How Much Hay Does a Horse Need Each Day? Chart and Calculator
A horse at maintenance eats about 1.5 to 2 percent of its body weight in forage a day, which is 15 to 20 pounds of hay for a 1,000-pound horse.
How much hay a horse needs comes down to one number and a handful of reasons to change it. The number is about 1.5 to 2 percent of the horse’s body weight in forage a day, most of it hay. For a 1,000-pound horse that is 15 to 20 pounds. The calculator below the guide does the arithmetic for any size.
How much hay a horse needs per day, by weight
The range scales with the horse. These are daily amounts for an adult horse at maintenance, meaning a horse that is not in hard work, pregnant or nursing:
| Body weight | Hay per day |
|---|---|
| 500 lb (small pony) | 7.5 to 10 lb |
| 800 lb | 12 to 16 lb |
| 1,000 lb | 15 to 20 lb |
| 1,200 lb | 18 to 24 lb |
| 1,400 lb (draft cross) | 21 to 28 lb |
The low end suits an easy keeper that holds weight on little, and the high end suits a horse that burns more. Condition is the check on the number: ribs that can be felt but not seen, and a back that does not carry a crease, mean the amount is about right for that horse.
Estimating body weight with a tape
Few owners know their horse’s weight, and a guess is usually off by a hundred pounds or more. A tape and a few seconds give a better figure. Measure the heart girth, the loop around the barrel just behind the elbows, and the body length from the point of the shoulder to the point of the buttock, both in inches. Girth squared, times length, divided by 330, gives the weight in pounds.
A 72 inch girth and a 68 inch length work out to about 1,068 pounds. The formula assumes an adult horse of ordinary build, and it runs less true for ponies, foals, heavily muscled breeds and pregnant mares. Taking the measurements at the same point of the day, before feeding, keeps repeat readings comparable, and a monthly tape is a useful way to watch condition over a season.
What changes the amount
The percentage is a starting point. Cold weather raises a horse’s energy needs, and extra forage is the safest way to meet them because digesting fiber produces heat. Hard work, such as a season of endurance conditioning or daily trail miles, raises the amount and often adds grain or a ration balancer. Late pregnancy and nursing raise it further. Older horses with worn teeth may need soaked or chopped forage, because hay they cannot chew passes through undigested.
Weight gain is the opposite problem. Many pleasure horses on small acreage are overweight, and a horse that is gaining on free-choice hay needs a measured amount and sometimes a slow feeder. A horse with a metabolic condition needs a plan from the vet, who may also ask for a hay test, because sugar and starch levels vary between cuttings.
How many bales that is
A bale is a weighing exercise, not a unit. A small two-string bale of grass hay commonly weighs 50 to 60 pounds, an alfalfa bale can weigh more, and a bale from one grower can differ by 10 pounds from another’s. Weigh a few from each load on a bathroom scale and use the average.
A 1,000-pound horse eating 15 to 20 pounds a day uses 105 to 140 pounds a week. At 50 pounds a bale that is two to three bales a week, or nine to twelve a month. Storing hay off the ground under cover, out of the rain, is the difference between buying that hay and throwing part of it away.
Grass, alfalfa and the hay test
California owners mostly choose between grass hay and alfalfa. Alfalfa carries more protein, calcium and calories, which suits thin or hard-working horses and does little for an easy keeper. Some alfalfa grown on serpentine soils is high in magnesium, and a ration made mostly of it, fed to a horse that stands in a stall, is the pattern most often linked to enteroliths in horses. A grass-based ration with some alfalfa is the usual middle path.
A hay analysis from a lab costs little and reports protein, sugar, starch and minerals for a sample, which gives the vet numbers to work with. Moldy, dusty or weedy hay goes back to the grower whatever the analysis says, and a horse that coughs at its hay is telling its owner something.
Feeding times and slow feeders
Horses are built to eat small amounts through most of the day. Long gaps without forage are linked by vets to ulcers and to a restless, hungry horse in the barn, so many owners split the daily amount into three or four feedings, or use a slow feeder, a net or box with small holes that stretches a ration across more hours. Water goes with the hay: a horse typically drinks five to ten gallons a day, and more in summer, as the horse care guide explains in its section on the daily budget.
Changes to the ration are made over a week or two, not overnight, because the gut adapts slowly. A sudden jump to rich hay or fresh spring grass is a common trigger for colic and for founder, and the safe pace is the one that lets the manure stay normal. Riders building a horse up for the trail season can pair the feed plan with the conditioning advice in the guide to endurance riding.
Hay calculator
Enter a weight if it is known, or girth and length to estimate one, plus the weight of one bale.
A horse with a 72 inch girth and a 68 inch length weighs about 1,068 pounds. At 1.5 to 2 percent of body weight, that is 16 to 21 pounds of hay a day, or 2.2 to 3 bales of 50 pounds a week.
How the hay figure is worked out
The weight estimate is girth squared times length, divided by 330, with both measurements in inches and the result in pounds. It suits adult horses of ordinary build and is only an estimate, so a scale or a weight tape is better when one is at hand. Daily hay is that weight multiplied by 1.5 and by 2 percent, which gives the low and high end of the usual forage range for a horse at maintenance; work, cold, pregnancy, nursing or a metabolic condition move the figure, and the vet decides how far. Bales a week is the daily range times seven, divided by the bale weight.
Hay and feeding questions
How much hay does a horse need a day?
About 1.5 to 2 percent of its body weight in forage, most of it hay. For a 1,000-pound horse that is 15 to 20 pounds a day. Hard work, cold weather, pregnancy and nursing raise the amount, and a horse that gains weight easily needs a vet's advice on how far to cut it.
How many bales of hay does a horse eat a month?
A 1,000-pound horse eating 15 to 20 pounds a day eats 450 to 600 pounds in 30 days, which is 9 to 12 bales of 50 pounds. Bale weights vary a lot between growers, so weigh one from each new load before working out the order.
How do I weigh a horse without a scale?
Measure the heart girth and the body length in inches, multiply the girth by itself and by the length, and divide by 330 for a weight in pounds. A weight tape gives a similar answer. Both are estimates, and a livestock scale at a feed store or vet clinic is better when one is within reach.
Is it better to feed grass hay or alfalfa?
Grass hay suits most horses at maintenance. Alfalfa has more protein, calcium and calories, and suits thin or hard-working horses. A diet built mostly on alfalfa has been linked to enteroliths in California, so the ratio is a question for an equine vet.
Can a horse eat too much hay?
Yes. A horse that keeps gaining weight on free-choice hay, or one with a metabolic condition, needs its forage measured and sometimes limited. A slow feeder stretches a smaller ration across the day, and the vet sets the target.
Does pasture count toward the daily amount?
It does, and it is hard to measure. Lush spring grass can supply most of a horse's forage, while a dry California pasture in late summer supplies little. Owners usually cut the hay as the pasture comes in and raise it again as the grass dries.
