Been unrolling hay

[Silver]

what i don't want with the haybuster is all the dust.. i'm thinking it cuts it up too small and the wind will blow a lot of ffeed. i'm wanting to use this to feed out in the field and bunks as well.


anyway to not cut it up so fine with a haybuster?

We got rid of our Haybuster years ago. On a bright sunny day the snow would have a green tinge for a mile downwind. We have a lot of alfalfa in our hay, and of course the leaves are the most valuable but fragile part.
Also, it's another machine to buy, maintain, extra fuel burnt, and hard on pto's. A three point bale unroller get's the job done quite nicely and cost effectively.
Worked nice for spreading bedding though. Or mixing some marginal hay with good hay to better utilize the poor hay. But I'm happier without it.

so my thinking that it will blow a lot of hay (waste) is correct.. it seems like that super slicer keeps it more of a blanket of hay.

I have a 3 point baler spinner now and it works pretty good, but the cores stuck in it are really starting to hurt my hands after yanking on them for years. Also.. when feeding 200'ish cows I want to be able to carry enough bales in one trip to feed them all.

I'd never heard of a super slicer before so I just looked it up and watched a video. That seems like a pretty good deal. Any idea how it handles baleage? Or frozen baleage for that matter? They can be a bugger to unroll.

 

[Lucky]

what i don't want with the haybuster is all the dust.. i'm thinking it cuts it up too small and the wind will blow a lot of ffeed. i'm wanting to use this to feed out in the field and bunks as well.


anyway to not cut it up so fine with a haybuster?

We got rid of our Haybuster years ago. On a bright sunny day the snow would have a green tinge for a mile downwind. We have a lot of alfalfa in our hay, and of course the leaves are the most valuable but fragile part.
Also, it's another machine to buy, maintain, extra fuel burnt, and hard on pto's. A three point bale unroller get's the job done quite nicely and cost effectively.
Worked nice for spreading bedding though. Or mixing some marginal hay with good hay to better utilize the poor hay. But I'm happier without it.

so my thinking that it will blow a lot of hay (waste) is correct.. it seems like that super slicer keeps it more of a blanket of hay.

I have a 3 point baler spinner now and it works pretty good, but the cores stuck in it are really starting to hurt my hands after yanking on them for years. Also.. when feeding 200'ish cows I want to be able to carry enough bales in one trip to feed them all.

200 cows would require 4,800 # of hay. Might look at the Agway or Hustler chainless bale feeders. You could carry one in the cradle, one on the rear loader, and one on the front loader. Not sure how big of rolls you make but 5x6's will be 1,300-1,600 which would get you close. I'm really happy with my bale bed but a chainless feeder would be nice.

 

[T & B farms]

I have thought very hard about buying a mixer. Keep talking myself out of it. Having several pastures 6-10 miles from home I think I would live in the tractor.
I've started unrolling hay the last couple years. It has worked great. We don't have huge pastures here like some of you do. My largest pasture has 50 pairs in it. I unrole them one 5x6 bale of good fescue daily, and they completely eat it. Same with a couple 40 cow pastures. If it's dry you can't even tell where you unrolled it other than all the manure around it. One place I have 2 pastures of 25. I will split them a bale daily. They eat it in 3-4 hours then go pick through the pastures. (Still quite a bit of grass left) I have fed much less hay than I used to, and the cows are doing just as good. Can tell a noticeable difference in the pastures where I unrole. When it's muddy I still feed in rings, but when it freezes I'm back to unrolling. For some reason they don't eat my silage oat bales very well when unrolling, yet they will lick the ground when I put them in feeders. Haven't figured that one out yet.
Only downfall I have found is listining to all the old timers tell me how unrolling won't work, and how wasteful it is. Apparently the proper way to feed hay is to put out 10 bales of the worst/cheapest hay you can get, and put a protein tub every 20 feet.

 

[bird dog]

There is an article in the February Progressive Forage magazine that states that a 1000 lb round bale will have $14 worth of fertilizer in it. That's great but the only way to get that full amount is to bale graze or unroll. I unroll about 70% of what I feed.

Its a good interesting read if you have a few minutes.

https://www.progressiveforage.com/forage-production/management/fertilizer-value-of-hay-feeding

 

[1982vett]

2010 through 2011 I unrolled most everything. Had one pasture I fed in rings. Wasn't much grazing to speak of so in the pastures so they ate and cleaned up everything no matter the quality. I now unroll some and feed some in rings depending on the weather and how often I want to feed. Have not come close to getting the cleanup I got during the drought. I'm sure it's because they aren't as hungry because they have the option to go find something in the pasture.

 

[Stocker Steve]

There is an article in the February Progressive Forage magazine that states that a 1000 lb round bale will have $14 worth of fertilizer in it. That's great but the only way to get that full amount is to

With frozen ground or rain or sun or - - you will loose some of the N. In our area - - soil K levels can quickly go to surplus level well above 200 ppm, and not be of a benefit. So you do not get 100% of nutrient value no matter how you feed it.

An interesting look is to count the number of bales per acre you feed in your wintering area. I came up with 67. Then multiply by the net mineral value per bale...

 

[gizmom]

http://nwdistrict.ifas.ufl.edu/phag/2019/03/01/friday-feature-rotation-of-hay-feeding-locations/

I didn't go back and read all of the thread but remembered the discussion so when my son shared this I figured I would share it in case y'all had missed it.

Gizmom

 

[MikeBo]

There is an article in the February Progressive Forage magazine that states that a 1000 lb round bale will have $14 worth of fertilizer in it. That's great but the only way to get that full amount is to bale graze or unroll. I unroll about 70% of what I feed.

Its a good interesting read if you have a few minutes.

https://www.progressiveforage.com/forage-production/management/fertilizer-value-of-hay-feeding

Great read thanks for posting, we feed Bermuda hay and it's nutritional value I have seen as high as $25.

For sake of argument, you can buy hay here for $30 a bale, and you get $14 in nutrients...very hard to pay for hay equipment, time, and fertilizer for the $16 difference.

I guess the blessing of the Ozars, and I never realized it until I read this, is very limited mud, that's one benefit of growing grass on our rocky soil. I have pastures we feed hay in, that other than the gateway have never had an ounce of mud, even after a hurricane remnant dropped 14 inches of rain.

 

[bird dog]

Now that it has warmed up and the grass is taking off, you really can see the benefits of unrolling. I really like unrolling Rye grass hay in bad spots for reseeding purposes. I have a hay meadow that is mostly Bermuda that I graze all spring and then bale later in the summer. Last year it wasn't baled until July but even that hay has enough seeds in it that you get some growth in early spring.

The spots where hay was unrolled last year have come up again. This is nowhere like plowing and seeding but just streaks of green in otherwise dull pastures. Its a shame that mud can be an issue for a whole lot of the members on this forum but I encourage everyone I talk to to unroll every chance you get. The really nice thing is there is nothing to clean up come spring. The second is you just don't need as many hay rings because with unrolling, there is nothing to tear up.

 

[Chocolate Cow2]

I put a Cannonball bale bed on a pickup in 2011 and have unrolled hay for my cows ever since. I'll unroll about 10 feet of hay and move on to another spot, unroll some more, continue on till it's all gone. It spreads 'em out along with the manure. I can feed on clean ground everyday. I believe when I fought Johne's, unrolling was my saving grace because the cows weren't grouped tightly and fed in a clean area. Less manure exposure which is the main method of exposure. Can't remember the last case of scours in calves. It takes some time but I wouldn't feed any other way. It lets me get a good look at the cows while they're eating. If there's some crap or mold in the bale, the cows have the opportunity to pick through it. They're not forced to eat it like would happen if it was in a ring. The calves use what isn't eaten for bedding.

 

[Bigfoot]

I fed rolls in rings six or 8 weeks this winter. This is the second Saturday in a row I have cultivated ruts, and the general mess it leaves behind. Where I unrolled looks like a hundred dollar bill.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I put my snowmobile away today. I have used it for a couple months to move poly wire for bale grazing. Snow was deep enough in spots that a FWA tractor could not get through. Not really unrolling weather.

Bale grazing is less daily labor, but you can end up with nutrient bulls eyes around each bale, and a pad of residue.