Purchase Your Winter Supply of Hay

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If you haven’t already done so, fall is the time to buy your winter supply of hay. Be sure to look for green, leafy, fresh-smelling hay without mold, weeds, dust or discoloration. Recent nutritional recommendations are for a horse to receive 2% of its body weight in hay (or forage) per day. For the “average” 1000 lb. horse with moderate exercise that will be about 20 pounds of hay per day. This is about 600 lbs. of hay per month. Since hay is usually sold in bulk by the ton (2,000 lbs), one ton of hay will last about 3 and 1/3 months per average-sized horse. Do the math to determine how many tons of hay you’ll need for the coming winter.

A budget saving tip is to buy in bulk which is always cheaper than buying in smaller quantities. If you don’t have the room for storing that volume of hay, perhaps a horsey neighbor might. Two (or more) of you could go in on the purchase of the hay and reduce the cost for all

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Written by:

Alayne Blickle, a lifelong equestrian and ranch riding competitor, is the creator/director of Horses for Clean Water, an award-winning, internationally acclaimed environmental education program for horse owners. Well-known for her enthusiastic, down-to-earth approach, Blickle is an educator and photojournalist who has worked with horse and livestock owners since 1990 teaching manure composting, pasture management, mud and dust control, water conservation, chemical use reduction, firewise, and wildlife enhancement. She teaches and travels North America and writes for horse publications. Blickle and her husband raise and train their mustangs and quarter horses at their eco-sensitive guest ranch, Sweet Pepper Ranch, in sunny Nampa, Idaho.

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