Hay Inventory Calculator

The waste factor is applied as a straight multiplier — (1 + waste% / 100) — on top of total raw hay demand, so it inflates every downstream figure (total tons, bales needed, cost) proportionally. The default 15% sits between the roughly 5-10% loss typical of a good ring or cone feeder and the 20-30% loss common with unrestricted ground feeding, so switching your feeding method can shift your total hay need by 10-15 percentage points on its own.

Daily consumption per head is average animal weight multiplied by the feeding rate expressed as a percent of body weight — for example, a 1,200-lb cow at a 2.5% feeding rate eats 30 lbs of hay dry matter per day. That per-head figure is then multiplied by herd size to get the whole herd's daily total, so both the weight and rate inputs scale the result linearly.

Total hay in pounds is divided by 1,200 (the assumed weight of one round bale) to get a raw bale count, then that figure is rounded up with a ceiling function, because you can't purchase or store a fractional bale — even a small remainder above a whole bale count still requires buying one more complete bale.

The cost figure multiplies bales needed by a flat $60-per-bale placeholder price rather than any live market or regional figure, and hay prices vary widely by region, hay quality, and year. The tonnage and bale-count outputs depend only on your own weight, rate, and waste inputs and are far more reliable — swap in your actual local bale price to get a meaningful budget number.