Un-roll round hay?

da.bees · Dec 21, 2018

I notice devices for sale to un-roll hay. We put rings around bales and alow cattle free choice. We attempt to feed small squares free choice in racks to control waste and fighting. Do any of you un-roll and if so why?

coshoo · Dec 21, 2018

I feed in a different place in the field every day- If you don't unroll it, they hog a lot of it down and waste it. Unrolling is pretty much the same result as throwing out sheafs of small squares as you drive down the field.

David from Kansas · Dec 21, 2018

We feed our cows/calves a small amount of alfalfa to supplement the grass hay so we just unroll a small amount. If we fed it free choice they would over-eat the alfalfa. We do feed grass hay free choice but also unroll some so that the calves have better access to it.

moresmoke · Dec 21, 2018

How well it works depends on how many cows you are feeding. And the weather. If you have 55-60 cows out on dormant pasture, you can roll out a bale, the cows will line up on either side and pretty well clean it all up. Move to a new spot every day and no piles of waste to deal with.

If you handle bales with a bucket and grapple, you can roll the bale out with the loader after a little practice.

Traditional Farmer · Dec 21, 2018

I unroll all my hay I feed cattle,spreads the uneaten hay and the manure all over the fields.Plus the cattle have have a clean place to eat and it improves the land.Only time
I don't is before a big snow is coming I set out enough bales for them for 3 or 4 days next to a thick stand of Cedars so the cattle use the Cedars for shelter water is close by too.
I wouldn't use hay rings if you gave them to me.I either unroll the hay by rolling it off hills and also have a 3pt unroller I can unroll bales with on the flats.

lee little · Dec 21, 2018

Pretty much the same as Coshoo said. I would like to feed in hay rings on gravel pads that I have but we have had so much rain that we have deep mud where the cattle come onto the pad. I unroll it in different places trying to keep cows out of the mud.

rrlund · Dec 21, 2018

I've tried it. Too wasteful.

jacksun65 · Dec 21, 2018

We have hills even if you feed them on top of the hill in rings they will make a mess and erosion will take place. Take a bale to the top make sure you have it going in the right direction and roll away.

Bob N.Y. · Dec 21, 2018

I know of people who unroll round bales to feed cows in tie stall barns.

da.bees · Dec 21, 2018

Sound's like the decision might be influenced by how wet the region is during winter.

Michael Soldan · Dec 21, 2018

I had big rounds up in the barn. I would remove the string and flip them on their end. I then took a chain saw and cut them like a big cake. I then pitch forked the wedges of hay down the chute into the mangers , then would distribute it along the manger. Very little waste. I had a feeder outside but the cattle would turn it into a mud moat in a few hours and pull hay out of the feeder and waste it. Dry concrete floor and mangers always worked best for me

hd6gtom · Dec 21, 2018

Dad fed them to his herd. He had over 200 head of cows. He never unrolled them. They were fed on a side hill. Over the years his pond, that was below the feeding grounds, filled up with run off silt from the feeding grounds. Dad retired from farming in the late 1980's and rented his pasture to another guy that fed the same way dad did. I did not know the pond had silted in. I'd have been happy to use the dragline to clean it out. But dad passed, mom sold the 320 acres so now the guy that bought it has a nice big wading pool for his kids.

greg oliver · Dec 21, 2018

da.bees, In the old tie stall barn my neighbor hangs the round bales upstairs in the barn and unroll them to feed his cows and heifers. Only takes about fifteen minutes to feed cows this way. He can hang three bales over 3 different hay chutes.

showcrop · Dec 21, 2018

It used to be commonly done on dairy farms with the old style tie stall barns. The unroller consisted of a motorized platform with a rotating platform that you set the bale on its end. You drove it down the alley way in front of the cattle unrolling as you went, putting the baleage in front of the cattle. I believe that the fellow in Ontario whose school teacher wife bakes the pies and wraps the bales does this.

Bruce from Can. · Dec 21, 2018

We unravel the round bales for the milk cows in our tie stall barn. Very little hay is ever wasted, and all the manure is applied to different fields as needed. Labor intensive, but keeping milk cows in a tie barn has always been labor intense compared to running beef cows in a loafing barn.

john *.?-!.* cub owner · Dec 21, 2018

For unrolling the bales you need the bull my neighbor used to have. He would worry around with a round bale until he got the end loose, then step on the end and go across the field pushing the bale with his head till he had it completely unrolled.

chevytaHOE5674 · Dec 21, 2018

Switched to unrolling all the hay for my main herd of cows last year and couldn't be happier. Unroll everyday what they will clean up by the next day. Cows don't have to compete for feed, have someplace clean to lay, no manure to scrape up and spread, no knee deep mud and manure come spring, less fly problems. What hay isn't eaten is not wasted as it rots down and adds nutrients back on the field. The pasture I unrolled on last winter was the first to green up in the spring and had the best grass all summer. This winter i am unrolling on other pastures as long as mother nature will allow to spread the nutrients around as much as possible.

Un-roll round hay?

da.bees

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coshoo

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David from Kansas

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moresmoke

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Traditional Farmer

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lee little

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rrlund

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jacksun65

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Bob N.Y.

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da.bees

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Michael Soldan

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hd6gtom

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greg oliver

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showcrop

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Bruce from Can.

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john .?-!. cub owner

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chevytaHOE5674

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