Skip to Content

Hay Cost Calculator

Owning horses and feeding them for a year is no small feat. It requires a lot of diligence to know how much hay to feed, where to find the best hay for the best price, haul it all home, and put it all in a stack that will not spoil until it’s used. That’s a lot of money, time, and effort!

Use the tools below to find out how much you should be feeding your horse each day and how many ton you will need in a year and how much it will cost you.

You can then use the Horse Cost Calculator to budget all of your expenses.

*We get commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Click here for more info about cookies collected and our privacy policy.

So let’s find out what it will cost you to feed your horse for the year.

Horses | Horse Care | How to Horses | Use this FREE hay cost calculator to find out how much it will cost you to feed your horse for the year. Get a handle on how much it can and will cost.

Tips

  • If you don’t know the weight of your horse: find a scale like you would find at a feed elevator and weigh your truck, trailer and horse. Take your horse home and go back and weigh your truck and trailer. The difference is how much your horse weighs. Or your vet or a feed store consultant could help you.
  • Calculate the weight in roughage a day your horse should be fed. Fill in how much your horse weighs in the first box:

If the above doesn’t show, please download the Calculate Hay Fed per day per horse worksheet.

  • Be aware that overfeeding your horse doesn’t make sense for several reasons: It’s a waste of hay, money and there are dangers of and for an overweight horse.’
  • Using the Hay Cost Calculator below, calculate how much hay you will need and how much it will cost per year and per month in the formula below. Fill in the boxes with squares around them with the information needed to find your answers.

If the above doesn’t show, please download the Cost and amount of hay per year formula

Phew! Horses can cost a lot, can’t they? But when you are able to get a handle on how much it can and will cost, it makes a world of difference. There is nothing worse than knowing haying season is coming quickly and no plan has been made financially to acquire the hay needed for the year.

I hope using this Hay Cost Calculator helps you in the many years to come in your horse-loving life.

You may also have wondered which is better: round bales or square bales. Weigh in on which you like: round bales versus square bales.

If you are just now looking into buying a horse for the first time, Consider These Questions When Buying a Horse

What does it cost you a month to feed your horses?

The helpful tools on this page aren’t the only ones we have to offer you! We have great riding patterns, horse health tracking information, spreadsheets, and printables on our free resource page! Sign up below, find the password in your email and keep checking back! We add to this page weekly!

Horses | Horse Care | How to Horses | Use this FREE hay cost calculator to find out how much it will cost you to feed your horse for the year. Get a handle on how much it can and will cost.

Also, please feel free to sign up for our free resource page. We are continually adding to it and want to bless you with the information. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the information on the password-protected page. We will keep you updated with new additions, so add us to your contacts in your email so you never miss a beat! You can find a sign-up form on this page 🙂

All you have to do is:

  1. Sign up below
  2. Find your confirmation email (in inbox or junk/spam folder) and confirm subscription
  3. The Welcome email will hold all the details and password for logging in to your resource page
  4. Add [email protected] to your contacts to ensure that you receive future emails and updates to our resource page

GAIN HORSE SENSE, HOMESTEADING KNOWLEDGE, and TOOLS TO GROW IN FAITH: Get access to my library of free resources for horse owners, homesteaders, and faith seekers:

 DON’T MISS OUT: FREE RESOURCE PAGE 

I also would love to know what would help you. What can we add to our resource page to make your life that much easier? 

If you would like a sneak peek into our resource page: 

Free Resource Page for Horse Owners

Free Resource Page for Homesteaders

Free Resource Page for God Seeker

Kathi at Oak Hill Homestead

Monday 15th of August 2016

And then you add in the farrier, and shots, and ... But I wouldn't trade her for anything!

I prefer square bales, even though people say that round bales are more economical. They are easier for me to bring home, to store, to feed. Since I also have goats, square bales just make more sense for me, even if they might not make more cents.

Delci

Monday 15th of August 2016

Completely agree about the square bales! Honestly as far as people saying round bales are economical, I'm not sure I would agree...or at least I would question it more because horses and goats will walk so much hay into the ground, which not only is a waste of hay and money, it's more labor to clean up and space to put somewhere to compost. I shared my thoughts about square and round bales here :) http://www.heritageclubstables.com/horse-loving/round-bales-verses-square-bales/

Comments are closed.