How do you feed your hay rolls?

[herofan]

My father built some shed feeders with a roof several years ago to feed rolled hay. Some hold one roll and some two. Obviously, the rolls stay dry and ice-free during the short time they are being consumed. My brother and i noticed that nobody else seems to use anything like this with a roof. Most people use rings and some just sit the rolls on the ground. I was curious as to how people here feed rolls. Is the shelter unnecessary or a nice plus?

 

[skyhightree1]

Mine get dropped in a ring with no cover.

 

[Kingfisher]

What's ice?

 

[bse]

mine just go in a ring outside but there was a guy about 10 miles from me that had a 30x30 shed in each pasture he had, and there was several they were just for feeding hay his cattle didnt have to stand in mud then he could just scrape them out every so often and spread it on pastures it looked like they worked great id like to have some of those myself.

 

[Isomade]

Unroll

 

[dun]

A nice plus if you get much ice or rain

 

[Bigfoot]

I have a feeding barn. The areas coming in and out gets as sloppy as the mess you are trying to avoid. I have three entrances. I exhaust one entrance, before I open another. Keeping rock spread in the traffic areas helps of course. I use regular hay rings. I wish I had hay saver rings. I got cost share on the building. I do personally believe that I have saved enough hay to pay for my part. My working pen is connected to the barn. It's nice to have them coming in and out several times a day.

Unrolling the hay has never worked for me like I want it to. It would probably be great if the bottom didn't fall out of my ground every year by the middle of winter.

 

[ohiosteve]

Feeding cattle in the same spot for more than a day or two is asking for problems in my opinion. I have learned that by feeding once or twice a day I can choose a spot that needs fertilized and I never have to haul manure and never need to fertilize. Y'all can call my cattle worthless mongrels but I know you won't find a healthier bunch of mongrels!

 

[ohiosteve]

Feeding cattle in the same spot for more than a day or two is asking for problems in my opinion. I have learned that by feeding once or twice a day I can choose a spot that needs fertilized and I never have to haul manure and never need to fertilize. Y'all can call my cattle worthless mongrels but I know you won't find a healthier bunch of mongrels!

After reading this, I wanted to say I'm not trying to act like I'm some big time rancher, but I do think in a cow/calf operation, feeding in the same area day after day is a bad idea.

 

[shaz]

Unroll

I second.
The only reasons NOT to unroll are

1) It's not practical to feed everyday.
2) Cows are still eating soame grass and you can't gauge consumption within 20% so wast is a problem.

 

[tom4018]

I have a feeding barn. The areas coming in and out gets as sloppy as the mess you are trying to avoid. I have three entrances. I exhaust one entrance, before I open another. Keeping rock spread in the traffic areas helps of course. I use regular hay rings. I wish I had hay saver rings. I got cost share on the building. I do personally believe that I have saved enough hay to pay for my part. My working pen is connected to the barn. It's nice to have them coming in and out several times a day.

Unrolling the hay has never worked for me like I want it to. It would probably be great if the bottom didn't fall out of my ground every year by the middle of winter.

Tried some unrolling here too and I know what you mean about the bottom falling out around here. I would rut the whole place up trying to unroll it, I have done some when the ground is froze.

 

[skeeter swatter]

Unroll for the cows. Bale rings in calf lot where it gets muddy. That roof might be a nice plus when feeding a few head.

 

[snake67]

Set every darned bale of hay out in the fall and turn the cows in - when spring comes the cow schitte is spread and the bales are gone

Never use a tractor all winter

When it gets colder than minus 30 - minus 40 you will appreciate the lack of wear and tear on your equipment

Best to all

Bez

 

[herofan]

Set every darned bale of hay out in the fall and turn the cows in - when spring comes the cow schitte is spread and the bales are gone

Never use a tractor all winter

When it gets colder than minus 30 - minus 40 you will appreciate the lack of wear and tear on your equipment

Best to all

Bez

I must say, I've never thought of or seen this done by anyone else. I assume it works well for you.

 

[snake67]

Round bales of hay and straw (which is a very valid source of feed often ignored by many) are often fed to cattle this way. Almost any place where someone has to wear warm clothes to work outside you will often find it done this way. That would be my definition of warm clothing, not yours. LOL

There is also a method called swath grazing where the feed - usually oats or the like, is cut and NOT baled - but left lying in the field for the cows to eat. Works well in many areas until the snow gets deeper than the cows eyes, or there is a hard crust on the snow. One solution to this is to run a few horses with the cattle to break up the swaths. But that is another topic I suppose.

My casual observation from reading on this site kind of goes look like this: People who feed one or two bales of hay often call them "rolls" - people who feed hundreds usually call them round bales.

So - search "bale grazing" on this site - all the methods used, all the cost savings, all the naysayers, all the technical crap, all the philosophy crap, all the "cost of a wasted blade of hay" vs "manure benefits" and so on - you can read it all.

It has been discussed to death

Been feeding cattle like this for more than twenty, maybe even thirty years. So I would say yes, it works reasonably well.

Best to all

Bez

 

[herofan]

Round bales of hay and straw (which is a very valid source of feed often ignored by many) are often fed to cattle this way. Almost any place where someone has to wear warm clothes to work outside you will often find it done this way. That would be my definition of warm clothing, not yours. LOL

There is also a method called swath grazing where the feed - usually oats or the like, is cut and NOT baled - but left lying in the field for the cows to eat. Works well in many areas until the snow gets deeper than the cows eyes, or there is a hard crust on the snow. One solution to this is to run a few horses with the cattle to break up the swaths. But that is another topic I suppose.

My casual observation from reading on this site kind of goes look like this: People who feed one or two bales of hay often call them "rolls" - people who feed hundreds usually call them round bales.

So - search "bale grazing" on this site - all the methods used, all the cost savings, all the naysayers, all the technical crap, all the philosophy crap, all the "cost of a wasted blade of hay" vs "manure benefits" and so on - you can read it all.

It has been discussed to death

Been feeding cattle like this for more than twenty, maybe even thirty years. So I would say yes, it works reasonably well.

Best to all

Bez

Very interesting. I learn something new all the time. I find cultural differences very interesting. I do feed 1-3 "rolls" at a time. I have a herd of 18; however, there are many farmers around my area who have cattle in the hundreds, but "rolls" is the term used here, and they all feed their rolls a few at the time. Interestingly enough, I have noticed that since rolls have become common-place, people now refer to the little bales as "square bales"(even though they are rectangular) as if a distinction had to be made. :???: We sometimes have mild winters and more harsh other years; one never knows what to expect around here.

 

[BC]

I feed in hay rings. Put the hay out on bare spots and the least productive areas. Trying to build up some organic matter in those areas.

 

[Aaron]

My father built some shed feeders with a roof several years ago to feed rolled hay. Some hold one roll and some two. Obviously, the rolls stay dry and ice-free during the short time they are being consumed. My brother and i noticed that nobody else seems to use anything like this with a roof. Most people use rings and some just sit the rolls on the ground. I was curious as to how people here feed rolls. Is the shelter unnecessary or a nice plus?

A lot has to do with the initial value of the hay. You won't treat a Ferrari the same as you would a Ford. Lots of guys on here, talk about $70-80-90-100 hay down south. Crazy prices. Compare that to $20-40 hay around here and you'd understand that we see hay as being a little more expendable than something to be enshrined. Very little is invested in how hay is presented. But down south, you see all kinds of fancy feeders and covers to protect what apparently is a precious resource.

 

[spidersmouse]

We built a long bunk and unroll one every morning. We have about 40 head, used to use elevated bale feeders. They'd pull out hay everywhere and stomp it. Two years ago, we poured a slab about 30 feet long and slightly wider than a bale, built 2x4 head slats with a 2x12 kick board, then poured ten feet flat on each side for the cows to stand on. Gates on our side of the fence; open the middle gate, put the bale on its side, cut the netwrap, give is a shove and unroll it. When it gets mucky on the concrete, open the gate on our side, drive the skidder down, push the poop into a pile for spring. We don't loose any hay now. And we feed fodder/straw whatever, use it for feeding grain, put salt blocks here and there. We did all the work, only real expense was the cement and what we're saving on hay, it paid for itself in a couple months. Found they'll eat whatever we feed because they don't have a chance to be picky. If they're hungry they eat it.

 

[spidersmouse]

My father built some shed feeders with a roof several years ago to feed rolled hay. Some hold one roll and some two. Obviously, the rolls stay dry and ice-free during the short time they are being consumed. My brother and i noticed that nobody else seems to use anything like this with a roof. Most people use rings and some just sit the rolls on the ground. I was curious as to how people here feed rolls. Is the shelter unnecessary or a nice plus?

A lot has to do with the initial value of the hay. You won't treat a Ferrari the same as you would a Ford. Lots of guys on here, talk about $70-80-90-100 hay down south. Crazy prices. Compare that to $20-40 hay around here and you'd understand that we see hay as being a little more expendable than something to be enshrined. Very little is invested in how hay is presented. But down south, you see all kinds of fancy feeders and covers to protect what apparently is a precious resource.

Aaron- send some hay our way! We're in southern Wisconsin, almost out of bales. Looking at 100 plus a bale for CRP hay (prairie grass and weeds). That's why our feeding system is so important now.