We got out haflinger horses for several reasons, one to enjoy them recreationally, two as a way to increase our resilience at the homestead, and three to generate cash flow. The past several years (covid nonsense mostly) have impeded our ability to use the horses to make money but this year we were able to realize our business with the horses.
The largest input we have at the homestead is hay, and thankfully we are able to source it locally, as close as directly across the street. The horses do a great job of converting hay into fertility we can easily utilize but it is still expensive. Now, the horses are paying for their hay with the work they do giving wagon rides and we still get use the manure they produce to feed our chickens, as well as fertilize gardens and pastures.
We gather the manure and feed it to our chickens. They scratch and turn it, making it into compost quickly. They find fly larvae in the manure, which provides protein for them to produce high quality eggs. By eating the larvae, the fly pressure is also reduced for the horses.
Once the chickens process the manure, we use it to grow out annual vegetables and cannabis. The year we had more compost than we could use in the gardens and we spread it on a weak pasture.
Over time the horses have transformed from an expensive hobby to an essential system on the homestead. The produce cash flow, they have the ability to work, and the generate a nutrient flow that produces bountiful growth.
#homesteading #permaculture #permies #horses #drafthorse #haflinger #selfsovereignty #meshtadel #grownostr