Round Bale question..

[RandB]

Question about feeding round bales to livestock -

Have you found any convenient way to open a round bale and just feed a section of it at a time? As opposed to putting the whole bale in the field with the animals. We used some round bales last winter with our sheep, but they waste so much of it when allowed access to a whole bale. We can't afford this year to buy one of those holders for a round bale, we will be lucky to afford enough hay. Also, we don't have a large enough tractor to move a round bale. We get it loaded on our truck, then pull it off the truck in the place it will stay. So, we can't lift it to be able to "unroll" it or place it in a feeder. Our first choice would be to try one of those large square bales, I can see being able to feed that a section at a time, but we are having trouble locating anyone within a reasonable distance who has those big squares. Any ideas?

[Farmerwilly2]

We keep ours on pallets, covered, on their side. You can unroll what you need to feed and keep the rest covered up. Not a lot of waste that way.

[Rowdy]

I have had luck with using a cattle panel to wrap around the bale to keep the goats from climbing all over it, and make them eat a bit more of it. Every once in awhile (depending on how much they are eating) I have to go tighten the panel a bit.

I have also unwrapped one by rolling it along the ground. Some people use a chainsaw on them to cut off hunks, but I don't do that.

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

I turn mine on their side and put one of those plastic wading pools over the end to keep out rain. It is turned on end on a pallet to keep it off the ground and dry. I then just unwind what I need and feed it. My only complaint is that the strands of hay are so long when I feed Sudan Grass or Millet hay, compared to what I find when I open a square bale.

[Cornhusker]

I just stand them on end and pull it off a layer at a time.
Of course, I feed alfalfa, so I don't know how it'd work on longer stuff.
I do know that standing a bale on end is about all one man wants to handle.

[horsefarmer]

The chainsaw idea actually works really well but it is hard on a saw as it draws a lot of debris into it. I'd also want to use corn oil for the bar oil so the animals wouldn't get anything potentially harmful but if you can pick up a cheap garage sale saw, it is fast and simple to do. Just kind of hack out the chunks you want to use and if put the bales in your garden, the debris can either become mulch or just decompose in the soil.

[PlowGirl]

I generally make hay rings out of two overlapped hog panels wired together. They're low enough that livestock can reach over or pull hay through the squares, without trampling or wasting in the hay. The panels run less than $20/per and are easy to move, just roll them to the bale and flop it down. If you don't want to free choice, a silage fork and a wheelbarrow will be your best bet, and it doesn't matter whether the bale is on end or on it's side.

[highlands]

I've chainsawed bails into eights. Worked fine. Positioning it so they can only get at part of the bale works. I'm feeding pigs and sheep. I like the idea of the cattle panel and will try that.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org

[willow_girl]

OMG, I feel for you ... sheep are TERRIBLE when it comes to hay! They will pick out the choicest leaves then bleat for more while standing knee-deep in hay they've peed on. GRRR!

In addition to the above very good sections, can you put the hay just outside their fence or gate, so they have to eat through the bars?

[haypoint]

My neighbor has a novel way to feed his cows and I think it would work for sheep. He puts his big round bales of hay in the barn. Across the end of the barn he built a "gate" that is made from 4 inch well pipe on top and bottom, with 2 inch pipes up and down, spaced so the cows can get their heads thru, but not their bodies. To keep it upright, he welded long "skis" from 4 inch well pipe. Imagine a huge bike stand. This "gate" keeps the cows from the hay. They push against it and reach the hay. But they can't reach more hay until they have cleaned up the less desirable hay they have left. Once they have eaten up all the hay, they are able to shove the gate ahead to reach more hay. No waste.

[okie-steading]

why not just use small square bales?

[ksfarmer]

I would think small bales would be your answer. I have used a chain saw to cut big bales,,,,sure will ruin a saw , and watch you don't catch the hay on fire.! A big round on its end will unwrap fairly easily and can be pitched into a bunk a portion at a time.

[Raptor]

Originally Posted by okie-steading

why not just use small square bales?

That's what I was thinking.

[JacknJava]

Originally Posted by Raptor

That's what I was thinking.

Probably because they are much more expensive. Hay is relatively cheap in our area, but still costs around $3-$4 for 40 lb squares, while you can get 1,000 lb round bales for $25-$30.

I would love to feed squares to my horses, but we have a local farmer hay our 10 acre hay field for us, and they do not have a square baler...only rounds. My husband and I don't own a tractor (yet) and we have to hand-roll those suckers out every two weeks. The horses waste a lot, but we make them clean it up pretty good before we put a new bale out.

We've tried several different things, and ended up just giving them the entire bale. It's too difficult in the middle of winter to try to pull hay off a round bale. Plus, it's the only way for them to keep warm, so I'd rather they have as much as they want to eat.

[georgec]

Originally Posted by okie-steading

why not just use small square bales?

Square bales are becoming difficult to find in most areas. The are very labor intensive, so farmers don't want to deal with them. The are also about double the cost per ton.

[BetsyK in Mich]

I have sheep too. I had the local Amish welder make me feed gates similiar to what Haypoint described. Works great. The welder charged me $125 for an 8 foot gate of 1 inch square steel, two go across the width of my barn. I just keep moving them back to the bales as the sheep eat it. I stack the bales on end side by side.

[Ravenlost]

We store three round bales in the hall of the barn and use the pitchfork to pull it apart to feed to the horses.

[Cat]

I have a feeder that's made of cattle panels with a single cross-bar removed about 18" from the ground from every fourth column, or something such as that, that I use for the sheep. Fat-hog ewes can push that, though, so I have to use a T post in the the middle to keep them from caving it in and eating until they pop. (Or, like WG says, peeing on it!)

What I thought about doing last year was creating a hay pen where I can get several bales at a time to have on hand. My thought was that the pen would be made of cattle panels with a single panel cut for the sheep (and now cow/calves/horse) to feed from. This panel would be attached to wooden posts by using two sections of rebar and a set of eye screws.

These would be placed in the wooden posts, top and bottom and the rebar slid through each to press the entire length of the panel against the post. Then when you wanted to move to a new bale, it's just be a matter of moving that panel and the next in line.

There are problems with this though, you have to pitch hay, which isn't an altogether bad thing except when the wind is blowing 100 miles an hour like it does incessantly here, and you have to take the time to pitch hay. Last year the area I had my bales was not sheltered from the winter winds and it was way away from the house. I eventually ended up letting the animals eat free choice as I wasted more leaves by them being blown away than I actually fed, I think. Also, we were feeding cane and that doesn't pitch worth a crap. Then after we got the ice storm where all the gates were frozen shut for two months solid it created about 18" of standing water for about two weeks where the only thing that'd go back there was the horse, sheep do NOT like walking in standing water! Thankfully I'd utilized all 4 separate sections when placing bales so we had other bales available, but I decided I needed to do something different with hay! I haven't gotten any alfalfa yet this year, just wheat hay, but I think I'm going to place the alfalfa in a round bale feeder and allow them free choice with the grass/wheat hay and only let them feed from the alfalfa bale for an hour or two at a time.

[gina kay]

We have one of the metal round bale holders and it is worthless! We have 2 heifers, 1 bull, and 3 horses and the hay still seem to be be everywhere, and the heifer calf could climb over the piping up into the hay. I'd be concerned about turning the round bale up onto it's side as I'd be afraid it could get knocked over. Maybe not at first due to the weight of it compared to the size/weight of the sheep but as it's eaten down it could get knocked over and who knows who would be on the other side. We had one get knocked over (by the truck bumping into it but fortunately nothing was on the opposite side.

[rambler]

Standing the bale on end & peeling the bale apart with a pitchfork is probably the easiest to feed small amounts.

The moving head gates to allow several critters to eat the bale while not messing up too much also works well.

--->Paul