unrolling hay on the ground

[Gopher]

I've read alot about unrolling hay onto the ground. I'm at the end of my grazing season and conteplating unrolling a bale to start feeding while it is still nice out. Has anyone done that? Opinions? My soil is sandy and could use the nutrients and organic matter that is not consumed. I do not have a bale feeder, only reels, poly wire, and pig tail posts.

[rancher1913]

if you have enough cows to clean it up quckly it works, but once they crap or lay on it they won't touch it. it does tear up the surrounding ground and you wll need to reseed unless you have lots of ground and can feed hundreds of feet apart each time and give nature some time to reseed. if you only have a few cows, bale feeders are not that expensive and will pay for them selfs quickly.

[ksfarmer]

You can do it, but can waste a lot of hay. Especially if the ground is wet or muddy. Don't roll out more that can be consumed on a daily basis and make them clean it up as much as possible. There will still be some waste just from walking on the hay and messing on it.

edit" Rancher makes good points. It is hard on the grass you feed on.

[oneokie]

Question.
What type of soil and varieties of grass do you have that you experience the kind of damage you are speaking of in relation to feeding by unrolling hay bales?

[springvalley]

It doesn`t really matter what kinda ground you have, what the guys have suggested above is right. We use to rollout our bales to feed stocker cows and it works ok if they clean it up quickly. But if they don`t they will make a mess out of the left overs. We used a bale feeder after that, on cement, and worked alot better. > Thanks Marc

[agmantoo]

Rolling out hay is a great way to feed round bales. Timid cows will get a chance to eat, very little hay is wasted and areas that are low in nutrients can be built up with the manure that is dropped as the animals eat. I have a rather inexpensive device that fits the 3 point hitch. I can transport the bale, unroll as little or as much as the bale contains where I want in the pasture. If I recall correctly the device sold for $400 when I bought it roughly $12 years ago. I experienced almost no waste as I put out what I wanted the cattle to have daily. There was very little pugging as I rotated the feeding location each time I fed. Before I went to this method of feeding round bales I had one of the very expensive trailer bale feeders and there was always mud where the cattle concentrated as they ate. Even though I took a financial loss, I was truly happy to see that feeder turn the corner as the new owner pulled it away.

[francismilker]

I unroll my round bales and feed them with great success provided I only put enough out for them for the day's eating. I try to do it on my poorest ground and can see noticeably greener grass there the following spring. In fact, I've actually started (two years ago) tossing some common bermuda grass seed out in the line the I'm fixing to unroll hay. The cattle stomp it in to the ground and fertilize it well for me and it makes a good stand the following growing season. I've got some of the most pitiful excuse for grazing ground in the world down in one of my river bottoms that's nothing other than blow sand. You can look down there and see exactly where I've sowed seed and unrolled a bale last year. It's the only ground that has enough organic matter in it to hold enough moisture to sprout and sustain grass growth.

[Gopher]

That is what I'm planning on doing. Using polywire to basically strip graze what I roll out. Essentially rolling out the whole thing and putting a polywire perpendicular to it so it basically lasts 5 days. 5 days is my estimate on how long a bale would last. I've read a lot about the advantages of feeding on the ground regarding what the pasture looks like in the future. I like the idea of putting down some seed (white clover in my case). I guess I look at hay as feed. But also organic matter and nutrients that my soil needs. Thank you all for your comments.