So the wife and I are buying a small farm and will have three horses on it. The largest is about 1300 pounds. Two horses are coming with the property and the third is one we’ve owned for a couple of years and boarded. My question is about how much hay to plan on getting for this winter. Given that the horses are on 9 acres and turned out every day, stalled at night, how many square bales or pounds should I plan to get before winter comes? I won’t have the equipment to move around the big round bales so I’m planning on square bales.

My wife is the horse person. We had horses when I was young but I didnt grow up taking care of them so I’m learning and planning ahead. Her horses were always boarded somewhere so we never had to figure on buying and storing hay.

60 bales per?

They’re better off at purina or elmers. And you will be too financially

. And sending the horses to Purina will cost me half of everything lol

Lmao

They won't taste like chicken.

we send cows every now and then

About what we went through this past year.


^and he’s not wrong. I agreed to the horses to be a good husband, but they are a giant mistake. It’s actually cheaper to just stand in your front yard burning $20 bills every evening than to own a horse.

It's cheaper to burn money than get married.
Too bad we can't sell THEM to Purina or Elmer's.

Truth!

shoot the damn horses before one of em kills you. Trust me on this....

I feel the same way about horses.

Three grown horses will eat a round bale every 6-7 days. If you have some winter grazing that might offset it a little but the problem with that is nothing really grows fast enough in the winter to keep up with a horses appetite. If you put a roll of hay in a hayring, a horse will stand at it and eat all day in the winter. I played that game for years. Finally just gave the horses away. But the answer to your question is a roll a week atleast.

I'll throw some numbers out there.

I have a 110lbs dog. Here is what he costs in food, just for perspective:

Pedigree - 30lb bag $35
Milk Bone biscuits - $11
Table scraps - $20 (estimate; supplements his 2 cups per day)
= $66 per month

For 3 dogs:
x 3 dogs = $198 per month
x 12 mo = $2376 per year

For 3 horses:
4 rolls per month for 5 months = 20 x $25 = $500
1 roll per month for 7 months = 7 x $25 = $175
= 27 rolls per year
= $675 per year

There is an assumption here that you have enough acreage to feed them off-winter. Even if I went on the cheap and spent half as much on food for the dogs, the 3 horses would still be cheaper. The problem with the horses is all the equipment and labor that would be needed to transport, store, and keep up with their feeding during the winter. If your wife treats the horses as mine treats our dog, then you might as well "pony up" now.

I very highly doubt you can buy horse quality round bales for $25 a piece.

Add in a few veterinarian bills on a 1300lb animal.See where that shakes out.

If you're feeding round bales to horses you can add a $5000 annual vet bill, or a dead horse.

I only wish that was true. I(my wife) have one that we've been feeding round bales for at least 25 years, he's 35 and I'm sure he's waiting for me to die before he cashes in, just to prove his point

I know nothing about horse but found thiw

Finding the best-value horse feed means looking past price per bag and calculating the actual cost per day to feed. Divide the price per bag by 50 lbs. to determine price per pound. Then, multiply the price per pound by the pounds fed per day. Horse owners are often surprised to find the feed that is cheaper by the bag may be more expensive per day, because it must be fed at a larger amount per day or requires added expensive supplements to meet nutrient requirements.

For example, compare oats that cost approximately $14 per bag to Purina® Strategy® Professional Formula GX horse feed that costs approximately $17 per bag.1 If a horse eats 6 pounds of oats per day to maintain good condition, that same horse would only need 4.8 pounds of Strategy® horse feed to support the same body condition, because Strategy® Professional Formula GX horse feed contains 25 to 30 percent more calories per pound than oats. Oats priced at $14 per bag, $0.28/lb., fed at 6 pounds per day calculates to $1.68 per day to feed. Strategy® Professional Formula GX horse feed, priced at $17 per bag, $0.34/lb., fed at 4.8 pounds per day costs $1.63 per day to feed.1

Not only does Strategy® Professional Formula GX horse feed cost less per day to feed, the horse feed nutrition also contains the proper balance of protein, vitamins and minerals the horse needs, whereas oats must be supplemented to provide all the nutritional needs of the horse. If you feed a daily protein, vitamin and mineral supplement, you want to figure the cost and add that to your grain cost. Basic supplements will usually add $0.50 to $1.00 per day more to the cost of feeding your horse.
Hay value
In many areas of the country, hay prices have gone up faster than grain prices. Forage quality and weight per bale both factor into finding the best value for hay. Quality is impacted by variety of forage, the maturity of the plant at time of harvest and the conditions at harvest. The assumption that alfalfa is better quality than grass and therefore justifies a higher price isn’t always the case. Moderate-quality alfalfa, 16 percent or less protein, actually may be a lower feed value than good-quality grass, 11 percent or more protein. The moderate-quality alfalfa is usually very mature and lower in digestibility, whereas the higher-quality grass hay is more digestible and palatable to the horse.

Most people are not very accurate when estimating amounts of hay and grain being fed. For example, a 3-pound coffee can holds 3 pounds of coffee, but it will hold 4 pounds of Purina® Strategy® Professional Formula GX horse feed. The weight of oats can vary quite a bit depending on the quality of the oats, ranging from 2.5 to 4.25 pounds per 3-pound coffee can. Hay weight can vary quite a bit as well so, when possible, hay should be purchased by the ton instead of by the bale. Hay that costs $10 per bale and weighs 65 pounds per bale is a better value than hay that costs $8 per bale but weighs only 45 pounds per bale.

If you are feeding 20 pounds of hay per day, the hay that costs $10 per bale calculates out to $3.08 per day, while 20 pounds from the $8 bale of hay ends up costing $3.54 per day. Also, two flakes from the heavier bale will often weigh more than two flakes from the lighter bale, so your actual feeding rates may vary as well. Weighing a few representative flakes from hay when you first buy it can help keep your feeding rates more consistent and your hay costs more under control.

The cost of owning horses has certainly gone up over the last few years, and there doesn’t appear to be a change in that trend in the forecast. However, using a scale and a calculator to do a little figuring can reveal possible ways to save money without compromising the health and well being of your horses.

Might be the cheaper, one time purchase alternative.