RDFF
Well-known member
OK... I've upped my game this year with my bale unrolling. Last year I was feeding about 85 head, this year about 380. 2/3 of those are custom fed cattle. The cattle owner brought in bales he bought. The "quality" of the bales are "questionable" to start with, and they didn't get stored here on posts right off the field, like I normally put mine (in rows, with the bales set face to face, so posts are like a set of railroad tracks under the bales) which helps tremendously for preventing/avoiding "frozen soggy bottom bales"). So I've got spoiled bottoms, in addition to the issue caused by freezing rain that we got right after the bad blizzard over Christmas. And that means frozen netwrap on the bales, and in particular, frozen net wrap into those soggy spoiled bottoms.
Has anybody ever figured out a "good/best way" to deal with this? Been considering how one might be able to break that netwrap loose.... fluted rolls that run over the surface, pressing into/against the outside of the bale like every 3" or so, to kind of "kink" the ice? This of course would require a machine to do this... another expense... but I'm feeding quite a bit of hay (like 240 bales a month)... so it might be justified to alleviate the frustration.
I think next year I'll be bringing in those bales right off the field, and putting them on my posts. Generally, if they're fully exposed, and set in rows running N-S (NOT E-W), the snow doesn't pile up tightly around them, and the snow on top mostly blows right off. If set out in the field where the cattle will be, the rows then can also function as "windbreaks" for the cattle.
Has anybody ever figured out a "good/best way" to deal with this? Been considering how one might be able to break that netwrap loose.... fluted rolls that run over the surface, pressing into/against the outside of the bale like every 3" or so, to kind of "kink" the ice? This of course would require a machine to do this... another expense... but I'm feeding quite a bit of hay (like 240 bales a month)... so it might be justified to alleviate the frustration.
I think next year I'll be bringing in those bales right off the field, and putting them on my posts. Generally, if they're fully exposed, and set in rows running N-S (NOT E-W), the snow doesn't pile up tightly around them, and the snow on top mostly blows right off. If set out in the field where the cattle will be, the rows then can also function as "windbreaks" for the cattle.