Currency changes notation only; entered amounts are not converted.
Goat hay planner
How much hay do your goats need?
Estimate the hay to purchase from an entered hay dry-matter allocation, hay dry matter, and separate feeding and storage losses. Review the assumptions for your animals before using the result.
The purchase estimate depends on the hay allocation you enter. Dry matter excludes water. BaleMath converts that allocation to incoming hay, accounts for losses and rounds the combined requirement up to whole bales.
Stock and loss weights assume the same bale weight and dry matter as the incoming lot. Mixed or already-weathered stock needs separate assessment. Ledger weights are equivalents at the entered dry matter, not measured moisture changes.
Total hay for the season
— bales
Total
—tons
Per head/day
—lb
Season
— days
Est. cost
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Cost/head/day
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Cost/head/season
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Storage
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What if my bales are lighter or heavier?
Your entered bale weight stays the headline plan. Open this only if you want to compare it with the sourced reference range for this bale type.
Scenario
Average bale
Bales required
Est. invoice
Rounding surplus
Coverage from headline order
Your entered weight
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Reference lighter bale
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Reference heavier bale
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This keeps the same hay need, feeding/storage losses, and price per bale. The reference range is planning context, not a guarantee of a seller's bale weight. Method & sources.
Continue your winter plan
Reuse compatible values from this result in the next calculator.
Your entered inventory already covers this gross hay plan, so there is no remaining purchase weight to compare.
One or more animal groups are not supported by the winter-water calculator, so no groups were transferred.
Print, copy, or share this plan
Copied plan links contain the values entered above and may appear in browser history or server logs. No tracking or URL shortener is used.
The summary keeps one hay result at a time; adding this plan replaces the previous hay result. Keep the summary tab open and copy or print it before reloading, closing or changing language.
Compare two plans
Save two gross hay plans in this page's temporary memory and compare the result-driving assumptions and totals.
Compare two gross hay plans
Save the current gross seasonal hay requirement to Plan A or Plan B. This comparison is before hay already on hand and excludes the Check my season operational add-on. These snapshots are ephemeral: they stay only in this page's memory and disappear when the page reloads or closes. They are not added to copied links, summaries, or printouts.
Select metric units to reproduce this example: 5 goats at 60 kg each, an entered hay dry-matter allocation of 3% of body weight per day, 120 days, estimated hay dry matter of 90%, feeding loss of 10%, storage loss of 5%, and small square bales weighing 20 kg. All inputs are illustrative, not a feeding recommendation. The 71-bale total is before deducting hay already on hand.
Step
Formula
Calculator result
Daily hay dry matter per goat
60 kg × 3%
1.8 kg DM/day
Daily consumed hay per goat, before losses
1.8 kg DM ÷ 0.90
2 kg/day
Incoming hay for all five goats
1.8 kg DM × 5 × 120 ÷ 0.90 ÷ 0.90 ÷ 0.95
1,403.51 kg
Whole bales
1,403.51 kg ÷ 20 kg; round up
71 bales
Purchase weight
71 × 20 kg
1,420 kg
This is a BaleMath arithmetic example using the current calculator, not a published feeding plan. Nebraska Extension describes dry-matter intake and how forage and supplements depend on the animals and diet. Mississippi State Extension explains why storage losses depend on conditions and duration. These sources do not prescribe the example values. About & sources.
How this calculator works
Choose a hay allocation from an existing ration, or estimate the hay dry-matter allocation as a percentage of body weight. Enter only the hay portion, not total diet intake. Choose allocations appropriate to each group’s class and stage. The calculator neither selects an allocation nor checks nutritional adequacy. There is no automatic grain subtraction or cold-weather multiplier.
Dry matter is the part of hay remaining after water is excluded. Use a forage analysis where available, identify whether the dry-matter value is measured or estimated, and weigh several representative bales. The allocation is multiplied by animal count and days. Dividing that seasonal dry matter by the entered hay dry-matter fraction gives the consumed hay equivalent.
Feeding loss is a share of hay offered; storage loss is a share of incoming hay. To work backwards to a purchase, divide the consumed equivalent by the fraction retained after feeding, then by the fraction retained after storage. Enter losses for your feeding arrangement, hay lot and storage period. A percentage from a different animal species, feeder design or storage duration is not automatically applicable.
Combine all groups before rounding up to whole bales. Purchase weight, price and space use that whole-bale count. The ledger reconciles consumed hay, feeding loss, storage loss and rounding surplus at the same entered dry matter. It does not predict moisture changes, selective nutrient loss or whether weathered hay remains suitable. Already-stored or mixed hay lots need separate assessment.
In the worked example above, each goat has an entered hay allocation of 1.8 kg dry matter per day, equivalent to 2 kg consumed hay at 90% dry matter before losses. Five goats over 120 days require 1,080 kg hay dry matter. The entered losses increase the purchase to 71 whole 20 kg bales. This arithmetic does not select a ration.
Body-weight percentages depend on the goat’s class and diet. Nebraska Extension describes total dry-matter intake and the roles of forage and supplements; a total-diet percentage is not automatically a hay-only allocation. Mississippi State Extension explains how storage conditions and duration affect losses. These publications support those distinctions, not every entered scenario. About & sources.
Entering hay already on hand subtracts whole bales from the rounded gross requirement and shows the net bales and cost still to buy. Check my season fields turn entered mid-season stock into an observed disappearance rate, a projected run-out date, and a whole-bale reorder quantity. The storage-upgrade scenario uses entered targets for seasonal savings and simple payback; supplier lead time adds an order-by date. Use the price converter, water planner and manure planner. The round-vs-square calculator compares explicit hay-DM purchases.
Barn-space volume uses Missouri Extension planning rates of 250 ft³/ton square and 310 ft³/ton round (US short tons); Extension Horses corroborates the square-hay rate. Actual needs vary with bale density, dimensions, and stacking; ventilation, access aisles, equipment turning space, wall clearance, and local fire-code space are not included.
Illustration: for a 60 kg goat, an entered 3% body-weight hay-DM allocation equals 1.8 kg dry matter/day, or 2 kg hay at 90% dry matter before losses. This is not a feeding recommendation.
How many bales of hay do goats need for winter?
Illustrative inputs: five 60 kg goats, 3% body-weight hay-DM/day, 120 days, 90% hay dry matter, 10% feeding loss, 5% storage loss and 20 kg bales give 71 whole bales. This is not a feeding recommendation.
Does grain automatically reduce the hay allocation?
BaleMath does not automatically subtract grain or calculate a substitution ratio. Use the hay portion of an appropriate existing ration, and seek qualified advice when changing the diet.