As September approaches, it's just about time to begin preparing your barn for the colder months. The late-fall and early Winter months bring colder temperatures and inclement weather. That's why we love to get a head start in September to prepare our barns. Below are a handful of ideas we'd like to share for your barn, farm, and equine equipment.
Check Your Horse Blankets
September is a great time to find and identify all of your existing winter blankets. Once found, we recommend to make sure that they are clean, waterproofed, and in good overall condition. After all, you won't want to find that your horse's blankets need to be cleaned, repaired, or re-waterproofed during the first Winter storm.
Evaluate Your Paddocks & Pastures
The fall season brings colder temperatures, but also rain, snow, and ice. This is why we always recommend clients to evaluate last year’s problematic areas in their paddocks and pastures – areas where mud becomes an issue.
We recommend clients to take advantage of the beautiful, crisp Fall weather to walk your pastures. During your walk around paddocks, this is a good time to check your gates, horse fencing, and hardware. We recommend to check for safety, functionality, and overall durability of your existing equipment.
Lastly, this is a good time to add gravel and mud control grids. These two additions will help you stabilize the ground in areas of high hoof-traffic. These simple fixes will ensure that your water flow and mud issues are managed well for the Winter season.
Evaluate Your Hay, Grain, and Shavings
Before winter arrives, we recommend to an inventory check for your hay, grain, feed, and shavings. These are essentials that you will want to have an abundance heading into the colder month. This is especially important to ensure you do not run into a shortage – hence, trying to find a new supplier of materials during the Winter.
Maintain Your Horse Equipment
Horse Equipment can include everything from your working tractor to your farm vehicles to your horse stall equipment. We always recommend to snare that your farm's tractor, trucks, and plows have been serviced in-advance. This includes oil changes, any tire replacements, and other mechanical fixes. You can also read more here on how to deep clean and maintain your horse stall equipment.
This list is far from an exhaustive lists since you can always do more to get ready for the winter. That being said, we recommend to start here so we we aren’t playing catch up during a winter storm. A thorough and mindful inspection can make sure to keep your horses happy and healthy this winter!
Do you have any additional questions? Please kindly feel free to send us an email at sales@americanstalls.com or a call at (855) 957-8255. Alternatively, you can also complete a Contact Us Form.
