How much hay?

[minister man]

To buy hay in the summer out of the field around here is cheaper than purchasing it from people through the winter. The square bales around here weigh about 40-50 lbs. I am wondering how much hay would a person need a year to feed a team of miniature horses? I know it would depend on the grazing available and what not but lets say how much hay would they eat a month? I need to make sure I would have enough storage space. Thanks

 

[Rhondaalaska]

If you figure out what they need per day by the formula 1.5% or 2% of a minis weight. Than you will know how long a bale will roughly last you. Than you can figure out how much per month. Once you have what you think you will need I would buy a little more to be safe. My 36" 300# mini eats a 600# round bale in two months. I pull how much she needs per feeding off the bale and feed her. The bale stays in my hay barn.

 

[disneyhorse]

I also feed by weight but also supplement my guy with alfalfa pellets and a ration balancer. He weighs 375# and eats 450# of Timothy hay in a month so I'd go by an estimate of 2% of their body weight as suggested, too...

 

[MyMiniGal]

Also, I would figure in more for winter months. My mini is eating double what she eats in summer. My mini is around 32" and 185 lbs. and right now, is eating 150# a month. That will drop down, for summer when it starts warming up. She has no pasture time, at all, as I board and there is no place to turn out, so all she gets is hay and her Purina Miniature Horse and Pony feed.

 

[BSharpRanch]

And if you are storing it remember that during the coarse of a year that the hay will lose moisture so you will have to estimate that into the equation!

 

[chandab]

I'm not terribly scientific or mathematical about it now, I did the math when I had my saddle horses boarded out... They required 3 ton of hay per year (boarding on drylot with minimal grass pickings, and getting a small amount of bagged feed); I have B-size minis weighing 325-400# depending on the mini, so need 1-1.25 tons per mini for the year (if I'm not feeding much bagged feed, I go with 1.25 ton per year).

 

[little lady]

We put up square bales that are approximately 50-75 lbs. In one barn we have a 14'x6' area that we put about 45 bales and in another barn we have a 10'x15' area that we put about 55 bales. This past year we bought 100 bales to feed 1 full sized horse and 3 miniatures. Under normal circumstances I usually start feeding hay about mid October(after last frost) then feed through end of March first part of April and always have left over hay. Hope this helps.

 

[wingnut]

My horses weigh a combined weight of 1260lbs. I know based on the annual visit our local mill's equine expert who brings out a portable scale for me. She comes in June/July.

I go "heavy" when determining how much hay to estimate. So 1260 x 2%. That's 25lbs of hay per day a the highest amount. I factor for 5 months (November through March). I use 31 x 5 months = 155 days. 25lbs per day x 155 days = 3875lbs of hay needed for 5 months. I went with a 40lb bale. 3875 / 40 = 97 bales.

My bales run 30lbs. So I would need closer to 130 bales. Which is in line with what we do buy. I don't buy mine all at once because we can't store it all at once. We can only store about 60-70lbs at once.

I feed less than 2% on warmer days and more than 2% when it gets colder. This year I'm experimenting with a round bale. My hay supplier does round bales with the same quality hay that I buy in square bales. The first round bale lasted a month but we had a lot of waste(maybe 1/4) at the start while I waited for my hay slow feeder net. Cost is actually cheaper and they have a constant source of hay in front of them. Like many others have witnessed, they initially seemed to stay with the bale forever but eventually, they realized it wasn't going anywhere so they do leave it now to try and graze or hang out in their stalls.

 

[amysue]

I mostly feed my minis square bales and calculate quantities by flakes since my bale weights fluctuate from field to field. Average standard square bales like what you are describing average 13 flakes per bale. 14 if baled slow and 11-12 baled too fast. If you account for 2 flakes a day per mini in the spring/summer and 3 per day in fall/winter it comes out to exactly 142 bales. I would play it safe and buy 200 in case some gets wet/ruined, your minis need more winter feed and to take into account fluctuations in bale consistency.

 

[minister man]

Thanks for all the help everyone, that certainly gives me lots to get started with..... the problem is that I think mini's are addictive, so maybe you can't have just two

 

[chandab]

Nope, you can't have just two... I'm up to 15 now plus a mini jenny and I still have two saddle horses. Thank goodness, I'm no longer boarding them somewhere.

 

[amysue]

You are soooo right. I started with two and now have over twenty. But I married my hay supplier so he is my enabler.

 

[chandab]

Well, I kind of did too, as I married a rancher; we raise Red AngusX cattle, and put up our own hay. I do still buy some small squares, since all our homegrown is put up in round bales. [small squares are nice in the barn and on windy days.]

 

[Minimor]

I just put these 3 bales (1000 lbs each) out for a group of 5 mini mares--I am hoping it will last them 6 weeks...last time their 2 bales lasted them exactly 4 weeks, and very little of that was wasted. The past month has been VERY cold, so they ate more than usual--if the next few weeks stays mild then these 3 bales might last these girls a little over 6 weeks. (would be nice)

So--I figure my hay at 15 lbs per horse per day--I have Minis 34" and up, most are in the 36-38" size range, and some ponies that go up to 44". The ponies eat more of course, but the minis can pack the hay away pretty good too. I don't have summer pasture (some, but not enough to feed everyone on grass alone) so I feed hay year round. I figure on 6 round bales (1000 lbs) per horse per year.

 

[MyMiniGal]

Ok...I have never had big horses..my mini is my first, so I don't know how much a big horse, around 1000 lbs. or so would eat average wise? Where Halo is at now, the big horses get alfalfa, and I, of course, don't feed them, and don't weigh what they get. They also like their horses thin. They are Arabians. I'm just curious on what, lets say, a Quarter horse would eat in a day?

 

[Minimor]

My last Morgan mare ate not a whole lot more than what one of my Shetlands ate--she just wasn't a big eater, and she was a good weight--and she likely weighed 1100 lbs or so. Some of the other Morgans we had ate more. I'd figure on at least 25 lbs a day for a big horse...more in the cold winter weather here...I'd figure on one 1000 lb round bale per month per horse when we were feeding the Morgans.

 

[Rhondaalaska]

When I had quarter horses as a kid we fed the two flakes twice a day. I don't know how much others feed there's .

 

[disneyhorse]

Horses of all sizes eat 1-2% of their body weight. The richer the hay (alfalfa versus grass), less is fed... The more active or growing the horse is doing more is fed... Other factors such as weather...

The average horse weighs 1,000 lbs and thus the average is to feed 7 pounds twice daily.

Here, our "flakes" from three string 100# bales average seven pounds, so it's typical for saddle horses to get a flake twice a day.

 

[minister man]

How does one handle square bales with three strings and 100 pounds? with a fork lift? Are they something that you make yourselves or is that the way they sell them at a feed store? I haven't heard of them before. Around here, we have the smaller square bales, and the 4x4 round bales and 4x5 round bales, and some people use a Big rectangular bale, that would be more like 4 feet x6 feet or something, but there are very few people that use those.

For those of your that have 10-20 or more miniatures, what do you use them for? are they all broke? or are they just pets? Brood mares??? that seems like a lot of little horse flesh to me.

 

[Minimor]

Here (Manitoba) people make the 50-60 lb square bales with 2 strings, for whatever reason no one makes the 100 lb 3 string bales in this area and really never did. Our rounds are mostly 5x5 or 5x6, and the 'medium squares' are becoming more & more popular. The medium squares are 3'x3'x8'. I have in the past gotten big square straw bales and those are 3'x5'x8' or something like that--haven't had those in a long time. I don't personally like the medium squares--unlike rounds, which shed rain very nicely--the squares soak up rain like a sponge so absolutely have to be tarped. I don't have a tractor so when I get some delivered I just push/pull them off the trailer and then they are all over the place--very difficult to tarp them individually, and I can't leave them sit out uncovered. There are plastic covers available for them now, but they are (so I'm told) about $60 each. I cannot afford 30-50 of those! With the rounds, they can sit out in the open without spoiling as long as they are not touching anything on the sides. I can set out a month's worth of hay for the horses and not worry about it spoiling before they eat it.

anyway--as to what we do with larger numbers of horses....our minis are all pets, some are trained for driving, some are retired broodmares, some are just pets. We no longer show Minis. I have 15 Shetlands, they are show ponies, pets and most will be trained for driving.