Best hay ring??

[Richardin52]

I know an old guy that feeds outside with headlocks he puts hay down on cement in front of the headlocks and their locked in. He has very little waste.

My Bale unroler cost around $850.00 it hooks to the three point hitch and has one hydrolic cylinder that opens and closes both arms. There is a pin and bearing on each arm to stab the bale and let it role. Simple but it works good.

 

[polledbull]

gobob pipe has a website, and Klien pipe structures has one . Both have heavy duty pipe rings , they look good online ,

 

[bird dog]

How expensive are the poly ones? I prefer to unroll on cruddy ground to put some nutrients and seed back into the soil but it is not always possible with cows in three locations and only one tractor. I have been using Priefert rings. Waste is about the same but they seem to hold up a little better for a light weight cheaper ring.
I know one thing, the hay coming out of the barn has very little waste no matter what you are using. Hay barn money is money well spent.

 

[Son of Butch]

This Action hay hopper is the best hay feeder we have ever used. It uses chains as a hopper to hold the bale.
Have only had ours for 4 months, but it's well built and I think it will last a long long time.
Not cheap [over a $1,000] but worth it in hay savings :!:

http://actionsignsandbillboards.com/vid ... x3t7dazJEA

 

[M5farm]

This Action hay hopper is the best hay feeder we have ever used. It uses chains as a hopper to hold the bale.
Have only had ours for 4 months, but it's well built and I think it will last a long long time.
Not cheap [over a $1,000] but worth it in hay savings :!:

http://actionsignsandbillboards.com/vid ... x3t7dazJEA

I like that and will be building one. I hope it does not require me to get buffalo tho.

 

[skeeter swatter]

How hard is it to unroll one just using the loader bucket and pushing it along?

I've done probably a few thousand with the front tire of the tractor. Goes slick once you get the hang of it if the bales are fairly tight.

 

[blacksnake]

I have one of the poly ring type. It's about 8 years old, had to replace a couple of the stainless steel bolts that hold the rings to the uprights. Very durable but there is a LOT of waste with this type of feeder. I modified it somewhat by adding vertical 2x4's about a foot apart between the bottom rings. That helped but still quite a bit of waste. I made a feeder out of 3/4" rebar that is slanted and welded to 3x3 angle iron at top and bottom. Bottom angle iron is drilled and bolted to 12 ft 4x6 pressure treated posts so I can pull to different spots in the pasture. Works pretty good, still some waste but much better that any ring I have used. I want to add hay saver bars inside that have about 6" spacings but haven't got around to it yet. Something similar to the hay savers that Kleine has on theirs. I came across quite a bit of stainless steel piping and square tubing and want to make one out of that once I improve on the one I have now.

 

[oxhill]

http://www.leidenlandandcattle.com/haysaver-hay-feeders.html

I recently received one of these haysavers. I have only feed out about a half dozen bales but I am happy with it so far. Construction is great. It is very durable and the tire base will not rust out. Mine has every other bar removed to accommodate my horned cattle. I think mine is slightly less efficient than the standard model because of this but it still is a huge improvement over my conventional ring. From my limited experience with it, it seems you can adjust how much they conserve by how you load the bale. A bale loaded with the flats on top and bottom is much easier for them to eat than one loaded with the flats on the sides.

 

[Son of Butch]

Hi Oxhill,
What did it cost?

 

[Black and Good]

The best one I have used a far as waste is the Hay Mizer. Heavy built. The only thing is they are heavy to move. But its amazing how little they waste. They are pricey I bought mine used real cheap. Not sure I would have paid what they want new. www.haymizer.com B&G :tiphat:

 

[oxhill]

Son of Butch

They delivered it for $1100.

 

[EJCB]

any users of the GoBob hay ring? Curious what you think.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

We've had several brands of hayrings over past 12 years. The ONLY one that we've found to be very durable and resistant to cattle damage is the Applegate Steel's "Tombstone's" hay ring. Heavy duty, and uses pins to lock the 3 panels. The very WORST one we've bought (in an emergency) is the one from TSC ($350). The tombstone ones have lasted 10 to 12 years. The TSC one barely lasted one year. Expect to pay $400 to 500 for the Tombstone...figure the annual cost based on this...
Limited number of dealers do the Applegate's ring. Just keep looking!