How much hay should I buy?

[wierdo4life]

How much hay should I buy for three pigs? I am going to order the hay online and I'm not sure if 50 lbs would be too much or if 5 lbs would be too little. I have a small shed that I could use to store the hay in.

[Percy's Mom]

I typically buy my hay big. As long as you can keep it dry, and the hay looks green and smells nice, the hay doesn't go bad. It's much cheaper per pound to buy lots of hay. As an example, I just put an order in for 45lbs of bluegrass for my 4 pigs. That will last about 6-8 months.

[aqh88]

So long as the shed doesn't get really hot and humid like some do hay is good for about a year. I prefer to use it up in 6months but fresh cut hay will still retain nearly all it's nutrients up to 1 year. I buy 200lbs of hay at a time to get the big shipping discount. That way even an order from kmshayloft comes out at less than $1/lb. You do have to have somewhere dry, out of the sun, and preferably not too hot to store it all.

[PiggieMom]

I agree, if you have a shed you'll save money if you buy big. For my five pigs we go through about 25 lbs of hay every two months or so. A lot of it goes to waste however because my pigs love to pee in it.