How long does a round bale of hay last you ?

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ben456

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I might be moving to a yard where I can finally choose where to get my hay from which will work out cheaper. How long does it last you? Also how long large square ones last and how much you pay for each.
 
Round ones don't cost me anything as we make it ourselves. 1 bale lasts my two approximately ten days as they have ad lib hay in the field as well as the stable.
 
Round bale costs me £25.00. Yard owner makes his own hay so buy from him. Lasts me approx a month ad lib. Horse is out during thecday and in at night x
 
Gosh our two must be greedy. Last winter on limited grass they ate a round bale between them in a week. They were only out for about 6 hours a day as and had ad-lib when stabled.
 
A modern round bale (4 ft or 1.2 M) packed with the rollers set normally, will weigh about 200kg . Lets say your horse is 500kg ideal weight .He needs between 1.5 and 2.5% of his bodyweight as Dry matter per day . So if he has grazing during the day ,we can play safe and say he gets a third of his fibre in that time. However as we dont know for sure ,we will play safe and calculate his hay ration on 2.5 % . Hay contains 12% moisture. So 2.5% of 500kg is 12.5 kg . 12.5kg x 112/100 = 14kg 14 kg x 2/3 = 9.4kg . So basicly a 200kg round bale should last a 500kg horse with part grazing a minimum of 21 days. There is a safety net built into this calculation that even if the horse were getting almost nothing from the grazing, it would be hard to get below 1.5% body weight.
 
Large rectangular bale £28. Lasts our two around 18-20 days, putting large hay nets in stables for night and some hay in the field to supplement the grass for the day.
 
I was paying £25 for a large round from YO, now getting it from OH for less :o but my 2 eat their way through one in about 10 days. They are turned out on dry days but have almost no grazing so rely on the hay for all their fibre really.
 
a round lasts my 2 about 10 days but I often use some small bale hay mixed with it and as it's been colder the last few weeks I have been using a bit more so they have ad lib as not much grass.
 
A round bale (£45 a bale) lasts my two 16.1 and 16.3 medium/good doers 11 days (I keep track because I'm a geek :D). I generally give them 15kg a day each, they're stabled from about 12-14 hours a day.
Don't have access to large square bale so can't compare on price.
 
ben456 said:
I might be moving to a yard where I can finally choose where to get my hay from which will work out cheaper. How long does it last you? Also how long large square ones last and how much you pay for each.
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I buy a round bale of meadow hay. Its £30 and lasts me just over two weeks. I like to have two bales so that I never run out as we never know when the man will deliver it again.

I give my horse approx. 25-28lbs hay a day at the moment, he is a 17.1hh MW WB who goes out for four hours a day on decent grazing. He weighs approx. 680KG now.
 
I pay £28 for a round bale. It is lasting 6 days for 4 equines, range from 10.3hh to 15.1hh. They live out and really have no grazing worth counting atm.
 
So jealous of the prices you pay for your bales our yard charges £50 per round bale. a bale will last 2 ponies about 15-20 days depending on weather conditions
 
Anything between 2-4 weeks for our 180-200kg bales.

Bruce is on restricted amounts as a fatty. Goofy is a pig and gets 3 times more than anything else. Fig hardly eats anything.

They are in at night but if going to lessons/shows then they use more on the lorry etc.
 
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