How to Calculate How Much Hay to Feed Your Horse
We know horses need to eat either grass or hay. When horses eat grass you will need to keep an eye on their condition and make sure that they are neither eating too much nor too little. Horses can overeat grass especially if the pasture is lush but it is also easy to let a horse get too fat from eating hay. And sometimes too little hay can mean a horse will lose weight. So what is the right amount of hay for your horse?
Just how much your horse will need will depend on its weight. According to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture a fullgrown horse should eat about 12 to 15 pounds 5 4 to 6 8 kg of hay a day 1 That is 1 5 to 3 of its body weight if it weighs about 1000 pounds 450 kg. This is a very rough average and horses may require more or less depending on their metabolism workload what else they may be eating and the time of year. Ponies will require considerably less while large draft breeds can eat 30 pounds 13 6 kg a day or more
Having small amounts of hay available to be fed frequently mimics the natural grazing instincts and is healthiest for your horses mind and body. So try not to feed your horse a full days worth in one meal. It will probably gorge on the best parts of the meal leaving the least tasty then trample whats left into the ground. For the healthiest digestive system and the happiest horse it is best to have hay available at all the times. Most horses are selfregulating but many are not. Some horses will need their hay diet restricted to prevent obesity. Such horses should be fed small more frequent portions. For many horses hay is all they need and they wont need concentrates such as oats or sweet feed or particularly rich hay that contains legumes like clover and alfalfa.
The next question however is how much of a small square bale is that? What you will have to do is weigh an average bale of hay. It should weigh approximately 60 lbs or 23 kg. The exact weight will depend on how dry the hay is how long the bales are and how tightly packed the hay has been baled. Next count how many flakes are in the bale. The flakes are the easily divided sections that are
