How much hay and grain does an average horse eat in a month?
I would like to know how much food an average sized horse eats in a month. I would be feeding it a mix of first cut hay and grain.
I'm looking at opening a horse boarding business so I would need to know the right amount so I can find out a price.
Well lets see my horses each get a 3 cups of grain a day. 1 and 1/2 cups in the morning and 1 and 1/2 cups at night. multiply 3 cups times 30 or so days is around 90 cups.
Although Regularly i buy them by the pound. With hay my horses get 2 flakes of hay (in the summer) and 4 flakes in the winter. so we multiply again.
summer Rations: 60 flakes of hay we buy.
Winter: 120 flakes.
But you also have to consider how many horses you have. Thats just for one horse at my barn. So really this is how much we feed. we have 8 horses.
Summer Hay & Grain: 480 flakes of hay & 720 cups of grain
Winter Hay & Grain: 960 flakes & 720 cups of grain.
Quite expensive in my eyes. Good luck on your new barn
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February 4th, 2009 at 2:30 am
asmuch as it can till its full
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February 4th, 2009 at 3:08 am
Well lets see my horses each get a 3 cups of grain a day. 1 and 1/2 cups in the morning and 1 and 1/2 cups at night. multiply 3 cups times 30 or so days is around 90 cups.
Although Regularly i buy them by the pound. With hay my horses get 2 flakes of hay (in the summer) and 4 flakes in the winter. so we multiply again.
summer Rations: 60 flakes of hay we buy.
Winter: 120 flakes.
But you also have to consider how many horses you have. Thats just for one horse at my barn. So really this is how much we feed. we have 8 horses.
Summer Hay & Grain: 480 flakes of hay & 720 cups of grain
Winter Hay & Grain: 960 flakes & 720 cups of grain.
Quite expensive in my eyes. Good luck on your new barn
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February 4th, 2009 at 3:29 am
it really depends on how much the horse weighs and how much it is worked
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im a horsey chick
February 4th, 2009 at 3:51 am
It varies so much depending on whether the horses will have access to pasture in addition to what you're feeding….what breed/type of horses…(TBs as a whole eat a whole lot more than hardy little morgans for example) the quality of the feed and hay… For example, I'm feeding a little mare that I got back from a gal because she "couldn't keep weight on her". Supposedly she was feeding her 8 lbs of grain a day, and grass hay, approximately half of a 50 lb bale per day. While I have problems believing that this amount of food was actually getting into the horse's mouth….anyway. I brought her home, she gets 2 pounds of Strategy per day, probably about 4-5 flakes of decent grass hay, and whatever pasture she gets from my less than lush, going into winter pasture. This horse that "couldn't keep weight on" is doing just fine on this regimine. I know there's a local boarding stable where I live that uses a complete feed, the only hay that the horses get are when they're turned out there is some not so great quality round bales in their field….his rate is based on 15lbs per day per horse, and if they need any more than that, he charges the owners extra. Myself, I don't care for the complete feed/little or now hay route unless it can't be avoided….horses are grazers and they need to have stuff going through their gut much more frequently than two feedings with pellets gives them….but that's just MHO….
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February 4th, 2009 at 4:33 am
Hi, one of the best things you can do is contact a good Feed line company, Nutrena is the first one that comes to mind. Go online. They are wonderful about giving you answers to questions on amounts and quality. If you are doing a large facility, you will probably be able to get someone to actually come out and explain expense and need. The amounts will vary depending on the time of year. We have 8 horses and we go through 1 big round bale of good quality alfalfa hay a week. We also have 15 open acres of pasture for them to munch on. In the winter, we will go through 1.5 big bales a week. If you are pasture boarding, there won't be feed involved unless you have made that agreement with the owners. If they are all kept in stalls, then you will be doing amounts by pounds/scoops and flakes of hay. You will need to weigh your hay though. One flake of john doe number one's hay may not weigh out as much as john doe number twos hay. Also, what is in the hay? What grasses? I really like the Nutrena site's info. Give it a look and I hope it helps.
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February 4th, 2009 at 4:48 am
The amount of grain a horse gets depends on the quality of the grain and the physical activity level of the horse. A horse that is retired or a companion wouldn't need any grain, just some good quality hay. Some horse owners may argue with me on that and although the horse may want grain and eat it that is different from it's body actually needing it. A horse that is ridden everyday, a barrel racer, reiner etc would require a lot more grain. It's hard to judge.
Horses have a unique digestive system and ideally, they should always have food moving through it. They have no gall bladder and therefore no storage for bile. This means that bile is constantly being excreted into their digestive systems. They also have a cecum which helps process forages/roughage. They are made for a diet consisting mainly of forage and not enough of it causes digestive issues. Therefore, horses need quite a bit of hay and should, ideally have free choice. They amount they will eat varies by season and activity level. The ideal situation would be free choice round bales out in the pasture/turn outs fed out of a round bale feeder to reduce waste. The horse should still get a flake or two of hay at night in it's stall.
Of course, amount of food also varies by size of the animal.
If you are thinking of opening a boarding business, perhaps you should only charge rough board and have the owners responsible for care and feed. If someone wanted full board, you could charge on an individual basis based on what they wanted the horse fed. This would be the best way too make sure you are covering your costs without charging too much. I hope it helped.
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worked with horses for a couple years
http://www.merricks.com/digestion.html#lgintest
here is a very good article on digestion with nutrient requirements and feed reccomendations
February 4th, 2009 at 5:33 am
If you need to ask these questions, you need to educate yourself a LOT more be for you start!! Read every thing you can!! That is the best thing you can do for yourself!!
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February 4th, 2009 at 5:39 am
The average horse will eat 100 bales of hay a year. If they have pasture available, they will eat a lot less hay in the summer months. Grain is only necessary if the horse is being worked regularly, but most horses benefit from supplements like biotin and trace mineral salts. The old horsemen's rule of thumb is that you feed as much hay as your horse can eat in an hour, but that varies by breed and the rate at which a horse consumes its feed.
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February 4th, 2009 at 5:46 am
This will depend on the breed of horse and the condition of the horse.You might want to also look at how much feed that you will buy at one time.Most feed stores will give you a discount if you buy a ton or more of feed at one time.If you have some owners that are not on full board and they want to feed there own horses you might also want to offer feed for sale at your barn to them.You also need to know that under Florida law if a horse owner boards at your barn and dosen't feed his or her horse,that you must feed it or be charged with animal cruelty.You can charge them for the feed.Good luck.
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I run a non profit horse rescue & rehab shelter and am a certified equine cruelty investigator and a certified animal control officer.