18 acres

how many horses would you have on 18 acres? i will be moving into a place that has 20 acres and i was going to let the horses have about 18 acres of the land. i have to have a barn built and was wondering how big it should be. thanks.

Nobody can really answer this as there are many factors (weather, terrain, etc). How many horses do you now have? How much experience do you have? Do you want to have purchase hay? What sources of water do you have?


Maybe the better question is how many horses should you have? But to answer even that we'd need more info.

Welcome to the forum.

The amount of horses per acre has a lot to do with the kind of weather you have, the type of grass, how well your grass grows during the season, and, in some cases, zoning.

Where I am in the south, I have 25 acres but only keep ~6 or 7 for pasture. Due to the drought we are in, I only keep 2 horses on it. I had 4 last year but they were going through the grass pretty quick so I sent two over to my neighbor. This season we are getting a lot of rain and the pasture is growing really well. The two I have in the pasture can't keep up with the growth.

Incidentally, I call them up for their first feeding at 7:00 AM and keep them in a dry lot paddock until the afternoon feeding at 4:00. They are out on pasture the rest of the time.

i have some experience with horses. i have helped out at barns for several years and have owned two horses. one died about ten years ago, and the other about 3. i will also be living in north dakota, the southwestern part.