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Dr. Christine King Ph: (336) 608.8552 e-mail: king(at)animavet.com | ||||
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> articles - calculating hay | ||||
Calulating how much hay to buy. If you have enough space and you want to be sure you have enough hay to last for at least 6 months, here are some guidelines for figuring out how much hay to buy... | ||||
Calculating how much hay to buy Probably the most basic guideline is to buy as much hay as you have room to store properly - i.e. out of the elements. That means under cover, off the ground, and out of direct sunlight. If you have enough space and you want to be sure you have enough hay to last for at least 6 months, here are some guidelines for figuring out how much hay to buy: * calculate using a feeding rate of 2% body weight (bwt) per day per horse - for the average nonpregnant adult 1,000-lb horse in good body condition, that means - for easy keepers and for horses who have some pasture available, use a rate of - for hard keepers and for horses in regular work, use a rate of 3% bwt/day, or 30 lbs/day for a 1,000-lb horse with little or no pasture access * 1 US ton = 2,000 lbs - so, 1 ton of hay = 100 days' supply (a little over 3 months) for one 1,000-lb horse when fed at 2% bwt/day - 2 tons = 200 days (6-7 months) for one horse, and so on - multiply by the number of horses to be fed - there's a simple formula at the bottom of the page to help you calculate your hay needs * buy both grass hays and alfalfa hay - it's generally best to buy grass hays and alfalfa hay separately (i.e. in separate bales), rather than buying hay that is a mix of grass and alfalfa - grasses and alfalfa have somewhat different growing requirements, so what benefits one may not be as good for the other - to get the most nutritional bang for your buck, it's usually best to buy alfalfa that was grown separately, and buy the premium grade * plan on feeding these hays in a ratio of ~ 80:20 - i.e. 80% grasses and 20% alfalfa - or, to put it another way, feed 1 lb alfalfa for every 4 lbs grass hay - I'll often advise feeding less alfalfa than that, but not less than ~10% of the total hay ration (or 2 lbs alfalfa/day for the average 1000-lb horse) - also look into buying the alfalfa component as pellets; it may be more cost-effective than buying alfalfa by the bale, as you can literally measure out the alfalfa pellets by the pound (1 lb = 2 cups) Quick calculation for one horse: (rate x bwt x days) / 2,000 = _______ tons rate = feeding rate, e.g. 1.5% (0.015), 2% (0.02), 3% (0.03); use the decimal number rather than the whole number in front of the % sign (i.e. use 0.02 instead of 2%) bwt = the horse's estimated bodyweight, in pounds days = the number of days' supply of hay you want to buy (to keep it simple, round out 1 month to be 30 days) Multiply those three numbers and then divide the total by 2,000 to get the number of tons of hay you'll need to buy. For example, for a 6-months supply (180 days) of grass hay to feed the average-size adult horse (1,000 lbs) at a rate of 2% bwt/day (0.02), you'll need to buy about 2 tons of hay: [0.02 x 1,000 x 180] / 2,000 = 1.8 For multiple horses with approximately the same needs, simply multiply the number of tons by the number of horses you're feeding. For multiple horses being fed different amounts, you may want to consider doing separate calculations if the horses' needs are very different (e.g. small ponies, large horses, very easy keepers, very hard keepers). And then pad that figure a bit. Just as when you're giving a party, it's better to have some leftovers than to run out of food! | ||||
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All content: Copyright Christine M. King, 2005-2011. Please contact me for permission & guidelines for reuse of any content. | ||
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