Horse Feed Cost Calculator

This page prices a ration. If what you need is the ration itself, in pounds of hay, grain and gallons of water by life stage, the horse feed calculator works that out and this one puts your own hay and grain prices against it. Both use the same intake table, so the two agree on what the horse eats.

How horse feed requirements are calculated:

A horse’s daily feed intake is based on its bodyweight. Horses eat roughly 1.5–3% of their bodyweight per day in total dry matter, split between forage (hay or pasture) and concentrate (grain or pellets).

Supplements are not included in the figures below. Salt, minerals and any joint or hoof products are a separate line in the budget, and the list further down gives typical monthly ranges for them.

Daily intake formula:

Daily dry matter (lbs) = Horse weight (lbs) × Intake rate %

Intake rate by life stage, from the NRC 2007 tables. These are the same figures the horse feed calculator uses, so the ration you price here is the ration that page tells you to feed:

Leave the forage box empty and the page uses the share in that last column. Fill it in if what you actually feed differs, which it often does.

Forage first rule: At least 1–1.5% of bodyweight must come from forage (hay or grass). Grain should never replace forage, because a hindgut built to process fibre all day does not cope with a large starch meal. The calculator checks this: if your intake rate and forage share combine to put forage under 1% of bodyweight, it says so rather than quietly returning a cheaper number.

Worked example:

1,100 lb Quarter Horse in light work, so 1.90% of bodyweight, at the usual 85% forage:

• Total daily dry matter = 1,100 × 0.019 = 20.9 lbs per day
• Hay: 17.8 lbs/day at $0.15/lb = $2.66/day
• Grain: 3.1 lbs/day at $0.40/lb = $1.25/day
• Daily feed cost: $3.92, so about $119 per month and $1,430 per year

Worth noticing in that example: hay is 85% of the weight but only 68% of the cost. Grain is where price per pound does the damage, which is why the first place to look when a feed bill climbs is how much concentrate is going in and whether the horse actually needs it. Plenty of horses in light work do not, and the maintenance row above is 100% forage for exactly that reason.

Typical feed costs (US averages):

• Grass hay: $0.08–0.18 per lb
• Alfalfa hay: $0.18–0.30 per lb
• Sweet feed / grain mix: $0.30–0.55 per lb
• Pelleted complete feed: $0.35–0.60 per lb

Supplements to budget separately:

• Salt/mineral block: $5–15/month
• Joint supplement: $30–80/month
• Hoof supplement: $20–50/month
• Dewormer (rotational): $10–15/dose, 4–6 times per year

Total monthly horse ownership typically runs $300–1,500+ including board, farrier, vet, and feed combined. Feed is usually 25–40% of total cost.