Daily Hay Amount for a Horse

The Daily Hay Amount for a Horse calculator computes the weight (HW) of a hay that a horse should eat per day based on its weight and a percent of body weight.

INSTRUCTIONS: Choose units and enter the following:

• (W) Weight  of Horse 
• (HP) Percent of a horse's weight for hay consumption.  

Hay Weight(HW): The calculator returns the weight in pounds (lbs). However, this can be automatically converted to compatible units via the pull-down menu.

The Math / Science

The formula for the daily weight of hay needed for your horse is:

       `HW = W * HP`

where:

• HW = Weight of Hay for daily horse consumption
• W is the weight of the horse
• HP = Percent of Body Weight for Hay consumption.

An adult horse should eat 11.5 to 16 pounds of hay per day.  This is based on a range of 1.5% to 3.0% of the horse's weight.  The percentage is based on many factors.

• Is your horse over or underweight?
• How active is your horse? Obviously a heavily working farm horse will need to eat more than an animal that is mostly in the stable.
• Does your horse have a high metabolism?
• How cold is it?  Your horse will need more energy to stay warm on bitter cold days.

Horse and Stable Calculators

• Weight  of Horse: This is based on the girth and length of the horse.
• Daily Hay Weight for a Horse: This is based on the horse's weight and percent of body weight.
• Daly Bales of Hay for a Horse: This is based on the horse's weight, percent of body weight and weight of bales.
• How Long Hay will Last: This is based on the number of bales in the loft, number of horses, and the bales per day for the horses.
• How Much Hay: This estimates the amount of hay needed for a period of time based on the daily consumption per animal, the number of animals and the duration.