# How many bales of hay for 1 horse/1 year?



## cwilko75

I live in SW Ohio. I have always boarded but we recently bought a farm to have my horse at home with us. I have asked this of a couple local people but the answer seems to vary... I want to buy hay for a year and most specificallly upcoming winter.

I know my horse eats about a bale of hay a week right now in the middle of summer. She is out on pasture 70% of the time so she gets a flake of hay at night + grain a.m./p.m.. But I am having a hard time gadging winter consumption and also the approx amt of hay for a year. I want to get hay now and not worry about it in mid winter where we will struggle to get hay to the barn due to mud.

I have been told approx. 100-150 bales a year or 3 tons of hay per year. She is a pretty easy keeper. Do you all agree? Would love to know your thoughts. Thank you!


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## JCnGrace

150 sounds about right if they are good sized square bales. You'll find hay at it's cheapest during the hay season so you're doing it right by getting your supply in now. Hay that is properly baled can last a couple of years as long as it's stored in a dry place so it never hurts to go a little overboard and have extra on hand. This past winter dragged on long enough that we used more hay than previous years and it was nice to know we had plenty.


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## Dustbunny

Since you have pasture, that sounds safe to me. Pasture will dry over the summer but she will still munch on it.
If she is an easy keeper, just watch her grain intake. El Porkos don't need a lot!
It's nice to have her home, isn't it? : )
A weight tape is a good idea. Makes it easy to keep track of the ups and downs.


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## amigoboy

Since your support feeding during the summer and this is your first year figure 10lb x 365 days = 3.650lb. to be on the safe side.


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## horselovinguy

As a kid my horse had no pasture so hay it was...

We bought square bales roughly 50 to the ton so 40 pounds a piece.
A ton of hay lasted between 2 1/2 - 3 months time.
My horse was a fairly easy keeper. 3 flakes 2x a day then he was able to graze when I was with him for a hour or two daily in our backyard.
2 feedings of "grain"...about 5 - 6 pounds a day.
I was a kid and rode every day.

So, my parents bought approximately 4 tons of hay a year for my 1 horse.
5 tons at most....


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## loosie

Depends what you've got & size of the horse, size of the bales, etc, so you can work it out on the basis that horses generally need 2-3% bwt daily in forage.


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## 2scicrazed

During the winter Mine consume one 900-1200lb roll per month per horse - with almost none wasted. (Use hay rings and indoor stored rolls)

When we camp and picket out each horse eats 1/2 bale per day. (60lb bales) With little to no waste.

Since I'm a firm believer in mimicking their natural feeding patterns (24/7 forage and less than 3lbs per day of feed ration) - I would purchase 180 bales per horse if I still fed bales all the time. But since I have 6-10 horses at any given time - we buy 60+ large rolls and store them in our indoor arena. More cost efficient than square bales.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## stevenson

i feed 11 horses, good alfalfa hay for horses (not diary cow hay as its to high of protein)
and the bales are 120 pounds, and I feed right around 2 and 1/2 bales per day. 
right around 10 lbs per horse per feeding.


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## 3ringburner

Personally i like round bales during the winter just so they have 24/7 access to hay when snow is on the ground and it serves as a wind block also, im from Iowa. For a big round bale you would go through probably 1 or 1 1/2 every month for one horse. The ground would be covered in snow so not much grass access and if your horse did have grass access there wouldnt be any nutrition So make sure you keep up with good grain.


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## Mandy87

I usually buy my horses 45 small square bales of alfalfa and 45 of just plain grass hay for a total of 90 bales per horse per year. They each get about 1/8 bale of alfalfa in the morning and then 1/8 of grass with a sweet grain/oats mixture at night. Our older horse gets senior feed instead of the grain mix. We have been using this for awhile and works well.


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## HagonNag

People speak of bales of hay, or rounds. Please be aware that the size of bales can vary widely. Most of the people I know in the West are used to bigger and heavier square bales than we have here in the South. I know nothing about Ohio. 

Since it's your first year, I'd speak with your vet and see what he/she recommends. Or go back the BO where you boarded and ask for advice. Horses vary widely. Our OTTB can go through a bale a day when we're riding regularly. He's a very hard keeper. My KMSH can only dream of getting a bale a day....(and I'm sure she does!) She's queen of the easy keepers. 

You also need to look at the quality of hay that you'll be buying. It makes a difference. Good luck. How nice to have your horse at home with you!!


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## BadWolf

This is great!
It's really going to help me plan better for this winter


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## ohmyspurs

My horse eats 4 flakes out of a 12 flake bale per day.

So (4*365)/12=121.6 round up to 122 bales.

Since we now have two horses and they both eat the same amount of hay, we now go through approximately 244 bales per year. Obviously, there are days when they take in more (trailer trips) or days when they dont finish their hay(so we don't give them any more), but that's about how much we would need if we were to outright purchase a year's worth of hay.


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## usandpets

You really need to know how much in weight the horse is eating. Flakes can vary even from the same supplier. It will depend on how each bale is made: difference in balers and even settings on the same baler, how long between cutting and baling, and even the type of grass cut. 

The first bale our supplier did this year ended up way over weight, we buy rounds. He had to borrow a tractor to load the bale. 

When you want to figure how much hay you need for a year, you will want to guess on the high side. Let's say that your bales are 50 lbs and you horse weighs 1000 lbs. Your horse should be getting about 20 lbs (2% body weight) per day. That would mean you'll need 146 bales at least. Since your horse does graze, that will lessen that amount but I wouldn't buy less. I would buy more. Some bales may get moldy by the time you use them. Not all bales will weigh the same. Some less and maybe some more. You will have some wastage just from moving and opening the bales. 

A safer bet would be to figure your horse eating at 3% body weight, at least for the first year to get a better guess. At 3%, you would need 219 bales. If you have some left over next year, you won't have to buy as much.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Elana

A horse that should weigh 1200 pounds should consume about 24 pounds of grass hay per day. If grain is added that can go down to about 20-22 pounds. WEIGH your hay.. don't guesstimate by "flake." WEIGH YOUR FEED!

Flake size is determined by the brand of the baler, the speed of the PTO, the ground speed, the heaviness of the windrow and the type of hay being baled. I used to make enough hay to feed 70 dairy cows and 60 young stock every year. Feeding for milk and growth is a science (and people go to school to learn how to do this). I know of what I say on the business of hay!!! This is square bales. Round bales vary even MORE and round bales require hay to be dead dry when it is baled and they prefer long stems so the hay is often over age and not as nutritious. 

With NO pasture at all a horse will require over 4 tons of hay a year. If the hay is supplemented with pasture the requirement will go down.


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## ToManyHorsesAndOnePony

I go through 100 good sized bales of hay per horse just during the winter....


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## ToManyHorsesAndOnePony

Thats 1 bale per horse everyday. The bales way 40-50 pounds each. They get a third in the am, a third in afternoon, and a third at night


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