How to Feed Square Hay Bales

Forage is the most important part of your horse's diet, and many horses can be kept on hay alone without being given any grain or commercially prepared foods. Horse-quality forage such as hay, pasture and hay alternatives, including chopped hay and beet pulp, can provide for all of your horse's nutritional needs and is the best way to keep your horse's digestive tract healthy. Horse hay is normally baled two ways: as big, round bales or as much smaller, square bales.

Things You'll Need

  • Height-weight tape
  • Scissors or knife
  • Bathroom scale
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Instructions

    • 1

      Estimate your horse's weight using a height-weight tape by measuring around the horse's midsection approximately where the girth is placed. These tapes are by no means accurate, but you can use this to determine if your horse is losing or gaining weight. You will use this number to determine how many pounds of feed your horse should consume in a day.

    • 2

      Open a bale by cutting the baling twine with scissors or a knife. (You will need wire cutters for bales tied with baling wire.) Examine the flakes for signs of mold: musty odor and white- or gray-colored areas.

    • 3

      Take a flake of hay and stand on the scale. Subtract your weight from the weight you get when you hold the hay. Repeat with several different flakes of hay to get an idea of what the standard flake in that bale weighs, as not all flakes are the same size.

    • 4

      Weigh your horse's grain ration using the method above. If he is fed more than once a day, weigh all rations and add the pounds together.

    • 5

      Feed the hay depending on how many pounds your horse needs. According to the C Level of the United States Pony Club Manual of Horsemanship, you should feed about 2 or 3 lbs. per 100 lbs. of your horse's weight. An 800-pound horse, for example, should receive between 16 and 24 pounds of food a day.