All the things we do to take care of our horses is so terrible for the environment! I cringe when I open a new huge plastic tub of supplements, and it’s only half full. On my farm I’m able to keep the horses out of one pasture until the ground-nesting birds have moved out for the season, but I imagine so many nests are destroyed to harvest the hay that feeds my horses all winter.
I would love to hear some of your tips for reducing your impact on the environment around the farm.
I was considering going to more electrics, like string trimmers and mowers, maybe even the UTV and tractor and car. My electric co-op is big into advertising how green they are because they sell landfill methane, solar and wind generated electricity. But reading the fine print shows that all that renewable energy is a tiny percentage. At the same time they are subsidizing local home builders to have them install all electric appliances and water heaters. It is a battle I am too small a user to even compete in. Short of going to solar panels, of course. And that would result in a battle with my HOA.
I’m a big fan of battery-powered tools because they are so much lighter than hauling the fuel around. I have a few tools in the Worx line and I love that they all use the same batteries so I can have three batteries for one job.
Most Mad Barn supplements come in bags. I hate actually using the bags (but appreciate the lower environmental impact) so am glad I kept various sized supplement buckets and jars. I take a Sharpie to the old lids to write on product name and amount/day and then dump a bag of supplements in. The other thing I’ve done is keep all manner of odd sizes of scoops. I can pretty much always find something I can put in my jars that is the exact equivalent of 2 or 3 scoops in one scoop. Ok, last part doesn’t do anything for the environment, but I sure like taking 1 scoop instead of 3! Of course then I’m left with extra Mad Barn scoops that go into the scoop stash lol
Mad Barn Omneity Premix does come in buckets but they are that perfect bucket size. I use them for soaking feed and then when the lids finally give up, the lid gets tossed and they become tack cleaning buckets, or the lid gets taped back together and used as a fully lidded bucket but for things that I don’t access that often - some meds/first aid stuff, boot polishing, whatnot.
Other small things I try to do
limit my feed/tack store visits and try to coordinate them with other errands, or do them on the way to the barn.
buy enough hay for a year or two at once and try to coordinate with BO or other boarders to get one giant delivery instead of pick up loads every few weeks. (we are spoilt with sufficient storage room - not possible for many I’m sure!)
always replace fork heads only even if it’s a bit of a nightmare to do so. If a handle breaks, co-opt one off an ailing garden implement (rakes are good!) and recycle the actual implement at the metal recycling depot when I’ve got enough crap to make a trip worthwhile and the calendar aligns appropriately that I go when it’s open when I’m on my way somewhere that goes nearly right by the depot.
make a large purchase of supplements a couple of times per year rather than monthly … and store those Mad Barn bags in kitty litter buckets. Those buckets usually comes from someone else’s guilt stash because I use boxed litter.
Litter buckets also work for making dressage letters (fill part way with rocks, gravel or sand and storms will not blow them away), storing odds and sods in (want to keep your horse show hose tidy in your trailer and not leaking all over your dressing room floor? coil it into a bucket), and toting water (line with garbag and use an old hair tie or veggie elastic to close the bag), and so many more things.
I wish there were more things I could do but I do make as much effort as my imagination will allow.
Does it help that I use empty 50# feed bags as weed barrier in my veg garden?
And compost stall cleanings (shavings & manure) to fill the raised beds?
I don’t bag grass clippings from mowing, just leave them on the lawns.
Same for stuff bushhogged in the pastures.
Whenever possible, I have been using Chewy and Amazon and other online sites for horse supplies delivered to my door. I even bought Hay from Chewy for several years, but they have not had any hay available to order recently. I made it through the first two years of the pandemic without having to drive myself anywhere, other than a once a month 8 mile trip to refill the diesel fuel cans for my tractor. We even had groceries delivered, and trimmed each others hair. I also still have my farm supplies like fence boards, jump building lumber, fertilizer, and seed delivered rather than driving myself.
I realize someone else is driving to do the deliveries but I think in the long run it works out in favor of being a bit greener.
Not using synthetic fibers in the arena. Just think of all the landfill they will eventually add up to!
We’re going solar, and changing our gas heating and stovetops to electric at home. Looking at what’s available now for stand alone solar lighting, barns could totally be using them more. We also harvest rainwater at home which makes a big difference to our garden in a drought prone area: that’s another area barns could look into.
Any time I make another change to try and reduce, reuse or recycle more in my life, I feel good. But really, the single biggest thing I’ve done for the environment (and me!) that tops anything else is to not have kids.
Probably the worst thing we do to the environment for our hobby is whatever commute we have to the barn.
(Also, I know several of these don’t really reduce our footprint, but micro plastics are probably going to become one of the biggest issues we will have to tackle in the 21st century. Bigger than fossil fuels/clean energy. We have no good way of cleaning it up, and some countries are dumping SO much plastic into the ocean every year. With clean energy, we have several different paths and the answer is attainable. With micro plastics…. Well, we just don’t have an answer. It’s already bad enough that if you eat fish from the sea, you’re consuming plastic. Animals are starving to death because they think plastic is food. Gross.)
Though I’ve no idea how to do the math, I would not be surprised to learn that composting and using our horses’ waste is the easiest and most climate friendly thing we can do, aside from simply buying less new plastic crap.
Our local sewage treatment plant accepts manure for their commercial composting project. They add it to the sludge fertilizer they compost from the solids they collect.
We could probably have a whole conversation about the safety of wastewater derived sludge and where it should be used, but adding horse manure couldn’t possibly make it worse.
Also, we’ve been told for donkeys years that it’s up to us to solve these systemic problems. We need policy shifts and enforced regulation, not me washing my plastic baggies, for actual change. (I do wash and re-use my plastic bags. Hate the thought of them ending up in sea animals’ stomachs.)
If every time we felt responsible for these problems we picked up the phone and called an elected official, we might get somewhere. They need our input to rise to the level, or at least the volume, of the legislation-writing billionaire donors.
Yes, definitely. We need people who care about actual results and not what ‘looks good’ on paper or what big donor has donated to them.
A good read on governmental oversight, or lack thereof, with ecological issues is ‘The Gulf’ by Jack Davis. One of my favorite books.
While plastics are only a part of our carbon footprint, this is the closest thread I could find to share this.
Does anyone else find the timing of SCOTUS’s re-examination of the Chevron Doctrine, currently allowing experts in regulatory roles to interpret Congressional law, and the explosion of studies showing microplastics and nanoplastics everywhere, ironic or simply painful?
In the last two weeks, I’ve seen an LA Times piece describing studies confirming plastic in newborn baby poo and crossing the brain/blood barrier and multiple reporters describing doctors as mystified by growing bowel cancer incidence in 20 to 50 year-olds.
Thousands of nanoplastics found in bottled drinking water - Los Angeles Times.pdf (2.0 MB)
A report released last year by the American Cancer Society showed that the proportion of colorectal cancer cases among adults younger than 55 increased from 11% in 1995 to 20% in 2019. Yet the factors driving that rise remain a mystery. ~ CNN
We know plastics and their industrial cousins cause cancer, and scientists find them everywhere they look.
Anyone else think Occam’s Razor may apply here and that the Supreme Court providing more oil industry protection is problematic?
On my list. The NYT review makes it sound like a critical and excellent read. Thank you.
I didn’t do this with the idea of carbon footprint but I raised up the lower strand of fencing (we use Ramm fence) so that the zero turn would go under the fence. Not only does it save time but the zero turn is more efficient and produces less exhaust than the weed eater.
I have looked at the electric weed eaters as well. They are twice the price of gas to get one that will do the job on a farm.
I think a lot of reducing carbon footprint is about reducing demand versus what tool/system you use. Anything biodegradable gets composted. I just create big piles out in the woods. It’s amazing how fast those piles reduce to almost nothing.
Same. They make hospitable bird and critter habitat in the meantime.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
