Round Bale feeding...need experience

[PATB]

We have been rolling bales out for 30 years. No need to get out and cut the twine, just push the loader bucket into the twine about half way up the bale, drive forward just a bit and push down with the bucket. They usually pop pretty easily, sisal or bio twine.--I'm really looking into bale grazing, like the person from maine refered to. I know a fellow who puts out a weeks worth of bales at a time. No bale feeders, just scatters them in the hayfield or pasture in the fall. Opens the gate and lets the cows into another weeks worth of hay. Not much wear and tear on the tractor. Talked to another fellow who puts out a three weeks worth at a time.. Says if he would normally shred three bales of hay per day for the cows, he just multiplies 3 times however many days he is going to leave the cows out there. And most of the cows just eat snow instead of coming in to drink. Oodles of benefit to the soil around the bales. 40 percent more grass in that area the next year, way more than makes up for the loss from under the bale residue. It sounds like the grass grows up thru the bale residue in a year or two.

The more hay you allow the animals to access at once the greater chance of increased waste. I usually set out a days worth of feed during the winter unless bad weather is forcasted then may place out 2 or 3 days worth as a safety precaution. Feeding time is works great for checking animals for challenges. The higher quality feed hay is fed out in bale feeding wagons to reduce chance of wastage.

 

[Ben H]

Some of you may recall that my JD 6310 was down for a while this winter. Having an off-farm job and my animals being about 2 miles away, I was often feeding in the dark under normal conditions. Not a problem with the nice lights on the 6310. But when she went down I had to use the neighbors tractor that was 2wd and no lights. I started putting out bales once a week on the weekend during the day. I would only give them access to 3 bales at a time though. I used polywire to accomplish this. I could stop on the way to work and "feed" them in about 15 minutes during the week. I may do this again this winter, even with my tractor functioning it's going to save a lot of trips down the road.

 

[Northern Rancher]

The broodmares clean up pretty good behind where we bale graze-I doubt you'd waste enough to cover the operating and fixed costs of running your tractor in the winter. Running equipment up here in -40 is expensive and nerve wracking. There are outfits where the boss's are quite a bit sharper than me bale graze so I just follow the leader.