feeding square bales?

[Anonymous]

I'm sure this will go into the "dumb question" hall of fame, but how do you feed square bales? I have my bull and one steer in a pasture and have a home built feeder made from oak but the bull is destroying it. I have thought about just dropping flakes of the bale around each day but figure it will cause a lot of waste.

thanks, Roy

 

[Anonymous]

> I'm sure this will go into the
> "dumb question" hall of
> fame, but how do you feed square
> bales? I have my bull and one
> steer in a pasture and have a home
> built feeder made from oak but the
> bull is destroying it. I have
> thought about just dropping flakes
> of the bale around each day but
> figure it will cause a lot of
> waste.

> thanks, Roy

I feed a few square bales from time to time and I think the key is not to throw out too much hay at any one time. Feed them only as much as you think they need each day, or possibly feed AM and PM. For a bull and one steer I would guess that's just about one bale per day. Just don't give them so much that they don't eat it up or else they will use it for bedding and/or crap all over it. Of course, I feed bermuda and at times some Johnson grass and/or haygrazer so there are no fine leaves to fall off, as I understand there could be with alfalfa. I've seen all kinds of bought and home made square bale feeders but I just separate the bale into about four quarters and toss it onto the ground in several locations fairly well spaced apart. Here's something I've wanted to try but haven't yet: You might consider getting some old rear tires from a tractor --- cut some of the sidewalls off and then bolt a circle of marine grade plywood to the bottom of the tire and then throw the hay into it. I don't think your bull will destroy that sort of feeder and I'm guessing that most of the fine leaves will stay inside the tire circle. And even it the ground is real wet that setup should also keep the hay dry (at least untill they start to sling it all around!) and if the walls of the tire are fairly high that might also discourage the animals from jumping in.

 

[Anonymous]

> I'm sure this will go into the
> "dumb question" hall of
> fame, but how do you feed square
> bales? I have my bull and one
> steer in a pasture and have a home
> built feeder made from oak but the
> bull is destroying it. I have
> thought about just dropping flakes
> of the bale around each day but
> figure it will cause a lot of
> waste.

> thanks, Roy

I just bought a large square rubbermaid tub and feed in that (about 10 gal). I use it for hay and grain. My bull eats his food and can (and does)play with the tub. Its rubbermaid, so he can smash it and it just bounces back. Its really funny watching him push it across the field. Terri

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