OT- How much hay does a horse eat?

I'll make it short- Dad has a few heifers and a steer out on pasture, and the guy is taking in 2 rescue horses. He asked about trading some hay for the cost of the pasture.

The question is, How much does a horse eat? No idea how big the horses are, so I know there will be variables, but lets just say the average quarter horse.

Donovan from Wisconsin

Well, my small bales are grass hay and weigh about
60# average.

We do have pasture, so my answer will be totally
different if you have no pasture. After the grass
has dried up in the fall I figure about 20# per
horse per day. We do also feed some sweet feed
when it gets really cold, about 2/3 of a 32 ounce
plastic drink cup per day.

My neighbor makes and sells feed, the best combo
(what he recommends) has oats, pellets, kelp, and
molasses in it along with a little corn, etc.

If a "rescue horse" you will likely need to up the
feed intake for a while to get it fattened back
up. Go slow with the feed at first, no more than
about 8 ounces at first and add a little more
every couple days.

I am no horse expert, but that is what works for
us. If the horse(s) are underweight PETA type
people will call animal control. We go through
this at least twice a year when the PETA types
don't see a big round bale also setting out.

The compliance officer always has to come over to
make the report, and now apologizes for having to
check. He has said twice now the horses should
actually lose a few pounds, but he knows we are
just being hassled and he understands we have to
somewhat overfeed them to try to keep PETA away.
DOUG

abuut $1000.00 per head per year

We feed hay about 350 days a year... don't ask me why...
My wife approximates the average horse will eat 250 average sized bales in a year. So I've got to put up 300 per head to offset any spoilage, drought next spring, etc

Jay

Most of my hay customers figure 1/2 bale a day for average horse fed a little to no grain . Larger horse, cold weather and a horse thats used alot might need a little more.

Like an old buddy said when I asked him that very same question, "They wont eat anymore then what you give them"

They can survive on 1/2 of a small regular bale (Mine sure did) but a real horse lover would prob given them more plus a coffee can of oats.



John T NOT a horse fan, I like things I ride to have an engine and I dont mean hay burners either

Too much!!! Sorry couldn't resist.

The horses running with your cattle will spell trouble usually horses will end up harassing and running cattle.

~40 # per day, give or take. Most people I'm selling hay to talk about 1 bale per day of lighter bales... in the 40# range.
When I look at what I'm delivering to one stable and the horses they've got I would say about 40# which is a fair bit less than 1 bale of what I sell...

Rod

Horse in normal body condition will eat 1.5 to 3% of its body weight in forage a day just to maintain. Malnourished horses, lactating horses, work horses, wormy horses will eat 3-5% of its body weight in forage a day. Horses are very inefficient grazers unlike cattle, they eat to maintain weight, cattle eat and make gains in weight on less.

With that said, I would say 20-30#/day up to 40-50#/day.

if you need to ask , you cant afford to feed them

I'd steer clear of that situation.Keep things the way they are now.SIMPLE.

Been decades since I have had cow/cattle but have horses. It depends a lot on the breed of horse. And Arabian will eat less hay.grain and need less water then ANY other breed. But then again as I said breed and how you use them makes a world of difference. I boarded quarter at one time and they where trouble big time but then again it depends on how they are trained etc etc

1kg to 100 kg body weight per day is real close if you measure but it's hard to judge it perfect.... We feed only hay and free choice and have it close to a round bale (700-800 pounds) per horse per month as a good average. If he's just gonna "rescue" them and throw them in with the cows, may as well just butcher them as a better rescue solution and be done with it. Does the guy know the maintenance involved with a horse (hooves, teeth, etc)?

Dave

here in southeastern Ohio we pretty much figure 100 small square bales per winter per horse. I like to add a few for the possibility of a really bad winter that we sometimes have around here. Also feed grain twice a day in winter and feed a daily wormer powder in their feed. horses are darned expensive to keep and NO return on the money, Granddaughter likes them LOL. Just my thoughts, Keith

we all know how much gas costs,figure about 50-75 times that amount per mile,(if they are rode at all)!actually how much a horse costs depends exactly on HOW you feed it.put it in a stall,feed it everything it eats by hand,and try to keep it healthy and it will cost a LOT! turn it out in a pasture where it should be to eat excess grass(thats TRULY excess and not just something thats there because you had one good year out of ten) ,and you can keep one cheap.sold my last horse about 4 years ago,kept them all my life for one reason or another,and if someone dumped one in the yard today i'd run it off,or do the horse world a favor and shoot it between the eyes.Rescue horse my rear,worst thing that ever happened to the horse industry in the US is shutting down the slaughter market,bar none.you never heard of a rescue horse when they were worth something for glue!your dad does know to watch those horses close doesnt he?lots of them will kill a calf in a heartbeat.thats why they become "rescue" horses lots of times.folks cant keep them in a pasture,and cant afford to have them stand and eat every day!Tell him to MAKE SURE,,, absolutly 100% ,,,those horses have a clean coggins before he allows them on place,,you may be stuck with something you cant undo for the next 20-30 years.Another thing,having been there myself,make sure your dad knows what hes getting into,the majority of the time you cant just turn a so called rescue horse out on a pasture,the bleeding hearts demand they be treated like babies.you can spend tons of cash on a animal thats totally 100% useless.and if you dont you can go to jail in the same cell as the fellow you got it from.I like horses as well as anyone,but theres a point to where you just have to leave them alone.Any time someone says "rescue horse" you better hear warning bells, because 95% dont get to that point if they are worth much. some could have made a good horse, and some might yet with enough work,most never would and never will be worth much more than dogfood.shoot when i was a kid and everyone worked horses,two out of three were sold for glue.Good luck with them, hope it works out,But remember it takes no more to raise a good horse than it does a cull,and even if you dont use one ,they are prettier to look at!

My horses will eat 23 hrs per day if the hay is available. I have seen people who break up one 40 lb bale for 2 horses in the morning and one in the evening. Everybody seems to have there own feeding guidelines.

I read an old study a few years ago that was done right at the end of WWII about farm horses. They figured between pasture, hay and grain it took about 20 to 25 acres a year to feed a horse! AC used that for ads trying to sell the hold outs the small tractors they were building at the time like the C.

Rick

We feed about 30# of grass hay per day in winter. Pasture in summer. They will eat more if you let them, but ours get through fine without over feeding.

They must've figuered on some damn poor ground then... There were a lot of farms around here that kept a couple horses and a bunch of cows on less land than that.

Rod

Old Tanker, that buncha crap about it taking 20-25 acres per horse is pure, unadulterated garbage. Gee, the guy trying to sell yout he tractor is coming up with those figures? Huh, must be like the guy selling you anything else- it's a sales gimmick!

An average horse will eat about a half a 50-60 lbs bale of grass hay a day and survive. I figure a bale a day per horse to be safe. Pasture, even rough pasture your cows would starve on, is what a horse needs.

1 animal unit = 1000# cow

A horse is equivalent to 1.5 animal units. Thus which one is the more efficient grazer and turns roughage into weight gain which equals dollars?

In my neck of the woods, 1 cow/10 acres therefore that would equate to 1 horse/15 acres.

I don't understand where you guys get this rough pasture your cows would starve on is what a horse needs?????

(reply to post at 19:12:09 08/16/11)

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My daddy always said that a horse will eat as much as 2 cows.

depends on where you are,and how much you feed,and how long a horse is on a pasture.I can show you places in this country where a horse would starve in a month on 100 acres!lets put it another way,how many acres does it take to grow the oats you feed? plus the hay,plus the pasture,year in and year out,dry as well as wet years,summer ,spring,fall and winter.with a WORKING horse,you would probably surprised at what it takes to feed one if you start adding it all up.theres a huge difference in one that gets three or four pounds of feed a day and one thats simply eating grass.I wouldnt be a bit surprised to find you couldnt hold one on twenty acres if thats all he had to eat on average grass.

Apparantly some guys got the impression that I'm getting a horse- That ain't the case.

I don't know what the guy knows or doesn't know, my dad just asked me because he's trying to figure out what he could trade the guy and if it'll work. I don't know where he's gonna pasture the horses, but he's got his pasture divided to rotate them every couple days or so.

Someday I may have horse because the wife insists on it, but that day is far, far away.

Donovan from Wisconsin

(quoted from post at 19:05:48 08/18/11) Someday I may have horse because the wife insists on it, but that day is far, far away.

Donovan from Wisconsin

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Yea master........ Youda man now........But when you get tired of cold shoulder and tongue soup, Don't get her a rescue horse........ You can pick her up a nice foundation bred quarterhorse for a decent price and they'll both live happily ever after...... And you too..........

She used ot have a horse but it had to get put down because of old age & cancer. I'm not opposed to her getting another horse, but it won't be until we can afford it and have a place for it to stay. When she still had her last horse she was only paying $100/month for board, and she was grandfathered in because the horse had been there so long. Now I think board is doubled. No frills either, just a muddy pasture (way too many horse in it) and baled hay. Could also bring the horse inside once in a while, but they stayed outside unless not feeling well.

Donovan from Wisconsin