How much hay do goats need for winter?
Short answer
4–5 lb a day per standard goat · 500–600 lb a winter · about 13 small squares
A 150-lb goat eats about 4–5 lb of hay a day at maintenance, which is 500–600 lb over a 120-day winter — about 13 small square bales from a feeder, 15 fed on the ground. A Nigerian Dwarf eats about half that. A doe in her last trimester eats a third more, a milking doe half again as much. The spread you see on forums ("2 lb" vs "6 lb") is mostly body weight and stage, not disagreement.
The arithmetic
- Dry matter per day = body weight × 2.5–3%. Arkansas puts ruminant intake at 2.5–3% of body weight in dry matter; Oregon State's range for goats is 2–6% depending on stage. 150 lb × 3% = 4.5 lb of dry matter.
- Hay as fed = dry matter ÷ 0.88. Hay is about 88–92% dry matter, so 4.5 ÷ 0.88 ≈ 5.1 lb of hay in the feeder. Most calculators, ours included, round this to 4–5 lb a day for a 150-lb goat.
- Season = per-day × days. 4.5 lb × 120 days = 540 lb per goat before waste.
- Add waste. Feeder about 15%, ground about 30%, slow-feed net about 8%. 540 × 1.15 = 621 lb, which is 13 small squares at 50 lb.
Why do the hay figures for goats run from 2% to 6% of body weight?
Four sources, four ranges — and they are all describing the same goat at different moments.
- Oregon State University
- Goats 2–6% of body weight in dry matter — the widest range anyone publishes
- University of Arkansas, FSA-9613
- 2.5–3% for ruminants; its doe table works out to 2.0% dry, 2.6% last trimester, 3.1% lactating
- Cornell Small Farms
- 2.5% as the base rate, 3.0% once waste is folded in, for every species
- Our hay calculator
- 3% as fed for goats, waste added separately by feeding method
Oregon State's 2–6% spans a dry wether in October and a doe nursing triplets in March. Arkansas's table shows the same thing as a sequence: a 110-lb doe goes from 2.2 lb of dry matter a day dry, to 2.9 in her last trimester, to 3.4 in milk. The number is not in dispute; the goat keeps changing.
Pick 3% for a standard doe at maintenance and you land inside everyone's range. The number that actually moves your bale count is waste, and that one you control.
What changes your number
- Days without browse. Gulf Coast goats may need 90 days of full hay; the northern tier needs 180 or more. Count from your first hard frost to green-up, not from the calendar.
- How you feed it. NC State measured 5% waste from a rack and 13% off the ground for small squares, and goats are worse than horses at this: they will not eat what they have walked on. Ground feeding roughly doubles the waste line.
- Hay quality. Stemmy hay gets picked through. Waste goes up, and so does intake, because they eat more trying to get the same energy.
- Breeding calendar. Does bred for February kids are in their last trimester in December and January. Plan the +30% then, and the +55% once they kid.
- Body weight. A 75-lb Nigerian Dwarf and a 200-lb Boer buck are not the same hay line. Weigh a few or use the breed average, not "150."
- Grain and pasture. Anything else they eat comes off the hay line — but hay should still be most of the ration for a ruminant.
A number we won't give you
A goat-specific cold-weather feed increase. The published cold-weather rule — about 1% more energy for every °F of wind chill below 32°F with a dry coat, 2% per °F below 59°F wet — was worked out for beef cattle (Oklahoma State, published by Nebraska Extension). No extension service we can find publishes the goat curve. The direction is the same; the slope is not published, so we won't invent one. That is what the 10–15% cushion is for.
Per goat, 120 days, fed from a feeder
| Animal | Hay per day | Season (120 days) | With 15% waste | Small squares (50 lb) | Rounds (1,000 lb) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nigerian Dwarf doe, 75 lb | 2.5 lb | 300 lb | 345 lb | 7 | 0.3 |
| Standard doe, 150 lb, dry | 4.5 lb | 540 lb | 621 lb | 13 | 0.6 |
| Standard doe, 150 lb, last trimester (+30%) | 6 lb | 720 lb | 828 lb | 17 | 0.8 |
| Standard doe, 150 lb, in milk (+55%) | 7 lb | 840 lb | 966 lb | 20 | 1.0 |
| Buck or wether, 200 lb | 6 lb | 720 lb | 828 lb | 17 | 0.8 |
Stage multipliers follow Arkansas FSA-9613's doe table: dry 2.2 lb of dry matter → last trimester 2.9 lb (+32%) → lactating 3.4 lb (+55%). The round-bale column assumes 1,000 lb; a 4×4 round can weigh 400–600 lb (WVU), so weigh one or ask.
The whole herd — 150-lb goats, 120 days
| Head | Hay per day, whole herd | Feeder, 15% waste | Ground, 30% waste | Round bales (1,000 lb), feeder |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 9 lb | 1,242 lb · 25 small squares | 1,404 lb · 29 small squares | 2 |
| 5 | 22.5 lb | 3,105 lb · 63 small squares | 3,510 lb · 71 small squares | 4 |
| 10 | 45 lb | 6,210 lb · 125 small squares | 7,020 lb · 141 small squares | 7 |
| 20 | 90 lb | 12,420 lb · 249 small squares | 14,040 lb · 281 small squares | 13 |
Add the 10–15% cushion every extension office recommends. A late spring costs more than a leftover bale.
Run your own numbers
This is our winter hay calculator with goats filled in. Change the head count, weight, days or feeder and the bale count follows.
Your animals
| Species | Head | Avg weight (lb) |
|---|---|---|
| Goat | ||
| Sheep | ||
| Cattle | ||
| Horse | ||
| Alpaca / Llama | ||
| Donkey |
You’ll need about
63 bales
- Total hay (with waste)
- 3,105 lb
- That’s
- 1.6 tons
- Per day, all animals
- 26 lb
5 goats: 23 lb/day → 2,700 lb+ 15% waste
Hard winter, late kids, or a doe in milk? Most folks buy a 10% cushion (69 bales) — hay is scarcest and priciest in February.
The same tool lives at /tools/hay-calculator with every species and the arithmetic explained.
What the winter costs
At Cornell's 2024 New York prices — $4–6 a small square, $180–265 a ton — a standard doe's 13 bales run about $52–78 for a 120-day winter from a feeder; add a third for ground feeding. A 4×4 round at $40–50 weighs 400–600 lb (WVU), so one round is roughly one doe's whole winter with a little to spare, at about half the price per pound of small squares. Your prices will differ; the ratio between them usually does not.
What to do with the surplus
Hay still in the barn in April is not a mistake, it is May's insurance — spring is the hardest time of year to find hay and the most expensive time to buy it. Keep it dry and off the ground and a year-old small square is fine. Hay that got wet and smells sweet or dusty is not: a moldy bale is a vet bill, not a saving.
Then stop planning from averages
The table above is somebody else's goats. In Homestead Paradise you log the bales you actually buy and the animals you actually have: each pen shows feed cost per head per day, each item of feed shows the day it runs out, and the budget page shows whether winter is running over what you planned. 14-day free trial, no card.
Start your 14-day trial — no cardKeep planning
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from a land-grant university extension service, a government agriculture or energy agency, or a breed registry — never from another blog.
- University of Arkansas Extension — FSA-9613, feeding small ruminants: intake by class, hay ≈ 88% dry matter
- Oregon State University Small Farms — Calculating Livestock Winter Hay Needs: intake as % of body weight by species, 10–50% waste
- Cornell Small Farms — How Much Hay Do I Need for Winter? (2024): 2.5 lb per 100 lb, 3.0 with waste, 200-day plan, bale prices
- West Virginia University Extension — Calculating Your Winter Hay Needs: 2–2.5%, round-bale weights, 5–20% waste, hay 90–93% dry matter
- NC State Extension, Polk County — Calculating Winter Hay Needs: waste by feeding method (rack 5%, basket 3%, ground 13%), storage 5%
- University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension (Glenn Selk, Oklahoma State) — Feeding Cows for Cold Weather: lower critical temperature and the per-degree energy rule