Best deal on Hay Saving Rings/Feeders

[ddd75]

sounds pretty good with how long they are lasting.

 

[rnh2]

What kind of tarp? Seems the cheap blue ones rip easily

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I have tarps from Missouri hay tarp as well as inland hay tarp. The ones from inland are nicer but for the price the Missouri have help up real well.

 

[ddd75]

I have tarps from Missouri hay tarp as well as inland hay tarp. The ones from inland are nicer but for the price the Missouri have help up real well.

how long do these tarps hold up.

looks like to hold around 90 bales of 4x5's it'd be about 530 for tarp and stakes.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

lol.

I keep fairly accurate records of my hay consumption and can tell you that it cut my yearly hay consumption down by 15%. On a typical year I used to feed ~400 bales in your standard bale ring. Those rings would typically last 3-5 years with our climate and use, and they cost around 300 bucks a pop or ~60-100 bucks a year.

Switched feeders and now feed ~340 bales in the expensive feeders for the same number of animals. If I was to buy 60 bales of hay at $30 bucks a bale that's 1800 a year in saved hay. Feeders were 900 a piece so on year one the first two were paid for, halfway through year 2 the 3rd was paid for.

So since I make my own hay I can either sell those 60 bales or buy some extra cows to eat them. On top of that I am on year 5 with the first hay manager feeder and it shows zero wear and I should easily get 5+ more years out of it. So if I get at least 10 years of life at 900 purchase that's 90 a year of use. And honestly I think more than 10 years shouldn't be a problem.

Forgot to say I'm not a salesman for them just sharing my personal experience take it for whats it worth. I was very skeptical but being a man of numbers once I saw the data I was sold.

Very well thought out.

 

[Tbrake]

I too think they are a good investment. I bought a couple a few years back, now I make my own "improved" version. I can make a single one for around 325$ and a double for about 500$. Kind of a pain to make, but for the cost savings I can handle it. They are very heavy duty, I don't like having to baby things. Only time I don't like them is when it's muddy. Hard to get a bale dropped in with deweze beds. On pastures that I use these feeders I can tell at the end of the year when I push up piles there is a lot less waste.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I have tarps from Missouri hay tarp as well as inland hay tarp. The ones from inland are nicer but for the price the Missouri have help up real well.

how long do these tarps hold up.

looks like to hold around 90 bales of 4x5's it'd be about 530 for tarp and stakes.

My oldest tarp right now is I think 5 years old and should get one more year out of it. Our winter is really hard on tarps, usually there is tons of snow on top of them and when its -30*F out and you start knocking the snow off and trying to roll them up they tend to crack and crunch a lot.

 

[ClinchValley]

What do you all do with your feeders during grazing season? Had a guy tell me set them atop our rock piles to keep dry. I thought that was solid advice. Easier than putting them in the barn. Got a cheap ring that's 3 years old, holding up very well.

 

[Tbrake]

I always just flip mine upside down. Right or wrong seems to help them last longer

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

We flip them, put some in old tobacco barns, and if we had rock piles I'd do that too.

 

[bird dog]

On rings I roll them up against the fence and stick some tree limbs or 4 x 4's under them. Helps keep them from rusting all summer. My cradles go up on 4 x 4 blocks .

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Set them up on some chunks of 4x4 to keep the steel off the wet dirt is all.

 

[Texasmark]

I saw a plastic one advertised yesterday. Think it was in a Gebo's ad (small chain operation in Tex. and all). $250 would hold a 5x6 roll. What happens to that when the temp drops below 32F? Last one I bought was square steel tubing with pre-formed rings at $100 in a kit. Took about an hour to weld it together.

Problem I have with feeders is not the feeders it's the cows. They won't eat their scraps off the ground unless you starve them into it. They have to go back to the bale, pull out a mouthful, spill half of it on the ground while chewing the other half, all the while looking around and the stuff falls on the ground. But it's good for the soil if worked in after feeding season.....for a peek at the bright side.

 

[slick4591]

I saw a plastic one advertised yesterday. Think it was in a Gebo's ad (small chain operation in Tex. and all). $250 would hold a 5x6 roll. What happens to that when the temp drops below 32F? Last one I bought was square steel tubing with pre-formed rings at $100 in a kit. Took about an hour to weld it together.

Problem I have with feeders is not the feeders it's the cows. They won't eat their scraps off the ground unless you starve them into it. They have to go back to the bale, pull out a mouthful, spill half of it on the ground while chewing the other half, all the while looking around and the stuff falls on the ground. But it's good for the soil if worked in after feeding season.....for a peek at the bright side.

I'm looking at the Gebo's ad right now. Poly 48" for $239.00, but drop below that ad to the bunk feeders and there's another poly hay ring (same 48") listed for $79.99 with a different skew.

 

[Texasmark]

I saw a plastic one advertised yesterday. Think it was in a Gebo's ad (small chain operation in Tex. and all). $250 would hold a 5x6 roll. What happens to that when the temp drops below 32F? Last one I bought was square steel tubing with pre-formed rings at $100 in a kit. Took about an hour to weld it together.

Problem I have with feeders is not the feeders it's the cows. They won't eat their scraps off the ground unless you starve them into it. They have to go back to the bale, pull out a mouthful, spill half of it on the ground while chewing the other half, all the while looking around and the stuff falls on the ground. But it's good for the soil if worked in after feeding season.....for a peek at the bright side.

I'm looking at the Gebo's ad right now. Poly 48" for $239.00, but drop below that ad to the bunk feeders and there's another poly hay ring (same 48") listed for $79.99 with a different skew.

What are your thoughts?

 

[slick4591]

Can't say as I have no experience with a poly one. Read here that some people like them.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

The only poly feeders out here are too short & the pipes are too wide apart. All calves & weaned calves can crawl into them.

 

[Texasmark]

The only poly feeders out here are too short & the pipes are too wide apart. All calves & weaned calves can crawl into them.

I "accidentally" bought one that was too short once. Came in 2 pieces and bolted together. I wound up putting legs on it and in doing that, casually realized why rings are round and not square. Grin. So I chopped off the corners and made an angle to fit the circumference of the baler.

 

[callmefence]

I'm getting ready to put heifers up by the house to calve. Ran down to get a ring I drug it here a ATV and carried it the half mile home with my spear. I won't buy anything else.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Yup - that's the plastic ones that sell out here.
Too short & bars spaced way too far apart for me.
Heard they are destructible though. We have too much freezing around here to use one like that. All the hay layers thru the bars & freezes it down to the ground. I must have skirts.