how much hay to order...

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posie_honey

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ok - first year of being in a field and having to order hay in - before i've been on livery or rented fields from farmers who've sold me hay and always had plenty...

so how many bales should i been ordering?! (big round = approx 10 small so feel free to give answer in either )

2½ horses (i say a ½ as one is old and can't really eat hay due to few teeth so just nibbles at some - and gets chaff/fastfiber etc etc )

out 24/7 in 7.5 acre field but not great grazing (first year we've had field and lots of weeds - working on it but this year wont be great )

i like to feed ad lib..... last year that was about 3 large haynets a day for honey - 4 if really cold etc

any thoughts? my initial thought was - round bale a week (10 bales between 2 horses a week) does that sound reasonable?!

thank you
 
hello :)

i would say 10 small bales would be enough,
in the winter i feed my 16hh welshXtb just over 3 bales a week
we have quite good grazing and he stays in at night,
so for your 3 horses im sure 10 would be enough
think of it as 4 each week for the 2 horses and 2 for the older one
this sounds resonable
 
hannah28 said:
hello :)

i would say 10 small bales would be enough,
in the winter i feed my 16hh welshXtb just over 3 bales a week
we have quite good grazing and he stays in at night,
so for your 3 horses im sure 10 would be enough
think of it as 4 each week for the 2 horses and 2 for the older one
this sounds resonable
Click to expand...

thanks :)
how many weeks would you invisage feeding hay for then? i thought maybe 30 to be sure i have enough?
 
yeah, 30 sounds good, you will definitly have enough then
i think we are going to have another cold winter,
but if you were aiming to feed hay for around 6 months 30 will be enough
 
One round bale in the field lasts three x 15h+ QH's (for QH read pig, their faces are in the bale 22 hours a day) three days.
One bale lasted one horse (15h QH, unrugged, not in work, out 24/7, snow and -10C average temp) ten days on average from November - April last winter.

I prefer to feed small bales and I just throw out more when needed. There can be a lot of wastage with round bales too.

I work on a 60lb bale per horse, per day as an average, some eat more, some less, and that's how I work out what I need, but, I have no grazing whatsoever for approximately 4 months when everything is under snow.

It really depends on the size and type of your horses, what the weather is like, whether they are rugged, in work and a multitude of other things for the individuals. If you have grazing of sorts and they are being fed too, one bale should be adequate. I'd stick another 10 bales on your order just to be on the safe side, it can always be sold if you don't need it at the end of winter.
 
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A small bale typicaly weighs 44lbs (20 kg) . A 60 lbs bale would be very unusual Enfys. Though Class balers will produce them as the bale cross section is 14 inch by 18 rather than 12 by 18(nobody likes them because they are bloody heavy to stack). OP ,I think for your 2.5 horses ,you need 7 tonnes of hay.This should leave you an adequate safetynet(or safetyhaynet).If yo have to store it under a tarpaulin make sure that you do not cover the sides.It needs to breathe Also put two layers of straw between the hay and the tarpaulin . Bottom bales on edge and on pallets.
 
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