Interactive lesson

Forage plan, step by step

Interactive lesson: how much hay and grazing your animals need, how much land and barn space that means, and when to make forage and when to buy it.

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1. Hay per animal

First work out how much hay your animals eat over winter.

  1. Goat and sheep — For a 180-day winter allow roughly 400 kg of hay per goat (880 lb) and 350 kg per sheep (770 lb). A kid or lamb that stays in the herd: about 150 kg.
  2. Cow and horse — A 500–600 kg cow needs 2,000–2,500 kg (4,400–5,500 lb), a horse 1,500–1,800 kg. Give a horse only spotless, dust-free hay.
  3. Livestock units — Roughly 1 cow = 6–7 goats or sheep = 1 horse. Goats still want finer hay and different grazing.
  4. Weigh 10 bales — A small bale can be 12 kg or it can be 25. Weigh 10 bales from different parts of the stack and write down the average.

Why: The most common mistake on a new smallholding isn't a poor breed, but forage that runs out in February. That's when hay is dearest and hardest to find. So everything is worked out in kilograms of hay, because that's what you weigh and stack.

  • 1 kg of hay ≈ 4–5 kg of fresh grass ≈ 2.5–3 kg of silage in feed value.
  • For a cow, horse or donkey, agree the ration with a livestock adviser or vet when you buy the animal.

2. How long winter lasts

The length of winter without grazing depends on altitude, the year and the land.

  1. Upland and northern UK — In upland and northern UK, Scotland and US zones 5–6, winter without grazing lasts 150–180 days. That's the basis of these sums.
  2. Hill farms — In hill country, the northern US and Canada winter lasts 180–220 days. Because of snow, keep hay back for May too.
  3. Lowlands — In lowland England, Wales and most of Ireland allow 120–160 days. Grazing is stopped by wet ground and poaching, not frost.
  4. Reserve 10–20 % — A late spring, snow in April, rain-spoiled hay and losses at feeding call for a reserve. A goat wastes 10–15 % of its hay.

Why: In lowland UK and Ireland grazing really starts in March or April and ends in October or November. In the hills and uplands it starts in May and ends in October. Every extra day is hay you need to have.

  • In the mild west (Cornwall, south-west Ireland) winter lasts 60–120 days; in the US South summer drought can be longer than winter.
  • Reserve hay is never wasted: if some is left, the older hay is used first the next winter.

3. How much land · Locked

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4. The forage year · Locked

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5. Make or buy · Locked

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6. Space and plan · Locked

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