Help me figure my hay

[Ashley]

Hay here sucks this year. I need to figure how much hay I will need.

Say for 2 big horses, and a 3rd that really only eats a bit and spits it out. 3 horse lives mostly on grain.

And again for 1 big horse and the other big horse who lives on grain.

I am trying to figure in round bales.

 

[Mona]

I can;t help you with round bales, but when I figures mine out, I figure on 1/2 small square per horse, per day. Then I figure on November thru May, so approximately 210 days. So if I have 2 horses, I would round up to 250 to make sure I have lots and that gives me a little extra to feed in the extremely cold days when it's 30-40 below.

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

Round bales come in many sizes. I would figure hay in pounds and go from there.

3% of body weight per day. With 15% waste/bale.

So, 1000# horse needs 30#/day, 600# bale would last 20 days, minus 2.2 days for waste.

Won't be exact, but gives you a starting point. Keeping good records this year will make next year easier.

Dr Taylor

 

[Ashley]

I know what I went through last year but I have less horses this year. Last year I went through 20 rounds. Fed late oct through may. This next year they will be on pasture by the first of May instead of June otherwise I have to mow it off.

LUckly my horses dont waist and have never waisted a round bale. I normally get extra to be safe, have 6 left from last year. But also have to figure in to calves this year. I will be lucky to find enough to get them through instead of having extra this year.

 

[chandab]

When I was boarding on drylot, my 3 saddle horses (adult average 1000#); I bought 10 tons for all three for the year (2 adults and one youngster - feeding minimal hard feed)- this was small squares, but a ton of hay is a ton of hay; I had a few bales left at the end of the year. I figured on 2% of bodyweight per horse per day (easy-keepers). Figure on a little less for the calves, since they are smaller for now, (plus the calves can clean up the outer layer of the rounds and any hay deemed not good enough for the horses). [Our cows seem to think any hay that comes from the horses' pen to be candy, and gobble it up, whether it came from the same stack or not.

]

I figure at least 3 tons per saddle horse per year, so that's minimum 1 ton every 4 months.

We raise most of our own hay, our round bales are about 1200 pounds, and last our 3 saddle horses (one easily 1300# pounds the other two 1050#) 10 days to two weeks depending on how cold it is and how well they like the bale. So at 1200#/bale, that's about 3 bales per month for these three horses.

 

[Ashley]

I do have small squares for the calves. only 60 right now but will probably getting another 75. This all hay the horses can eat as well. The calves are maybe about 50 pounds right now.

I was going to figure 2 bales a month for the two. HOpefully one will be gone before winter which then I will be way over stocked but thats ok. Last winter I went through about 2 a month, some months when it was really cold a bit more and that was with 4 horses, one that cant really eat much hay.