how much hay per month for 12 horses and a feeding straw questio

charlie76

charlie76

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I currently have 12 horses on my yard, due to the wet weather and trying to preserve some ground they are currently on every other day turn out which seems to suit them.
How much hay would you expect 12 horses ( none thin!) To go through per month? I am currently using 14 big square bales every four weeks? Does this sound a lot?
They are six foot long bales, maybe a bit longer.
All the horses eat very quickly and I don't like to see them without any hay, however , I am spending between 500 and 700 every month on hay alone!
As they are all good doers and pretty round and greedy I was thinking of mixing some state in to slow them down and give them something to keep them occupied.
What are peoples opinions?
 
Does sound a lot of hay! I have 4 and if I multiplied them to be 12 I'd still only be using £132 worth of so so hay or £270 worth of our very best top quality hay. Mine are all quite small, but still, they are fed adlib and there are some sheep eating it too. I'd consider changing your hay supplier. Where are you.
 
Well I just have one (big) horse and he gets through about £70 of hay a month, and he's turned out nearly every day. I have to buy the small bales, so yours will be less as you get the big bales, but I'm not that surprised by the amount you're spending.
 
Depends on condition - you don't want fat horses going in to spring so if they are all well covered mix with some good oat straw if you can get it. Good straw isn't that cheap though so not sure what your savings would be in ££££s. I find with my lot, if I can get it, one year or two year old hay gives them something to eat while not being overly nutritious. If you can find that mix it with the good stuff. How much a bale? 140 for £700 is £50 a bale!!!
 
charlie76 said:
I currently have 12 horses on my yard, due to the wet weather and trying to preserve some ground they are currently on every other day turn out which seems to suit them.
How much hay would you expect 12 horses ( none thin!) To go through per month? I am currently using 14 big square bales every four weeks? Does this sound a lot?
They are six foot long bales, maybe a bit longer.
All the horses eat very quickly and I don't like to see them without any hay, however , I am spending between 500 and 700 every month on hay alone!
As they are all good doers and pretty round and greedy I was thinking of mixing some state in to slow them down and give them something to keep them occupied.
What are peoples opinions?
Click to expand...

how many strings on the bales?

If it is four then I got through one of these per week for 214.2 good doers that were out in a good field with some grass in it for at least ten hours per day, so it sounds about right tome
 
Hi, on my yard we only work on a big bale system. They are out in Corrales during the day, and perhaps on the grass a couple of days a week. This is normal wet weather procedure. I have a 17hh ISH and when he was here (now at _GG_'s) it was one big bale every 4 weeks, which was 2 large haynets per day and two large haynets per night. He certainly retained his weight over winter, and all he had was fast fibre, chaff and linseed as hard feed. There was always hay left over, both day and night. Would love to feed ad lib but we're in the Fens and most of a large bale would be in Siberia by the end of the day.
 
We have three on big bale haylage (big rectangular bales) and get through a bale a week, so if I had 12 horses eating at the same rate then I would calculate that would be 16 bales every four weeks. However, two of ours are not particularly good doers and hunt/compete regularly throughout the winter so do need a lot of grub! (I'm not sure whether the bales are as long as six foot though, will have to check)
 
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Quantity sounds about right to me. If they are good doers have you thought about how you could slow down consumption? I hate seeing horses with nothing to nibble on during the winter, and it's not great for their guts. Maybe some sort of nets? I use slow hay feeders made from tree planting tubs, which slows them down and saves waste, there are loads of ideas on the internet.
 
I can only think your bales are four string ones they ought to be 8 foot long even then they are twice the price they should be at the moment. Good quality hay in that size bale is making £13/15 at auction around here at the moment
 
I have 10 in barns, mainly ponies from 11.2- 15hands, and use 4foot rounds, £22.50, and heavy conventional small bales that weigh about 22-25kg, £3
First of all I net everything- there is far too much waste if you leave it loose.
I have 3 x14.2, they get a small bale between them and straw to nibble on.
4 get a round netted and in a feeder that last 6 days.
2 lots of 2 get 2thirds of a bale.
I buy the roughest hay possible, late cut and none of it is dusty. I would feed more barley straw but its almost as expensive as hay and hard to get hold of. Most of these ponies are fatter than I would like but the land is too wet to turn them out.
So my bill is roughly £90 a week in forage. I would look at e-bay, in some places there is a lot of hay about and net every thing even if you are feeding rounds.
 
I am currently feeding 7 on a mix of hay and haylage both big rectangular bales, I use about 3 a week a bit more if weather is bad and they are in more, they are out most of the day with grass to pick at, so costing about £300 every 4 weeks for 12 bales, I dont think 14 even if they are bigger is that much, it is only just over 1 bale per horse per month which actually seems rather low if they are in a lot, my horses are on almost adlib they rarely run out overnight and have hay at all times if they are in during the day, they are bedded on straw so can pick through if they fancy a change but most would not be impressed with straw as a feeding option.

The ponies are happy to eat some straw as part of their ration, another thought is if I was a paying livery I am not sure I would be that pleased to see my horse having straw fed to it unless there was a reason to restrict the hay.

Your bales seem expensive, my hay is £25 per bale, haylage, which is smaller but heavier is £26, maybe you could look around to see if you can buy elsewhere, I buy direct from a local farmer who delivers free of charge as and when required.
 
I have 5 and we get through 1.5 of those bales a month... It is very well packed and they only get it at night, 3 are good doers and get rationed, the other 2 get as much as they can eat.
 
I have 3 on no grass (1 medium pony, 1 large pony, 1 small horse), so get hay as only forage. I get 3-foot round bales at 13.50/bale, and each of those lasts 2.5 days. Per month, my hay bill is about 160 pounds. I could get large round bales cheaper, but the 3-foot ones are really easy to roll around, and if needed fit into my tractor-tyre feeders.
 
My 2 horses eat one and a half small bales per day at this time of year. they are rugged and have 2 bucket feeds a day each. Thats 45 bales a month at £3.50 a bale is approx £80 a month per horse for hay.
 
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Just over a large bale a horse a month?
Personally I think that is average to slightly under fed considering they are in a lot.

However you are being charged a lot for haylage. I'm getting large bale of really decent stuff delivered by the single bale for £30.
 
ihatework said:
Just over a large bale a horse a month?
Personally I think that is average to slightly under fed considering they are in a lot.

However you are being charged a lot for haylage. I'm getting large bale of really decent stuff delivered by the single bale for £30.
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Def not being under fed! They are the size of houses. Ever so slightly worried they all might be too fat going in to spring tbh.

I actually calculated it wrong, I have been using 19 bales per month.
 
I have 3 heavy horses (740 -800Kg) out 24/7 with ad lib 4ft6 haylage bale, they use one a week and grazing is pretty much gone now but they are on 7 acres.

I actually made my own haylage this year which is very rich ex cow pasture cost per bale was £22.50 these are heavy well packed bales.
So 12 horses would be approx £90 a week.

Hope this helps.
 
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