🌾 Hay Cost Calculator
Enter how many bales your horse eats per day and the cost per bale to see the daily, monthly, and annual hay bill — an easy way to budget forage and spot where bulk-buying pays off.
🧮 Work Out Your Hay Bill
What is a Hay Cost Calculator?
It turns a daily hay habit into a clear running cost. Tell it how many bales your horse goes through each day and what you pay per bale, and it shows the daily spend along with 30-day and 365-day projections.
Use it to budget a livery bill, compare buying by the bale against a bulk load, and understand how a price rise ripples through the year. It's a straightforward estimate — adjust the inputs whenever your supply or prices change.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How does the hay cost calculator work?
Enter how many bales your horse gets through in a day and the price you pay per bale. It multiplies the two for a daily cost, then scales that up to a 30-day month and a 365-day year so you can see the true running cost of feeding hay.
How much hay does a horse need each day?
A typical horse eats roughly 1.5–2.5% of its bodyweight in forage daily, which for an average 500 kg horse is around 7.5–12.5 kg of hay. How many bales that equals depends on bale size and weight, so weigh a few sections to work out your own bales-per-day figure.
Why use a flat 30-day month and 365-day year?
Using consistent 30-day and 365-day periods keeps the estimate simple and comparable month to month. Actual months vary in length, and hay prices and consumption change with the seasons, so treat the figures as a planning baseline.
How can I reduce my hay costs?
Buying in bulk at harvest, storing hay dry to avoid spoilage, reducing waste with slow-feeder nets, and making the most of grazing in season all help. Just don't cut forage below what your horse needs for gut health to save money.