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bale spinner's vs. unrollers

H

Hayguy

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Sep 7, 2010
Messages
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Location
Southern Alberta
I see that a few on here use 3pt bale spinner's (Jody,Rightwinger) to name a few, and a few others use 3pt unrollers (Gcreek) and then a bunch use bale deck's on truck's which just unroll as well.

My question is what's the advantage of spinning over just unrolling,if any?
 
My two cents worth, an unroller lays hay off flat and wide, which leaves it a little more apt to be trampled down and wasted. A spinner the hay usually comes of kinda like a ribbon and it "stands" a little better. With my spinner I can unroll it heavily, or string a bale out over a half mile. Sometimes when there's snow and a wind coming I'll spin a bale out in just three piles so it won't get covered in snow. Also it works well to spear in the flat end of a bale, which is how most people seem to pile their bales. I've had both, I just feel I have more control of how I feed with my spinner.
 
I also used to think a bale bed unrolled the hay too thick until finally figuring out the right "technique." The secret is to have the bale about a foot off the ground when you cut the twine or net-wrap. (Be sure to gather these ingredients, because they are both trashy in appearance and dangerous to livestock.) Then get back in the pickup and drive forward with the bale still raised. Just touch it down for an instant until hay starts to come off, and raise the bale up in the air. Drive at a moderate rate of speed, not too fast or too slow. When hay stops coming off, drop the bale back down for just another instant and bring it right back up again. By using this method, hay can be strung out for quite a ways. This gives cattle ample room to eat, and it is not so thick on the ground to cause much waste. Another advantage is that with a caker on the pickup as well as a bale bed, both cake and hay can be fed with one vehicle at one time.
 
Soap has a great point on the cake. The bale bed would really be the thing if your operation is spread out as well. Quicker transport. One disadvantage to my spinner is that about half the time the core will stay lodged on the spear and I have to kick it off. Half the time it will shake off without getting off the tractor.
 
Might not be relevant to the debate, but if your cattle are in several bunches a ways apart the unroller, i.e. Hydra-bed, is hard to beat. Feeding right outside the stackyard, that spinner looks slick. I can figure the cost difference pretty quick, but you'll pry my cold hands off the bale-bed control knobs... I was fighting auto-correct while rightwinger replied. Probably my last post, if this has never heard of a stackyard.
 
my snow gets deep, if I can get a wheel out in the snow at the edge of the feed ground I can pretty much spin hay on snow and not where the cows have all ready been fed. Plus I got a ball welded on top and can pull the flat bed fifth wheel on a packed snow road with more hay
 
This is what I call my poor mans Hydrabed.
It's not as fancy as Soap's but it works real well especially when the cows are not at home.
I use a homemade bale spinner just like rightwinger82 does when I bring the cows home.
 
Bradford or Temco? Or some other brand? One bale capacity, correct? Interesting looking outfit, AC Diesel.
 
I built the flatbed but purchased the bale mover from here https://app-hayspear-com.app-hosted.com/product/BSPUDROP/

I would have built it also but after you add up the fancy parts and your time I figured I wasn't saving much money.
 
Gotcha, thanks. I used a hand winch powered fork like that for a while. Had it on a flatbed, and a reinforced bumper both. A spinner setup could be adapted to a flatbed, I would think. Does your electric-over have enough power for heavy bales?
 
I use a hydra bed to unroll alfalfa. Look for a turfy spot to unroll on and there will be almost nothing wasted. I paid for my haybed using 24% protein alfalfa that was costing $60. - $80./ton as a least cost protein source. Alfalfa costs more now, but it still is a cheap protein source. By unrolling I don't shatter leaves very much and can get excellent utilization. Every bale has a direction it was rolled - for alfalfa I unroll the way it was rolled, grass bales usually are better to unroll the other way.


I used to live about halfway between where hydrabed and dew eze beds were made. I have a friend that likes to start haybed wars where farmers are drinking and lying (he also likes the red/green battles). I'm not interested in the haybed wars, if someone disagrees with me, I'm just amused, but if you're thinking about buying a haybed, it's a pretty good idea to do what soap weed did. Only a hydrabed would do what he does because of the way the hinge allows float - same for the way I cake with alfalfa. Also the hydrabed pto controls are simpler and less failure prone on the most miserable day of the year. When I had a dew eze, I changed from electric switch to pto cable. Now dew eze uses wireless. That's great if you trade every 3 years. My hydrabed has worn out 3 pickups.
 
I have been using my Hydra-bed exactly as Brad has described this week, and the only hay wasted has blown off an edge on the road. The winter grazing is real good here this year, and alfalfa is sure helping stretch it. Fed on some tall stuff, we are making strips for regrowth next spring, and to catch snow. Scattering the fertilizer in a corn field with the same concept.
 

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