The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Is this true? Amount of grass a horse eats per day and few other questions

6K views 24 replies 8 participants last post by  Katesrider011 
#1 ·
Is it true that one horse eats up to an acre of grass per day? I am going to get a horse by next spring at the latest, maybe sooner and I am planning on the paster being about 130 ft x 100 and on the other side about 130 by about 70. I am cleaning it up now as there were pine trees there and I am going to rake up the straw and burn the trees once they dry. i do plan to plant a little grass and I'm wondering if put the horse out to graze during the day only, if in due time he will have aten all of the grass?

I guess in that case it might not be no use to replant grass after that. The stable will be to keep him in at night with an area about 15 ft X 30 fenced in area for him to walk around in and the stable itself will be about 10 x 10 or 12 x 12.
 
#2 ·
Erm, that's kind of an unusual question. No acre of grass is the same, and as horses generally eat the "tops" of grass, no a horse cannot eat an "entire" acre of grass a day. I'm lousy at math so I don't know how that converts into feet, but for decent grazing, the rule is usually 2 acres for the first horse, and then 1/2 to 1 acre for every horse after that. Of course, you need a proper pasture with well planted and nutritious grass.

My best friend's farm has a roughly 6-7 acre pasture containing a lot of inedible weeds, and it easily sustains around 4 horses all summer long with no hay/grain included - and they get FAT. The bigger the area though, the easier it is to do because they naturally rotate grazing areas, allowing places to grow back before they return to it. They don't come in at night either, they're out 24/7.

Hope that helps a bit!
 
#3 ·
100x130x70x130 is roughly 1/4 acre. That's a good size for a paddock, but even with just grazing during only the day, whatever edible stuff is there will be gone in a couple weeks. It really takes about 2 acres to be able to rotate the grazing and keep the grass alive. It's not just how much they eat, but the constant foot traffic in a small area is very hard on the grass, too. Bottom line...don't bother planting grass, you'll have a dry lot and need to always feed hay anyway (and that's fine).
Other advice...unless you really enjoy the work of cleaning up the trees/pine straw/etc preparing for a horse, save yourself the effort and don't bother. If you just fence the area and put a horse in there, it will 1) eat everything edible 2) trample the rest as it moves around, and the area will be cleaned up for you.
Good luck.
 
#4 ·
Here's the one problem. Correct me if I'm wrong. When clearing out a bunch of trees and clearing the odds and ends, there is typically no grass. I know you plan on planting some grass in there but if you do that and throw a horse in there the grass has no time to really take hold. It will get trampled and eaten and you will waste your time, effort, and money planting. With the pasture only being 1/4 acre it will be a dirt paddock. What would be ideal is if you go ahead with your plans but save yourself the work and money for planting grass and maybe next spring after you get your horse, if you have more land, clear a decent area. Plant that with grass and let it sit for one year. The following spring you could have that as a nice area for your horse to eat grass. Just a thought. Good luck and don't worry too much about your plans not being what you want. For one, YOUR GETTING A HORSE! How exciting! Two, just think of the time you can spend hand walking and letting your horse eat grass. Three, the following year you will have the pasture ready for him/her and accomplished a great deal! Good luck and congratulations.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#5 ·
Here's the one problem. Correct me if I'm wrong. When clearing out a bunch of trees and clearing the odds and ends, there is typically no grass. I know you plan on planting some grass in there but if you do that and throw a horse in there the grass has no time to really take hold. It will get trampled and eaten and you will waste your time, effort, and money planting. With the pasture only being 1/4 acre it will be a dirt paddock. What would be ideal is if you go ahead with your plans but save yourself the work and money for planting grass and maybe next spring after you get your horse, if you have more land, clear a decent area. Plant that with grass and let it sit for one year. The following spring you could have that as a nice area for your horse to eat grass. Just a thought. Good luck and don't worry too much about your plans not being what you want. For one, YOUR GETTING A HORSE! How exciting! Two, just think of the time you can spend hand walking and letting your horse eat grass. Three, the following year you will have the pasture ready for him/her and accomplished a great deal! Good luck and congratulations.
Posted via Mobile Device
Thanks to all that replied and yes it does make since everything you guys said. I have went to alot of peoples houses who have horses but the area in which they have them in is pretty much dirt. I will work on clearing off another area and planting some grass and letting it sit like you guys said. The area in which i have to clear though is alot of pines on it and even if I clear a section out of it, I'm sure some straws will fall into the area and probably prevent the grass from growing all that good. I will look over at all the posibilities and I guess over time have a few different options. If I did hand walk and let him eat grass, how long will I have to do that? Will it be about 30 mins to an hr or so? I can also probably tie him out different areas of the yard or my neighbors field and let him eat some of the grass as well.

I am using part of my neighbors field now to put my pasture but I don't want to get greedy and ask them to fence in there entire field to keep my horse lol; though they do live out of state in VA. I don't really know them all that well and just them letting me use some of the area as they are now im happy for. What I can do is tie the horse out of the pasture, outside of the fencing and let him graze sometimes too. I have some long rope, probably about 100 yards or better and it would probably be great to let him graze outside of the fence sometimes too. Maybe then after some time I can ask them if they want to let me use the rest of the field to keep it ate down so they don't have to plow or even if they want to sell the feild section of their land.
 
#7 ·
Sounds good but becareful tying the horse up as it could get tangled and get hurt. If you hand grazed it, 30 min is enough. Make sure the horse is used to grass first so you don't end up with founder/laminitis problems. And if the owners to the land don't use the pature it wouldn't hurt to ask them if you could use it. Hopefully though it doesn't get wrecked by overgrazing so make sure they are really ok with that. Good luck
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#8 ·
Sounds good but becareful tying the horse up as it could get tangled and get hurt.
Agreed. Considering getting the horse used to hobbles instead. They can still move around, but can't run off.

I would skip the sweet feed and just feed good hay. If you figure on 25 lbs a day for a 1000 lb horse, you'll be in the ballpark.
 
#11 ·
I guess I want the perfect scenario and I guess others want it also but i guess everyone doesnt have the land to have their horses looking pretty grazing every day lol like people with acres and acres on top of acres of land. I will just divide the section of the area I am going to use and let him graze and stay in that area during the day and put him in the stable during night. The other area I can let it take its time and grow grass and when he eats down one the other can be growing. I also will make it larger than I stated above. I will probably go 130-150 X 130 then the other side 130-150 X about 100 so it will be a little bit bigger, maybe closer to 1/2 acre or 3/4.
 
#12 ·
I guess I want the perfect scenario and I guess others want it also but i guess everyone doesnt have the land to have their horses looking pretty grazing every day lol like people with acres and acres on top of acres of land.
Don't worry...as long as he has enough to eat (grass and/or hay), he'll be perfectly fine and healthy even in a 1/4 acre.
 
#14 ·
Rolls weigh between 800-900lbs. The problem with a roll is one it will take forever for one horse to eat all of it. Two, depending on where you live and the climate you have to worry about mold setting in. Do some research on line on founder/laminitis. Causes. Like I said if the horse you buy isn't used to eating grass he can get very sick eating all day.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#15 ·
Rolls weigh between 800-900lbs. The problem with a roll is one it will take forever for one horse to eat all of it. Two, depending on where you live and the climate you have to worry about mold setting in. Do some research on line on founder/laminitis. Causes. Like I said if the horse you buy isn't used to eating grass he can get very sick eating all day.
Posted via Mobile Device
I live in SC and see alot of people have their large bales setting on top of pallets but not out of the rain. I guess too though they have 2 or more horses so it would get aten faster. I will have a covered area where I will keep the bales though
 
#16 ·
Like here in NC, SC can be very humid, so you need to watch for mold if you have a lot of hay around.

In the end, the best thing to do is to experiment with different setups and look at your cost and waste.

Some general tips:

- Round bales are cheaper than square bales, but are not as easy to work with.
- You're not going to be able to move a round bale without some machinery. Some folks do (as you mention) tear off layers for each feeding.
- You want to store hay off the ground (e.g. pallets) in a dry place with lots of air circulation. Mold loves humid, warm, dark places. You can cover hay (e.g. tarp) if it gets enough air, otherwise you'll trap moisture under the cover and mold with thrive.
- If you feed on the ground, your biggest waste will be from hay getting pee'd/pooped on and muddy/trampled when raining. You'll always have some waste, but if you'll have only one horse and you have a shelter to feed under, you'll waste less.
- Assuming you can move a round bale, you can use a whole round bale with even one horse if you build a covered feeder where the bale is off the ground out of the rain. This keeps the horse from spreading all the hay everywhere and fouling/wasting it. Another advantage is that you can throw square bales in there instead of you want.
- Any hay that gets moldy or smells bad....throw away. Horse won't typically eat moldy hay, but don't take a chance.
 
#20 ·
I bet you could buy a 500 pound round bale for one horse. My friend gets those for her 6 month old steer, and he eats them up before they turn bad.

If you feed square bales, you'll probably have to feed him/her 3-4 flakes in the am and another 3-4 flakes in the pm. Depending on the width of the flake and how rich the hay is.

If you come across a moldy bale, save it because you might be able to give it back to the guy you bought it from and trade it in for a better bale. I don't know if every hay guy allows that, but mine does.
 
#23 ·
Do not use the round bales unless you can keep it covered & feed chunks off of it. Some horses will eat themselves to obesity on it & founder.

The size of pasture depends on the breed of horse & the climate where you live. One acre (208 x 208) will work for most horses if put up at night. One to two acres is ideal for most horses.

Never, never tie up a horse with a long rope to graze, good way to get a broken leg!

It is much better to use a portable electric fence & shift it around every so often. Much safer for the horse.

When you buy your horse, just ask the owner what they feed & adjust that based on the weight of the horse. In general, a horse is in good weight if you can feel the ribs easily when running your hand along them, but not be able to see the ribs.

I prefer pellets over sweet feed, and most horse do need grain of some type for the nutrients. If you just feed hay, you will likely need to add suppliments, which often cost more than grain. Check with local feedstores in the area or a coop. They will tell you what kind of grass to plant at what time of year & what grows in the area.

Have fun keeping your horse at home:)
 
#24 ·
All we use in our pasture is round bales. They are fescue mix, so not terribly rich. I have 6 horses, three in each pasture. They eat a round bale in about 4 days, with very little waste. I've never had any of them become overweight or have problems with founder. But they are exercised regularly and are only fed a small amount of grain once a day. I don't doubt that certain types of hay can cause these problems, and with certain horses. You just have to monitor them closely if you go with round bales. Once you get your system down though, it gets easier.

I agree with the above posters, please don't tie the horse on a rope. I had a rescue come to me with rope burns almost to the bone on both back legs because of this. It took us almost 8 months to get them healed. Hobbles are not a good idea either if the horse will be roaming around loose with nobody watching. All it takes is one stray dog to come up, and with the horse not able to run away, it could end badly. The best way is to either hand graze, or set up a temporary, as stated above.

Good luck with getting your horse!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top