Hay feeders

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We have several of those type bale feeders ....cradles up on legs... and I really like them. Rolls are best fed in those type feeders, or the longer cart with the "bale cradle" in the middle so the hay is up and you can put silage in it too, along the sides.... if the rolls are kept inside so there is little "waste hay".. like with bales kept outside. I like rolling hay out better so it spreads out the manure and the seeds in the hay... yes it spreads out the weed seeds if there are any too... but it adds organic matter back into the soil without smothering it like the round rings do.... so the bales kept outside, add back to the ground, all the outside "spoiled hay" without having to fork it out of a wagon/cart.... and I like feeding out what they will eat in a day... less hay wasted that way too. Sometimes you can't do that... so putting it out in rings or some sort of feeder is still better than just setting a bale out and letting them make a mess....
 
"looked at these yesterday in Petty,Tx. $850 for 1 bale $1,150 for 2 bale. Very heavy built and on skids."

Lucky,
I saw these online. They look very heavy and on skids. Problem is they are nearly 4 hours away.
 
couple years ago I made some feeders based on the Hay Mizer feeder. They cut my hay usage in half compared to feeding in rings.
 
I have tried all kinds of feeders and found that there wasn't one that stopped hay waste. If the hay isn't great or there are tasty bits amongst the regular grass they WILL find a way to waste it. I eventually tried unrolling rounds and found that they actually waste LESS hay than a feeder. Also, there isn't a big mud pit of bare ground around the feeder. After a few years experimenting with hand unrolling I bought a Judy Unroller last year and it has been amazing. Spreads the manure around and keeps the soil from getting compacted and wore out. I just give them what they eat in a day and they clean it up real nice. Also keeps the big mean cows from crowding all the little cows from the feeder. I live up in the snow and they do lay down on the unrolled hay rather than the snow.....But they usually still eat it up before the next day. Around the turds that is. Where there are plops there will be hay underneath it come spring. YMMV, but it works very very well here.
 
Has anyone found covers for sale for feeder rings? We're looking for something that clamps onto the top rail of the feeder and provides a rain cover. The group of youngstock talk longer to finish up a full bale and if it gets rained on a few times they stick their noses up at it.
I didn't notice this last month. I was looking for a bale ring cover last year for the same reason, calves were wasting more hay than they were eating. I found a few pics online, but the only one that I could figure out how to buy was the one below. Sort of pricey and I wasn't sold on its sturdiness. But I also found some round tarps on Amazon that would probably work nearly as well. Probably need a couple pieces of pvc pipe to make an arc over the bale for when the hay starts getting low. I ended up starting to feed inside, so I never tried one. I will say, once I kept the hay dry their usage was more than cut in half. We only had two calves last winter, one 5x5 bale would last them 5-6 weeks. Before moving the hay inside I was feeding every couple weeks and wasting at least a third of it.
Hay ring cover
 
View attachment 49549
We have several styles, but this is the best at saving hay. They waste nothing. Hay is stored inside.
We kick the hay out of the middle when it gets too where they can't reach, wait another day and give them a new bale.

@Brute 23 nailed it! Hay quality is more important than feeder style.
Are Tarter feeders made of more than the tin foil they make the Canadians ones out of?
 
Are Tarter feeders made of more than the tin foil they make the Canadians ones out of?
It's funny guys around either swear these cone feeders are the best thing ever or they'll show you the pile of junk ones that they tried once and swore never again.

If guys move them around and don't let them get froze down in a foot of mud and manure I think they get along pretty good. But if they don't move the feeder all winter then try to pull it out in the spring. They trash them pretty quick.

My all time favorites are GoBob hay monster feeders. They are bombproof and my cows clean up really well.A074EAE6-5370-4473-B2C2-1EABE47F950D.jpeg
 

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