More hay questions!

-nut shell-

So my horses were on timothy orchard at the old barn and just grass in the summer, we've since moved them to a self care facility and since my old barn baled on us and decided to keep all of there round bales for there horses. We are now looking for a new hay supplier. I do have a few on hand but found a guy not too far from me who sells 5x5 timothy grass mixed round bales. Is that a good choice to feed throughout the winter? Whats the difference between timothy grass mix and just timothy orchard? My horses right now aren't getting any hay because they have an abundant pasture.

We have 3 horses in the pasture right now, one of which is harder to keep weight on in the winter (Tb) and the other is an air fern (qh ponyx)

also, for three horses how many round bales would you buy to last throughout the winter? I was estimating that each round bale would last 2 weeks for 3 horses. (just to be safe, I don't think they'll eat that much though but id rather be safe then sorry) we were thinking to get around 12 round bales and 30 squares for back up.

Thanks!

Timothy and Orchard are two types of grasses. It sounds like your old barn was feeding a mix of the two. The hay you're considering buying is probably primarily timothy with some other types of grass mixed in

Hay suppliers are quite variable with the the description of their hay. It sounds like both suppliers have primarily Timothy fields but both have other grasses mixed in. The 1st being orchard grass the second a mixture to broad to classify so the name "mixed" grass. Probably will not be a problem at all since the primary on both is Timothy so basically the same..although quality is a whole other issue.

The ?? About amnt..it is a self care facility..are your 3 isolated in their own area? There is a lot of waist with rounds..I suggest a keeper that surrounds the bale & keeps them from walking on it, voiding on it. A lg round lasts my 6 about 2 weeks but they are also grained. Not sure what area you are in but if it is part of the drought this year I would get plenty of hay if its available now because the cost is exponentially rising by the day..and that might be why your old barn is hanging on to it.

My three are in there own private paddock, and we also will have a round bale feeder around the bale to limit the amount of waste.

We are in NY so we aren't nearly as effected (if at all) by the drought as like Texas. We are planning on buying around 10 rounds and 20/35 squares but my knowledge isn't so much in the hay department. :/
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Ha. My 4 horses went through a large round bale in 4 days. In the summer. Just a few weeks ago.

You'd better stock up.

Sounds like you will be fine. Keep them tarped or under cover they will keep better for your horses...glad you have a round bale feeder..it makes a huge difference!

10 rounds is more then likely not going to cut it. We fed rounds last year, and peeled hay off and wheelbarrowed it out to them instead of giving them 24 hour access to a bale. We went through 20+ round bales. We only had 3 horses last year.

Hm. Shoots! It's so weird, some people hve 6 horses and it lasts a week and some horses eat them in days! Who knew that hay could be such a PITA?
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check with the hay person..balers bale at different weights..a large round bale that is consumed in just a couple days has been baled light weight..it markets similar cause many folks don't ask thus the market supports a round bale is a round bale...far from the truth a 5ft diameter bale should weigh about a ton some are even heavier and feed for way longer than a couple days. Even sm squares can have a variety of weight to them....many people feed by flakes on them & really should be feeding by weight... problem with "stocking up" on rounds is simple...the place to store them & keep them out of the weather. Our trainer had 11 horses last year & used 21 lg rounds all winter. I use squares more often just because of storage issues.

I found a man who sells the rounds I need for about 45$ a pop. I have an appt to go see the hay on Saturday
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