Livestock Feed & Hay Budgeter
Enter your goat, sheep, pig, and rabbit numbers and get a real estimate of annual hay bales and grain bags needed, based on genuine feed intake rates.
Feed is one of the largest ongoing costs of keeping livestock, and it's genuinely easy to underestimate before your first winter of hand-feeding hay. This calculator uses real intake-rate guidance (as a percentage of body weight for grazing animals, and real ration weights for pigs and rabbits) to give you an annual bale and bag count, not just a vague "budget more than you think."
Feed Budget Calculator
These figures assume animals are being fed hay/grain as their primary feed source with little pasture access — genuine pasture access reduces hay needs considerably. This is general information, not a substitute for a vet or agronomist's advice for your specific animals and property.
Total hay needed: —
Small square bales (~20kg each): —
Large round bales (~450kg each): —
Total grain/pellet needed (pigs + rabbits): —
20kg grain bags: —
Why Feed Is Calculated as a Percentage of Body Weight
Grazing animals genuinely eat in proportion to their size, which is why hay intake is standardly worked out as a percentage of body weight rather than a flat daily amount — a 50kg goat and a 90kg goat have real, different hay needs even side by side in the same paddock. This calculator uses roughly 3% of body weight per day in hay for both goats and sheep, a commonly cited winter maintenance figure, and builds in an allowance for the real waste both species produce (goats especially, which are notoriously picky and will pull hay out of feeders just to reject the coarse parts). Pigs and rabbits eat differently — pigs on a concentrated grain ration around 4% of body weight per day, and rabbits on a much smaller, precisely portioned pellet ration around 15g per kilogram of body weight, plus hay offered freely.
This Assumes Little to No Pasture Access
These figures are for animals being fed hay or grain as their primary source, which is the realistic case for winter, drought, or a small yard-based setup without real grazing. If your animals have genuine pasture access for part of the year, actual hay needs drop considerably during that period — this calculator gives you the hand-feeding ceiling, not a year-round pasture-inclusive average, so treat the numbers as what you'd need if you had to feed entirely from stored hay and grain.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much hay does one goat eat per day?
Roughly 3% of body weight per day as a winter maintenance figure — for an average 50kg goat, that's about 1.5kg of hay per day, before accounting for waste.
Why isn't poultry included in this calculator?
Poultry feed needs vary too much between species to give one honest figure — a quail and a turkey have very different daily rations. Each poultry tool on this site covers its own species-specific needs instead.
Does this account for pasture grazing?
No, deliberately — this calculates the amount you'd need if hand-feeding entirely from stored hay and grain. Real pasture access reduces these numbers considerably.
How much does a pig eat per day?
Roughly 4% of body weight per day on a grain ration, averaging around 2.2kg per day across a typical growing-to-finishing cycle.
For species-specific feeding detail, see each animal's own guide in our full Animal Guides library.