Plan winter forage: head x days x as-fed lb/head/day, then bump for waste. Optional bale weight turns tons into a shopping count.
Use this when buying or budgeting hay for a feeding period — winter, drought, or drylot. As-fed pounds already include typical moisture for that hay type.
Waste from ground feeding, weather, and sorting often runs 10-20% (sometimes more). Raise waste for unprotected outdoor storage.
Winter hay planning is usually driven by the coldest months when pasture growth is near zero. Many operations size inventories for the full dry-lot or barn-feed window, then add a contingency for ice storms, late springs, or an extra open cow. This page keeps the math transparent: head × days × intake, then inflate for waste at the feeder — not a mystery “rule of thumb” tonnage with no formula behind it.
If you feed mixed species or change rations mid-winter, run the calculator once per group (or per ration period) and add the tonnages. Pair the result with the barn capacity and bale-count tools so storage and purchasing stay in sync.
Base lb = head x days x lb/head/day. With waste: total = base x (1 + waste%/100). Tons = total / 2000. Bales = ceil(total / lb/bale).
base_lb = head x days x lb_per_head_day
total_lb = base_lb x (1 + waste% / 100)
tons = total_lb / 2,000
bales = ceil(total_lb / lb_per_bale)
Not a balanced ration — only as-fed mass. Growing animals, lactation, and cold stress may need more than your entered daily pounds.
25 head x 120 days x 25 lb/day = 75,000 lb base. At 15% waste → 86,250 lb ≈ 43.1 tons. At 1,200 lb/bale → 72 bales.
Second example (small flock add-on): 40 ewes eating 4.5 lb hay/head/day for 120 days with 10% waste → base 21,600 lb → with waste 24,000 lb ≈ 12.0 tons. At 50 lb small squares that is about 480 bales before any contingency.
Assumptions: constant daily offer; waste applied as a flat multiplier.
Limits: protein/energy adequacy is out of scope; test hay and consult a nutritionist for diets.
Responsibility: planning estimate — verify with scale tickets and body-condition checks.
Enter as-fed pounds you actually feed. For DM planning, convert using moisture % first.
Only bale weight matters here — use the round/square bale count tool if you already know tons.
Often count the pair's combined daily hay, or count cows and add calf intake separately.
Ring feeders and good storage trend lower; ground-fed unprotected hay trends higher. Start 10-20% and adjust from experience.
Pick one convention and stick to it. Many planners put storage shrink in a separate line and use waste % for feeder refusal/trampling only. If your waste % already includes barn shrink, do not double-count.
After you trust the base tons, many farms add 10–20% for weather and inventory error. Apply that multiplier to total tons rather than changing intake unless animals truly eat more.