How much does a small bale of hay weigh approx?

Joyscarer

Active Member
Dec 30, 2006
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Can anyone tell me approximately how much a small bale of hay weighs and approximately how many leaves/sections it has?

Ta :biggrin:
 
Not sure really...but i can just about carry one...for around a minute LOL.

:giggle:

At a complete guess 1-2 stone?? ...im absolutly rubbish with metric :redcarded:
 
Thanks guys.

I've got my my coming this morning to take me down the yard so one of her and my daughters jobs is to count the leaves in a bale and do some weighing and then to weight tape the ponies for me :giggle:

I'm just trying to work out how it is that Joy can double in size when there's snow on the ground and she all she gets is adlib hay and a token feed for her pink powder. I want to work roughly how much hay she is ploughing through a day. My yardmate who is feeding her at the moment said she's never seen anything like it before.
 
Joy, not posted on here recently (just occassionally lurk :giggle:), but noticed your thread as it reminds me of Ed.

He is stabled overnight for Winter and turned out from 8.30 to 4.30 (but less on days he's ridden, which usually is 4/5 times a week in Winter, depending on weather). For the last month his fields have been covered in frost or snow, so there's usually hay out. He still manged to gain a little weight and develop a slightly firm crest :cry:

So, he's had a couple of weeks of being ridden more, turn-out less. His scoops of Happy Hoof and carrots, have been replaced with a mug of Fast Fibre (to carry supplements). At night he has around 10-12 lbs of hay. It seems the new regimen have started to reverse things a little, but he just needs NOTHING !
 
Mine are the same JC - I am not giving ad lib hay for that reason - mine are actually choosing to dig for grass if they are hungry and having eqivalent of a net each at night to help them through the night... would this be a better option?

Mine have ballooned in the snow though and madam is feeling the cold so rugged up which isnt helping.
 
Mine are the same JC - I am not giving ad lib hay for that reason - mine are actually choosing to dig for grass if they are hungry and having eqivalent of a net each at night to help them through the night... would this be a better option?

Hi mr ed. Yes I always read your threads with interest knowing how similar our horses needs are. Unfortunately Joy is turned away until spring now so the lack of exercise is certainly having it's toll on her although that doesn;t explain the mans weight gain.

Well I did my yard visit and my 2 are both huge :redface:

The first thing Joy did was search my hands for food so they have been getting hand held treats too I reckon which is a big no no.

A lot of the snow has melted a bit so there are patches of grass visible and the rest isn't half as deep and I'm sure they are eating more hedgerow than I think they are. So now it's back to no hay again.

Eveyone thinks you're lucky when you have good doers but it's a constant worry if you aren't on top of their management and others think they are being kind to them by giving them extra because mummy is cruel and doesn't feed them enough or rug them.
 
Good-doers are a nightmare :frown: I moved yards three months ago, to get away from terrible mud. Now have a stable, concrete, storage, power (it's 5* :happy:) However, rather than his smallish individual paddock that I could easily manage he now shares fields with three pals.... however some of them are huge and they rotate every 6 weeks. Having experienced Sept/Oct I doubt Ed will ever be able to run free and will always be sectioned off.

He's now stabled too, for 5 months of the Winter. Only overnight, so he's turned out/ridden for 8 hours everyday. However, he's still managed to gain weight..... and the farrier suspects a possibly sensitive hoof on his front/near (that was two weeks ago). I've been really strict with him and his crest has softened slight and the hoof is no longer sensitive, but it is a nightmare.

Ideally, I would prefer to keep him turned out 24/7 in a smallish paddock... that suited him before. But, the mud was just unbearable......

Good luck with Joy
 
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