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.
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.
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.