve done it every way and I still believe that the best and most time efficient is labeled buckets. You can cart out the grain itself and dole grain out of the back of the cart to each horse’s stall, but the time you spend scooping and carrying that grain in the scoop to the horse’s stall is similar to the time it takes to set up grain in labeled buckets. The major drawback to the cart method is no matter how neat you are there is spillage to and from the cart to the stall. I’m not a fan since I want to keep all grain under tight lock and key to prevent birds and resourceful rodents from making themselves at home.

Some barns have a system where horses have different colored buckets. In a 30 stall barn that can be difficult. I prefer to label black buckets and stack them in order of go - as you go down the aisle, just stack them back under the first bucket once they’re dumped. So much of organization and coordination is just taking the “extra” .2 seconds to ensure the bucket goes back where it belongs (AKA, don’t throw the buckets in the aisle like I see some peeps do).

I always thought it was easiest to set up and stack buckets by which side of the aisle they were. Bucket pile one would be the left side, bucket pile two would be the right, etc.

The real loss of time comes from not having a dedicated person set up grain. Don’t swap this chore every day. Pick one person to do it, ideally while the other person is sweeping or filling up waters or whatever – once that person has done it a few times they will be significantly faster than anyone who comes in and sets up occasionally. Part of it is memorization - if they memorized the feed chart they’ll have grain set up in five minutes or less.

As far as supplements go, have a shelf mounted above your grain bin. Organize that shelf based on whatever your grain set up’s order of go is. Or, you can do it alphabetically – but IMO, I think order-of-go is better. Require each boarder to make a week’s worth of supplements in advance. For storage, I like the small plastic pull-out drawers like what Smartpaks used to come in. I prefer twist-top supplement containers like the Ziplock twist-tops or old-time aluminum twist tins, since they are untwist and go - no fussing with a baggy or pulling at tabs to open, which is a PITA. The small (3-6oz) twist top tins that Amazon sells are perfect for this, because they stack well and take up no space.

Supplement Tins:
https://www.amazon.com/oz-Tins-Aluminum-Containers-Storage-Cosmetics/dp/B0989QWN2K/

Supplement Drawer Options - just make sure to measure drawer dimensions! You don’t want a drawer that can only hold 2-3 days’ worth of suppies:
https://www.amazon.com/Akro-Mils-10164-Plastic-Storage-Hardware/dp/B003TV3NL0/r?th=1
https://www.amazon.com/STERILITE-Organizer-Mini-Drawer-Pack/dp/B014E30YX6

In my own barn I just use the Sterilite containers that stack, and empty tins are thrown into a black grain bucket. I set up all my supplements about 2-3 weeks in advance if I can (besides the Pergolide), once the supplements run out I just pull the bucket and reset. Since I only have a few that get supplements it’s easy work.

[fivestrideline]

@trubandloki

do you have any photos of this cart that carries all the buckets you are describing?

Hmm it’s something like this

But it had two or three levels on each side. It may have been custom made or just something they found laying around.

We had S hooks for each horse, and the best part was the buckets could stay on the cart, filled with dry grain, so I could set feed for PM in the morning and then just walk in and grab the cart for feeding time. No stacking buckets or carrying things around, just scoop into the hanging buckets and go.

[lenapesadie]

One barn I boarded at had a system where the feed buckets were mixed up in the feed room once a day for all the day’s meals. They had large totes for each meal and that meal’s buckets were stored in the appropriate tote until feed time. Soaked feed was stored in the fridge. Buckets were labeled by stall number as was the feed chart. This was a relatively large barn, 30 or so horses.

At meal time, the appropriate buckets were loaded onto a rolling cart and any last minute additions (oil etc) were added at that time.

[pk1027]

Similarly to others, for our barn of 25 we also used the bucket method and filled and stacked in order of the stalls. Instead of using names on buckets,they were numbered, less work for turnover or stall moves. We had a sheet with each number’s “diet”. The AM would fill for PM and PM would fill for the next AM. It was easier than managing a cart.

For supplements if a boarder had more than one they would do smartpak or be required to make their own baggies for us to quickly add to their feed, unless it was a liquid. Supplements were only fed in the AM.

[Angela_Freda]

Labeled with horse name and numbered by what stall buckets go to (and feed tubs also numbered to designate what stall) but also color coordinated. Each horse gets buckets of the same colors- mostly.

Set out re- portioned supplements for each horse before setting feed, so that once every bucket has had the supplement added, the shelf is clear again. This serves as a second reminder of who gets what and confirms everyone got what they are supposed to.
Feed for the whole day; am, pm, lunches, and night feeds set all at the same time by same person.

Each bucket of feed that is served wet has a small “flag” of blue duct tape on the handle to remind feeder that it gets served wet.
Anything with a med has a red duct tape “flag” on the handle to remind that it should have a med in it.

As noted, these reminders are so anyone off the street can do the job if necessary.
A dedicated feeder, and a good system can make it faster, but I think accuracy is far more important than speed.

[jvanrens]

A farm I worked at that usually had about 30 horses had a set of heavy duty shelves on wheels they used for feeding. The owner’s daughter (OD) would do all the feeds up, they used large coffee cans with each horse’s name on it, set on the appropriate side of the shelf that their stall was on. OD would do up the night feeds and feed, then prepare breakfast feeds, that I would distribute in the morning. Worked quite well, but there was the initial learning curve to figure out how to drive the shelves! The first week was a little awkward. LOL They went with this system after the farm owner got tired of the feeds being set outside the stalls. Bothered his OCD I guess.

[IPEsq]

I like the tape flag idea for meds!

My barn has one color bucket for AM and a different color for PM. All have labels with horse’s name, get made up in the feed room and stacked in order. Fed off the wheelbarrow used for hay in the barn and the outside horses have theirs driven out with their hay.

The barn does not offer soaking. Any horse who needs to have something soaked such as to administer a certain supplement or medication, the boarder feeds that themselves or works with another boarder or their trainer if they can’t be there. I do this for my horse’s Robaxin because he doesn’t get enough grain otherwise to make him want to eat it.

It is kind of a pain for some of the horses with meds and supplements, and we have several horses on pergolide which can’t be taken out of the package too early. But most boarders try to just have one container to dump and not several supplement things. These are on a separate shelf and labeled per horse.

I feed a different grain and supplements so I bring containers with everything mixed. I suppose you could ask your horse owners who feed supplements to make up containers on a weekly basis or something even if they are feeding your provided grain. I try to make things as idiot proof as possible in case of staff changes and also just to cut down on the amount of individual needs one has to keep track of for so many horses.

[mmeqcenter]

A golf cart would probably make it go a bit faster

[scislandsprite]

I was at a barn that used buckets with lids & left prepared outside each horse’s stall. Then you would just dump the buckets and bring it back to the feed room to restock & put them out again.

[pony_baloney]

At a barn where I worked we had a shopping cart. Some buckets got stacked in the cart, others were easily hung on the side with hooks or put on the bottom shelf. Feed was premeasured beforehand.

[quietann]

little hint: if you are nesting buckets, put the supplements in the bucket first and cover with the feed… reduces cross-contamination and mess on the outsides of the buckets. (note I have been responsible for setting up feed for more the 1 horse maybe 5 times in my life, but have seen enough cross-contamination…)

[sophie]

At my big barn, each horse has 2 buckets, labeled with its name and AM or PM. The feed is prepared after AM feeding, buckets are then stacked int he feed room with the PM bucket on top (and one of those shower caps to prevent birds or other critters to get to the grain).
Then the people feeding use a cart to go down the aisle and feed everyone. Those horses living outside get fed that way too.
Not ideal, but it works.

[SBrentnall]

At every dressage barn I’ve ever been at in CA, the owners make grain baggies and the barn staff feed them. At my current barn, we have metal filing cabinets with a drawer for each horse.

[fordtraktor]

I only have 12-14 horses at a time, but I feed by section because I don’t have more than 5 horses in any one barn. I prepare and distribute in the little 8 qt. Buckets as I go along, so I don’t need enormous piles of buckets.

I find that easier that doing it all at once. Note that none of the horses are on any meds or supplements that would make cross-contamination an issue (no Regumate or banned ingredients). The horses don’t eat out of the buckets, they are dumped in separate buckets in the stalls or fields.

A lot depends on farm layout and maximizing workflow/minimizing steps…with horses fed in different groupings, it makes more sense to go by barn/field for me (my feed room is very central). By the time I am done with the last grain group the horses in barn 1 are done and ready to be turned out.