How to cut up a round bale

RayP(MI) · Oct 3, 2023

We ended up with 60 round bales of grass
hay, because of failures in my haymaking
equipment. Thanks to the friend who
baled them, but I'm having trouble
breaking the bales up to hand feed my
sheep and goats equivalent to a couple
squares a day. The bales are wrapped so
tight and the hay is so interwoven. How
can I cut the bales up? Chain saw works,
but hay binds up on drive sprockets
extremely fast.

wp6529 · Oct 3, 2023

Unroll them.

dcarp · Oct 3, 2023

Most folks here unroll part of a bale, if they dont want to feed a whole one. Just unroll what you want.
Hay unroller

JMOR · Oct 3, 2023

(quoted from post at 12:17:48 10/03/23) We ended up with 60 round bales of grass
hay, because of failures in my haymaking
equipment. Thanks to the friend who
baled them, but I'm having trouble
breaking the bales up to hand feed my
sheep and goats equivalent to a couple
squares a day. The bales are wrapped so
tight and the hay is so interwoven. How
can I cut the bales up? Chain saw works,
but hay binds up on drive sprockets
extremely fast.

nroll down side of slope via gravity or bump with tractor to unroll, as I have done both.

moresmoke · Oct 3, 2023

We used to set the bales on end and unwind what was needed with a pitchfork.

A hay knife from the days of stacked hay also works if its good and sharp.

Tgrasher · Oct 3, 2023

Chainsaw works well.

504 · Oct 3, 2023

On the old AC round baler days used an axe to split and unroll the

BarnyardEngineering · Oct 3, 2023

WHERE are you trying to feed? In the pasture? In a barn? Grass, concrete, dirt, or mud? Can you keep the bale where you feed or are you carrying the hay from somewhere else to feed it?

Ideally you could set the bale on end near the feeder and peel layers off with a pitchfork to feed if you only need a couple squares worth a day. Same idea might work if you have to carry it somewhere.

Out in the pasture just plop the bale down on end, cut the wrap off, and let them at it. Then you only need to feed once a week or so.

Steve Metcalfe · Oct 3, 2023

I've done that alot in the past using an old school hay knife.

DanielW · Oct 3, 2023

I sell some bales to a guy with a few sheep, who puts the bale in his feedway where there's barely enough room to walk, and definitely not enough room to unroll or manhandle a bale. He uses a cordless sawzall with a knife-style blade (not a regular toothed blade). I've watched him do it a few times - cuts through it like butter.
Knife Blade

rustred · Oct 3, 2023

wow wow, put them on end remove the twines and unroll the way it was rolled in the bale. simple easy. pitch fork must be included.

cjunrau · Oct 3, 2023

save yourself a lot of work and take one or 2 of those hog panels. cut out the 5th from the bottom (if I remember) horizontal bar between every second upright. you can look at it and see what bar needs removing. about 1 ft off the ground what ever bar that is. If you think you can get away with it you can do 2 ,1on top of each other if the hole would otherwise be to small. I then tie 2 of them together with a tear drop hook. not sure that is the right name for it. wrap around the bale and hook together again. I like the 4 ft panel best but have used 36 inch but sheep will climb over it sometimes. I have used the cow panels but they can get there head in all the holes and get caught. pig panels are so close together at the bottom they can't get there head in except where you cut out the bars. You can leave it foot away from the bale or even 2 feet away. then just peel around and let it fall. it is flexible enough that they will push it a bit to reach the hay. I found that the best sheep feeder ever and I built a few different ones. always put the bale on end. when they have eaten most of it the panels are so easy to just un hook and move to the next bale.

onefarmer · Oct 3, 2023

I use a chainsaw. Sharpen the chain only take the hook out of the tooth so as to not hook the hay so much.

DanielW · Oct 3, 2023

Definitely the easiest way if it works, but I've found the baler, crop type, and ground speed can make a huge difference on how well it unrolls. The neighbour's grass hay baled with an old NH chain baler unrolls lovely as it's not that tight. Our grass hay baled with our newer Deere unrolls ok-ish most of the time. Pure alfalfa with the newer Deere is so tight and tangled together it comes apart in chunks rather than unrolls. If the ground speed is kept up it's not too bad. If they were ones my brother baled while crawling along at 2-3 MPH however, it gets so compacted while only a small amount of hay is being fed into it, they're like a solid ball.

rrlund · Oct 3, 2023

Don't you have any room to unroll them a ways Ray? We used to unroll them down the feed alley in the stanchion barn. Just make sure you're going the right direction for them to unroll.

quefan · Oct 3, 2023

Yep, reciprocating saw ( sawzall ) with bread knife style blade.

30 years ago the saw was corded and we ground our own blades from wood blades.

Worked real good to slice open a 39 x 48 to feed over a high manger, beef animals in a tie stall head to head.

caterpillar guy · Oct 3, 2023

Neighbor used to use an axe for that to feed them till he changed to just plop it out in the field to feed.

Bruce from Can. · Oct 3, 2023

If you hold the bale up with the tractor bale spear, once the net/twine is removed, you can use a bale hook to peel a lot of hay off. Myself, I just take off the net, and push the bale, ripping across with a bale hook to make it unravel.

495man · Oct 3, 2023

Put it on end and unroll it.

You can then fork as much as you want to unroll.

I feed rolls in an older barn this way, most of my bales go in a hay ring with the tractor. Much easier.

Dan Musil · Oct 3, 2023

Buy a cheap electric chain saw cut with top of bar so it throw the cutting away from the bar, really works good

How to cut up a round bale

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