Hay cradles

[dun]

A sale I was at a couple of weeks ago had those hay cradles, heavy gauge could barely budge them with a tractor size. The vet was there and I mentioned them to him. He said that the guy that was selling out had eye problems all winter when he fed hay but none the rest of the year. That got me interested so I asked another guy that I know had used them. He's retired his cradles for the same reason.
Wondering if anyone else had seen this happen.

 

[Jovid]

Sounds like common sense to me as they would always have hay falling and poking them in the eyes.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Not had that problem yet dun. Never had a bail pushed out either but I have small rails on them. Seems the cows sticking their head through barbed wire would be more at risk for eye injury. Also, I feed coastal round bales if hay type makes any difference.

Mine are light. They are made out of old trampoline frames; they are not store bought. I can load them in the back of the truck by hand by myself. Gussets are what give them their strength. If the link below works you can see a pic of one of them.

http://cattletoday.com/photos/showphoto ... puser=3162

 

[rocket2222]

Not had that problem yet dun. Never had a bail pushed out either but I have small rails on them. Seems the cows sticking their head through barbed wire would be more at risk for eye injury. Also, I feed coastal round bales if hay type makes any difference.

Mine are light. They are made out of old trampoline frames; they are not store bought. I can load them in the back of the truck by hand by myself. Gussets are what give them their strength. If the link below works you can see a pic of one of them.

http://cattletoday.com/photos/showphoto ... puser=3162

It looks small, how big a bale do you put on it :?:
Ya'll must have some sort of paint shortage in Texas

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Are you talking about the "cone" feeders? I can't pick up the price tab!!! Does make sense the cows could have eye trouble with hay being over their head. Good reason not to spend that money

 

[dun]

Are you talking about the "cone" feeders? I can't pick up the price tab!!! Does make sense the cows could have eye trouble with hay being over their head. Good reason not to spend that money

Nope, these are long cradles and the bale lays on it's side. The ones that I looked at held 4-5 bales.

 

[backhoeboogie]

It looks small, how big a bale do you put on it :?:
Ya'll must have some sort of paint shortage in Texas

:lol: still not painted. It is the one out in the small pasture at the house. There are three more needing finished at the house (thanks to Dusty for giving me a lead on more frames). They need rails welded on. Just haven't gotten around to it. They'll also be in need of paint.

Biggest bales so far are 4 by 6. I have sat a few in the cradles when about a third of an existing bale was still left.

The rings are okay but once the hay starts getting lower, the cows push the rings over and then walk in it, lay in it, smash it down into the mud - essentially ruining a great deal of it. With the cradles there is not much ruined plus the cows are not eating it off of the ground and getting addional grit in their teeth (potentially).

If you don't like those cradles, don't use them. I have welding rod, time, and a piece of cow panel invested in them. And I like them. There are old trampoline frames all over the place. I have now acquired two more that will build another 4 cradles, once I finish the ones that are in progress.

Edit: There is also some nickels invested in old bed frame angle iron you can see in those pics. I stopped at a garbage sale there in Thorp Spring and the guy had several old bed frames. I think I bought them all for around $10 or so. Don't rememeber the price but it wasn't much. Been building hog traps out of most of it. Anyway, scrap pieces are used in those cradles that wasn't "free".

 

[rocket2222]

It looks small, how big a bale do you put on it :?:
Ya'll must have some sort of paint shortage in Texas

:lol: still not painted. It is the one out in the small pasture at the house. There are three more needing finished at the house (thanks to Dusty for giving me a lead on more frames). They need rails welded on. Just haven't gotten around to it. They'll also be in need of paint.

Biggest bales so far are 4 by 6. I have sat a few in the cradles when about a third of an existing bale was still left.

The rings are okay but once the hay starts getting lower, the cows push the rings over and then walk in it, lay in it, smash it down into the mud - essentially ruining a great deal of it. With the cradles there is not much ruined plus the cows are not eating it off of the ground and getting addional grit in their teeth (potentially).

If you don't like those cradles, don't use them. I have welding rod, time, and a piece of cow panel invested in them. And I like them. There are old trampoline frames all over the place. I have now acquired two more that will build another 4 cradles, once I finish the ones that are in progress.

Edit: There is also some nickels invested in old bed frame angle iron you can see in those pics. I stopped at a garbage sale there in Thorp Spring and the guy had several old bed frames. I think I bought them all for around $10 or so. Don't rememeber the price but it wasn't much. Been building hog traps out of most of it. Anyway, scrap pieces are used in those cradles that wasn't "free".

I use hay rings so I know how much they waste. I'll feed in the woods sometimes and tie the ring to a tree, that helps save some of it. I like your cradles, I just couldn't picture in my mind how big they were, they must be about 5ft across. I use 4 by 5 bales, so they would work good for me.
So if you are taking orders on them, I'll take 3 The good news is, you wouldn't have to paint them because I know I've got some old case orange or ford blue out in the shop.

 

[Tod Dague]

Not had that problem yet dun. Never had a bail pushed out either but I have small rails on them. Seems the cows sticking their head through barbed wire would be more at risk for eye injury. Also, I feed coastal round bales if hay type makes any difference.

Mine are light. They are made out of old trampoline frames; they are not store bought. I can load them in the back of the truck by hand by myself. Gussets are what give them their strength. If the link below works you can see a pic of one of them.

http://cattletoday.com/photos/showphoto ... puser=3162

About how high off of the ground is the bottom of the bail?

 

[East Caney]

I look at this year's coastal (filled w/ runners because it couldn't be cut when I needed to) and the wintergrass that voluntarily grows on the meadow (that went to seed before being cut). When I see the cows stomping it into the ground, I just figure they're helping build up the grasses in the pasture.

One good way to look at it???

EC

 

[backhoeboogie]

About how high off of the ground is the bottom of the bail?

About 30 inches is my guess. Two of the vertical U shaped trampoline uprights are welded to angle iron. They were not cut. Just used them as is. The bowed pieces are then welded to the angle iron, spanning across. As you can see, the center of the bow is lower. Cow panel piece is welded to the bows. Everything else is gusset and rail. There are scrap pieces of tube steel used to catch the rails. I have used scrap angle iron on others.

They are not beautiful, but they were really cheap. Probably less than $20 in each one - plus the time spent.