How long a large sqaure bale would last 16hh TB and 14hh Welsh?

[Therightone]

(for people that know my previous post) Finally moved my two horses onto 6 acres of their own! Very Happy! Now I can plonk haylage in the field and let them munch away.

Anyway, I have a 16hh TB poor doer and a 14hh Welsh Cob good doer.

I have just got my first large square bale delivered today. (not sure of weight but me and my OH cannot move it together) Planning on getting them delivered weekly.

Will they last? Will I need more? or would it be too much?

 

[kobi]

How long is a piece of string! How tight did the farmer bale it? How much does it weigh? How much do your horses eat? How much will your horses waste (one of mine loves pulling hay out and weeing on it)? Is it particularly tasty (mine get through some bales faster than others for no good reason)?

 

[Mike007]

There are a number of sizes of big square bale.What is the measurement of yours?

 

[Therightone]

With a guess 5ft x 3ft x 3ft?? I know it depends on many things. I thought maybe some one could give me an average? I am hoping it will last a week but wanted to check in case somebody says a TB alone would get through that in 5 days!

 

[HaffiesRock]

My bales are approximately 350kg and contain 30 slices, which last my NF and Haflinger about 2 weeks.

 

[flirtygerty]

Last winter, a large round bale in the field, so ad lib feeding, lasted my four, TB poor doer, WB, trotter x and young cob usually four days, but they rarely left it, so your bale should last over a week, good/poor doers are irelevant, most horses just like to eat

 

[Rosie'smum]

My square bale of haylage lasts 2weeks with ad lib. 14hh cob gets around 3/4 - 1 slice a day ish

 

[CBFan]

I have a 17.2hh and a 14.2hh, they are getting 32kg a day between them and it lasts 5-7 days... Does really depend on how densely packed the bale is and what type of hay it is. Meadow tends to be more densely packed than ryegrass...

 

[Boulty]

I'd say between 1-2 weeks depending on exactly how big it is and how much grass there is in the field plus how greedy the horses are! When we had 2 in our field for about 12 hrs a day (coming in at night) the bales were lasting about 2-3 weeks. This is in a much smaller field than you describe (livery yard so they set the field size) with quite poor grass cover (rapidly approaching zero now there's 4 horses to churn it up rather than 2... esp as latest addition is fully shod).

 

[Echo Bravo]

I have the same size bale of hay, and I feed 5 horses twice a day for a week, but they have more in the evening being stables than the haynets during the morning.

 

[honetpot]

It all depends how you are feeding it. If you leave it in the field they will waste almost as much as they eat. If it weighs about 300kg, so 30kg a day should be more than enough if you were doing nets, but if you factor in wastage, and just over eating I would say 5-7 days.
Mine have round bale hay and have had haylage, but its in a ring feeder and netted over the bale and it takes them four 14.2's about 5-7 days.

 

[Moomin1]

The square bale of haylege I get at my yard is about 4ftx3ft and it lasts her a week. She's 16.3hh.

 

[Joeyjojo]

I have very similar horses to you, but no grass so was feeding hay 24/7 ad lib and a similar sized square bale lasted a week.

 

[jrp204]

Whatever is not eaten will probably start heating up after a week.