HAY - how much?

[nicelittle]

Hi,
How much hay will I need for two fairly hardy beasts living out? (hopefully all year round - but have stable if necessary).
I don't have said beasts yet, but want to make sure I have got enough hay in prepapration. I'm assuming that they will need at least a bale each a day for at least 6 months of the year. I have been offered 250 small bales, will this be enough?

Thankyou!

 

[Wagtail]

It depends on how much grazing you have and how good it is. It also depends on how big your bales are (as small bales vary). And what you do with your horses, as well as how big they are and whether they are good or poor doers. A bale a day would be a maximum for them each if you are feeding ad-lib. I would expect to feed more like half a bale each if they are getting some grass. If you have three acres of land per horse you may not need to feed any apart from when it snows.

 

[aintgotnohay]

i got 2 14.2hh they r in most of time and have large round bale-lasts me a month £35.00.small bales are false economy.if they go up to £6-7 per bale you will be spending £12 per day on hay if you are feeding a bale each per day!!! buy large round bales.if you have good grazing then obviously this will be alot less.

 

[Enfys]

Say for ease of argument (and it is what I would base estimates on) each horse has 1 bale a day for 6 months. According to my calculator:

14 bales a week x 24 weeks = 336

Saying that, as has been mentioned there are variables, how much they actually do eat/need, what your grazing is like, the weather etc, etc.

250 will see you through a good part of the winter and you can always top up.

As things stand, I'd grab the hay whether you actually have horses or not, you can always sell it, and if you wait for the horses to arrive, the hay may not be so easy to come by later.

250 small bales would last me about 2 weeks if I fed at the 1 per day estimate


As for Round bales versus small bales, hmmm, swings and roundabouts. Rounds everytime if you are feeding in the field and can move them, not so convenient if storage is limited and you have to unravel them. I use both rounds and small. Right now, rounds win hands down, and that's because the nice tractor has stacked 100 for me, whereas we did 500 smalls in 30C yesterday and will have to do the same again today Next year I am having guinea pigs


Aintgotnohay [........small bales are false economy.if they go up to £6-7 per bale .......] Someone mentioned being able to buy Canadian hay at 190 GBP for 18 bales the other day. I thought that was crazy, but 6 GBP for homegrown hay!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[pottamus]

Well if it helps at all I have a hardy hairy beast that is in at night all year round and has enough grass to eat during the day. He is on rationed hay as he is a good doer and he gets through 10 small bales a month (decent sized bales) - so 120 bales per year for 1 horse that is in 50% of the time. But I am skimpy on my rations - he has 1 third of a bale in winter months and only a quarter of a bale in summer months.
As others have said, if you can get some in then get it as you will always be able to sell it again of you do not need it all.