How much hay have you stocked up on for this winter?

[Equidarby]

The age old question!
I know it can always only be approximate, but how many hay bales have you stocked up on for winter?

Preferably for one horse and small bales, in at night and out during the day during the winter months.

I have a 15hh cob mare who is in her 20's, an incredibly good doer, she usually lives out all year round but the yard we are now at the horses come in on a night from November.
I am making another order for winter but I have no idea on the amount to order! as I don't usually require so much.

How many small bales have you ordered for your horse?
Or large bale equivalent?

Details of your horse and the hours in and out would be gratefully appreciated

I will add she is now only in very light work.

Thank you!

 

[Birker2020]

I am getting through 1 round bale of meadow hay approx. every 3 weeks at the moment for my horse but they are not massive bales and they are just for stable feeding, not field, although I will have to review this soon.

I just order by text a round bale and within two or three days it arrives. When you are on a livery yard space isn't that great although I am lucky and have a decent amount of room for two bales and my shavings. So I couldn't buy in bulk anyway. I don't know how much hay will go up this winter, ours went up from £35 to £40 in June in anticipation for the hot summer we were having and the possible hay shortage this winter, but whether they will go up more remains to be seen.

Like someone said the other day, cereal feeds have all gone up in price, I don't expect they will go down in the future, they will stay as they are.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

I have 100 small bales in the barn, am not expecting to start on it till Dec. I also have a couple of acres of foggage, this should be gone by mid Jan, but will mean that I won't be haying in fields till after then.

I work on worst case scenario for 2 months (which would be in at night and then needing hay out in fields from mid Jan to mid March if v wet or snow covered).
Worst case usage is: Mini Fuzzy allocation 1 bale a week each, Bigger fuzzies (14hh and 13.3) 3.5/4 bales a week each.
So, that works out at max 9 to 10 bales a week.
Usually it will more likely be 4 bales in total per week.

Often it's averaged out at 12 bales a month from Dec to April the last 2 winters (didn't have the 14hh native then). Unless it's a v hard winter, I expect to have about at least a dozen bales left over, to see me into summer.

 

[9tails]

I use small bales, horse is usually out from 7am until 5pm and is 16.1. I expect to go through three bales a week for overnight hay, if I have to put hay out in the field that would be another two bales a week. We're in overnight from November until May. So 100 bales for one horse should be enough as long as I don't need to supplement the field every week.

 

[Polos Mum]

I think an average is 150 bales a year for a 15-17hh horse in normal work (ridden 4-6 times a week) in normal weather (not snow on the ground for a month!)

That is up to 3/4 of a bale a day in the worst of the winter Jan-Mar and the odd haynet on the way to a show from May-Sept

 

[milliepops]

I only have big rounds. During winter (starting about now) mine are turned out from about 7.30 til 4 unless it's wet in which case they have to come in at midday. Grazing is very poor. And they get through a big round in 10 days (2 horses, 14.2-15.2). When we had snow on the ground for a week or more then it went down a bit faster as we had no turnout.