Tool

Hay calculator: how many bales do you need?

See how much hay to buy, how many whole bales to order and how long your counted stock covers your planned use. Add a price to calculate the cost.

This calculator uses your planned daily amounts. It does not decide how much hay to feed or add a reserve for you.

Use a count taken before that day’s hay was used. This date is the first day of the calculation.

Enter the stock you counted, then choose kilograms or bales. You can enter 0 or part of a bale.

Use a measured or supplier-provided weight for the bales you would order. If you enter your stock in bales, this weight also applies to those bales.

Optional. Enter the amount without a currency symbol. Use the same currency for the bale price and delivery.

Optional. Enter the charge for one delivery, without a currency symbol. Enter 0 for no charge; leave blank if unknown.

Optional. Enter any extra hay you want left after the planned use. Leave blank to add no reserve.

Hay use by period

Periods follow one another from your stock count date. Add a period whenever planned daily use changes.

    Keep your entries in this browser for another visit. Anyone using this browser can reopen them. Clearing this site’s browser data removes the saved copy.

    Enter your stock count, bale weight and at least one period to calculate how much to order.

    Turn on JavaScript to calculate your order and create the overview. You can still read the calculation method below.

    Document preview

    How the calculation works

    1. Daily kilograms multiplied by days gives each period’s use. We add the periods together, then add only the extra reserve you entered.
    2. Stock entered in kilograms is used directly. Stock entered in bales is multiplied by the bale weight. We subtract this stock from the total needed to find the shortfall or surplus.
    3. A positive shortfall is divided by the bale weight and rounded up to whole bales. No additional bales are needed when counted stock meets or exceeds the total needed.
    4. If you enter a bale price, the cost is the number of bales to order multiplied by that price. A delivery charge is added once when entered and when an order is needed. Leaving delivery blank gives a bales-only cost. No currency conversion is made.
    5. Each period starts immediately after the previous one. The stock count date is included as the first day. Stock coverage ends on the last day whose full planned amount is covered; a partly covered day is not counted.
    6. Coverage uses counted stock without setting aside the reserve or adding the calculated order. If stock covers all entered periods, we show the plan’s end and any hay left. We do not assume what happens after the plan.
    7. No allowance is added for waste, weather or changes you have not entered.

    The result covers the shortfall between your counted stock and the total needed for your entered periods and reserve. It rounds the order up to whole bales using your bale weight.

    No. Enter the daily amounts from your existing feeding plan. This calculator adds up those amounts to help you plan stock and orders.

    Add a separate period for each daily amount, up to six periods. Enter the total daily use for all horses included in the calculation. The periods run consecutively; an explicitly entered zero represents a period with no planned hay use.

    Enter existing stock in kilograms if one bale weight does not describe it. Use the weight of the bales you intend to order for Weight per bale. The order calculation assumes each new bale has that weight; check it with your supplier.

    It is the last day whose full planned amount is covered. Some hay may remain, but not enough for the next planned day. If stock covers the whole plan, the result shows the plan’s end and any hay left instead of predicting a later date.

    Your extra reserve is included in the order calculation. Stock coverage checks planned daily use without setting that reserve aside. You may therefore have enough for the planned use but still need more to leave the reserve you chose.

    Your calculation entries are processed on this device. If you choose to save them, they are stored in this browser. Your entries and overview are not sent to Halster or included in the page link.

    Keep your hay and water arrangements togetherKeep supplier details, stock counts and water responsibilities alongside your existing feeding instructions.Read about hay and water