Sheep Feed Calculator
Estimate how much hay, grain, and loose mineral your sheep need for a week, winter, or full year. Adjust body weight, forage rate, pasture offset, hay waste, package sizes, and prices for your flock.
For twelve 150 lb adult ewes eating hay at 2.5% of body weight, plan around 45 lb of hay per day before waste. With a 10% waste buffer, that becomes about 1,485 lb for 30 days, or roughly 30 small 50 lb bales.
A practical hay planning rule is 2% to 3% of body weight per day in dry forage. Light-maintenance adult sheep may sit near the lower end. Cold weather, poorer hay, late gestation, lactation, fast growth, and limited pasture can move the estimate higher.
For winter buying, choose a 120 or 150 day period, enter your local bale weight, then round up. Extra bales are cheap insurance when winter runs long, hay is stemmy, bales are light, or the flock wastes more around feeders.
Daily hay pounds based on sheep count, average weight, forage rate, pasture offset, and hay waste.
Optional measured feed for lambs, thin sheep, late-gestation ewes, lactating ewes, or label-directed rations.
A simple loose mineral estimate in pounds for the selected planning period.
Rounded bale and bag counts with estimated hay, grain, mineral, and daily costs.
For hay planning, many small-flock owners start around 2% to 3% of body weight per day in dry forage. A 150 lb ewe at 2.5% needs about 3.75 lb of dry forage daily before pasture offsets and waste.
Choose the 120 or 150 day winter period, enter your flock count and average weight, then divide the hay total by your local bale weight. Add extra if winter runs long, pasture is unavailable, bales are light, or feeder waste is high.
Healthy adult sheep on good forage may need little or no grain. Lambs, late-gestation ewes, lactating ewes, thin sheep, or animals on poor forage may need carefully measured concentrate. Avoid sudden feed changes and follow local guidance.
Hay can be trampled, sorted, rained on, blown away, or refused. A waste buffer helps estimate what you need to buy, not just the ideal intake on paper.