# How many bales of hay a week?



## lornaA (14 October 2012)

I know its a bit like saying how long is a piece of string but how many bales of hay (big or small as I have opition of either) do you all use per week per horse based on being in at night and out thru the day.  I am just trying to work things out.


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## ThePony (14 October 2012)

We use generously sized small bales and reckon on getting 6 slices out of each, each horse gets 1 1/2 slices of soaked hay each night, plenty of old grass during the day and short nights in. So each week per horse you're looking at a minimum of 2 bales really, assuming no extra hay needed in the field, and no extra time in the box.


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## ILuvCowparsely (14 October 2012)

My liveries get 1 bale a week if they want more they have to buy in themselves


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## crabbymare (14 October 2012)

How much grass do you gave and how big are your small bales? I used to use between 1/2 and 2/3 of a small bale a day for mine but they were about 20kg a bale and I fed it ad lib.


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## Enfys (16 October 2012)

Difficult to say without knowing the size of your horse 

My small bales are between 50-60lbs. We have no grass in winter - at all, and it gets a bit cold. I am feeding broodmares, youngstock and geriatrics, not many riding horses in work. All live out.

If I had to order small bales in, I would estimate a bale a day for anything over 15h. 1/2 - 3/4 for large ponies. 1/4 - 1/2 for small ones. I would rather have too much hay in my barn than too little 

I just keep buying hay until my barns are full


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## ihatework (16 October 2012)

It's kind of how long is a piece of string!!

But for guidence, using average small bales - for a 16.3hh poor doer I'd try and ad lib overnight - which in reality, if the grass was good in the field he'd get through 1/3 bale overnight, if the grass was poor/mid winter he'd eat 1/2 bale overnight, couldn't get him to eat anymore.

For a 15.2hh fatty who hoovers up food better than a dyson, he wouldn't get adlib, and would probably get allocated 1/3 bale fed out of a very small holed haynet. Left to his own devices he'd probably guzzle 3/4 bale !!


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## Box_Of_Frogs (17 October 2012)

This is no use whatsoever in answering your question but thought I'd chuck it in anyway because of the post that says liveries only get 1 bale per horse per week! I've got 5 shetlands, 2 more towards the standard end of the scale and 3 minis. Just gone onto small bale haylage and I'm pleased to note that 1 bale is lasting all 5 of them for 5 days, in from 9am to 4pm, out the rest of the time. Pretty damn pleased with that! Should cut their winter haylage requirement down from 60 bales to 50. Yay!


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## Angua2 (17 October 2012)

for a 16.1 TB about 2/3  to a bale a day, regardless of grass of the little bales, so in the region of about 5 a week  A large round bale lasts around 4 weeks fed adlib as does a 6 or 8 foot heston.


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## YasandCrystal (17 October 2012)

I have a 17hh WB and a 2 yr old Dales out 24/7 at the moment who will be stabled from November overnight - they do have grass and they get a bale of hay a day between them and they eat it all. WHen they come in they will get a feed in the WB's case and a balancer for the youngster and I estimate at least half a bale of hay a day each if not slightly more.


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## ILuvCowparsely (17 October 2012)

Box_Of_Frogs said:



			This is no use whatsoever in answering your question but thought I'd chuck it in anyway because of the post that says liveries only get 1 bale per horse per week! I've got 5 shetlands, 2 more towards the standard end of the scale and 3 minis. Just gone onto small bale haylage and I'm pleased to note that 1 bale is lasting all 5 of them for 5 days, in from 9am to 4pm, out the rest of the time. Pretty damn pleased with that! Should cut their winter haylage requirement down from 60 bales to 50. Yay!
		
Click to expand...


Box of Frogs !!!


OMG   I must have had a blonde moment and was thinking of shavings  duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 Hay oh they get 3 bales ( big bales )+ sheesh it must have been before my caffeine fix lol

 I suppose weight wise it works out 14- 16lbs per night


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## charleyp (17 October 2012)

A small bale of hay lasts me about 3 days but it does depend on how tightly baled each bale is - which you can work out when you pick them up. To put it into context my mare has a large eliminet full every night and a normal sized net in the morning and I'll usually find a little bit on the floor and a few scraps in the bottom of the net (and if she was hungry she'd eat everything).


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## SS.89 (17 October 2012)

Ive got a 17.1 TB, and he gets ad lib overnight else he gets bored and starts causing caos in his stable. He's easily on 2/3 to a whole bale a night, (these are your generic sized bales).
In the winter I'll also be putting 2 slices in a bucket for his field.

Some of the other liveries can't believe how much he gets but i'd rather go down to the yard in the morning with hay left over than none at all. Would always get used for his evening hay net 

We'll be going on to haylage from November until March and it generally works out much cheaper for me as we'll be going in with the other guys on the yard.

SS x


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## acw295 (17 October 2012)

I average 3 small bales a week in winter, less in summer (she is in either at night or by day most of the year).

This is for a 472kg 14.2hh Welsh D good doer, she has it soaked and trickle netted. She gets 6-8kg a day (which is 3-4 sections of our small bales) and is muzzled by day. This just about lasts her overnight as I don't like her to stand in for long periods without.

Our bales weigh approx 20kg so last me 2-3 days-ish, but I usually weigh it rather than going by sections as they do vary.


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## lornaA (17 October 2012)

Thanks for all your replies folks, it has been very useful.  I occassionally weigh my hay and it is almost always 16lb a night the get as I find this is the optimum amount for them to get enough without too much waste as I do like them to have a little left in the morning.


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