Round Bale question..

Shirley · #21 09/26/07, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandB

Question about feeding round bales to livestock -

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.

Get a cattle hay ring. It is easy, even as big and bulky as they seem, to put it on its side and roll it to the bale then place it over the bale.

Jim S. · #22 09/26/07, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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?

Neighbor who just had a truck would drive two hefty rebars into the bale on each side, then hook a rope between them with loops on the ends, then hook that over his bumper hitch ball and pull the bale opposite the roll direction to unroll some. When done, he pulled it back in the direction of the roll to store it. Good enough for a pinch.

They make bale unrollers for tractors with rear hydraulic ports, but they are pricey. Google em and you might be able to build one of your own, if your tractor can handle that.

My rolls are stored in the barn hayloft, so I just push them on end, take off the twine, and unroll what I need.

If you make a hay holder yourself, the best I have seen is a frame from which chains are attached to form a U that the bale sits in. I am going to eventually build one myself. If you get the drift, it looks kinda like:

U
I I

UNDER EDIT: Better yet, look here. Replace the tubing with 4-5 chains...make the frame wood if need be...

http://sutcliffefence.com/sheep_&_goat.htm

**Ross** · #23 09/26/07, 11:13 AM

I hate forkign off a round bale, ad the waste with sheep is unbelievable. So if you have 70+hp get a chopper, and chop it into bunks. Kinda ties up tractor and you need some way to load most, but a few self load.

agmantoo · #24 09/26/07, 09:13 PM

I have one of these from the days I depended on baled hay for winter feed. http://www.deere.com/en_US/ProductCa...leUnroller.pdf
This device worked the best of everything I tried. The one I had came from Leinbach Machinery and cost around $430 then. I think I saved cnough hay the first year to pay for the device.

YounGrey · #25 09/26/07, 10:32 PM

Joke: Why aren't they allowed to round bale hay anymore? A: Because the cows weren't getting a square meal!

fishhead · #26 09/27/07, 06:45 AM

I wonder if an ice saw wouldn't work for cutting round bales. A minnow trapper friend of mine uses one to cut ice for setting traps under the ice and he says it's almost as fast a chain saw.

For those that aren't familiar they look like a large heavy duty banana saw with large teeth on a long handle.

mink · #27 09/27/07, 09:27 AM

if you cut hay with a chainsaw theres a special chain made for the job..mink

WindowOrMirror · #28 09/27/07, 09:31 AM

we bale ours into large squares and feed the large flakes... works great.

Why don't you use (or design) a feeder specifically for sheep? That is, something with smaller holes/spaces in it so they can't pull out a bunch at a time?

R

RandB · #29 09/27/07, 03:23 PM

WOW, thanks for all the good ideas!

We do get some small square bales for use with our horses, but our storage area is limited, and the guy we get them from at a reasonable price, doesn't have enough available to carry us through the whole winter, so we get the big bales as "extra". By mid-winter if you can even find small bales, they are 5 or 6 dollars each. Our horses can't handle the round bales, they pig out 24/7 when we give them one, so with the small bales we can control the amount they eat. I would like to find those giant square bales, but so far haven't been able to find them closer than 50 miles away. Our budget is very tight this year, so we can't afford the waste that sheep make with round bales. As others said here, they can ruin almost half the hay! They burrow in from the ends til it collapses, then use it to lay on. I guess first we will try up-ending one, and pulling some off. I don't know if DH would want to risk ruining his chainsaw on hay. We will have to construct some kind of shelter for it, our storage barns for the small bales don't have big enough doors to get a big bale inside. That small pool idea on top is a good one, but unfortunately around here, there is no place to get one until next spring...Christmas stuff is in the stores already !!!

texican · #30 09/27/07, 04:44 PM

I remember helping my father feed his cows one winter, his tractor was feeling poorly and didn't like the two week of 10 degree weather.... so I'd get his jeep pickup, tie a cable around the round bale, put her in 4wd, and take off with the bale bouncing behind me. I'd unhook the cable, and if any strings were left, cut em off, then start pushing the bale with the truck till it started unrolling.

Nowadays, If I neded just a little hay off a round bale, I'd stand it on end, cut the strings and just pull off what I needed each day.

hintonlady · #31 09/27/07, 04:56 PM

I have a simple cheap solution

Using a pallet base my DH attached 4 pallet sides, voila done.

He also took out a few middle section boards so it was at sheep head height.
They USED to spread hay like it was field confetti and make it nasty.

Now 1 round bale lasts my sheep a month (27 head) in a over grazed pen. (waiting to fence another pasture)

They barely spill any at all and usually graze those bits before wasting it. It cut my hay use in half.

Don't know how to help you with the loading part. We just keep the bunk near the fence line and fill it every couple days with a pitchfork over the fence. The less full it is the less they waste.

Be happy to post pix if someone wants to explain how. (I get a box to promt and have no idea what to do with it)

**highlands** · #32 09/27/07, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandB

I don't know if DH would want to risk ruining his chainsaw on hay.

I've cut hay with my chainsaw - it does no damage to the saw and is a lot gentler on it than when I'm logging, cutting timber framing, limbing or blocking up firewood.

For some tricks on making do, see this post about moving around round bales:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/2006/12...ering-hay.html

Cheers

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

RandB · #33 09/28/07, 04:00 PM

Hintonlady, would love to see a picture of your set-up,
If you go to the HT forum "computer questions" there is a sticky explaining how to post pictures. The pictures have to be posted somewhere like photobucket.com, though.