Old Round Bales

[A6gal]

I have several 5 X 5 round bales that are 4 years old. Does anyone have any good ideas on what to do with these round bales? Surely there is a way to get some use out of them even if they're not good to feed cattle anymore.

 

[dun]

Why aren;t they good to feed to cattle? Rotten? moldy, ???????????????????

 

[bishopcattleco]

a good idea is to bring them to my place im in northwest arkansas . i would feed it this winter . a man give me some 4 year old hay .they liked it better than the second cutting i had .

 

[jkwilson]

I had some round bales that had sat outside for 3 winters. They were in the back the year they were baled, and I hung up the tractor trying to get them out, so I just ignored them. Two years later, we had some real cold snowy weather after we calved, so I thought I'd drag a couple of those old bales up and bust them up to give the calves a place to lay. Went back the next day and there was nothing but clean snow. The cows loved them and ate 8 or 10 more bales the same way. Go figure :???:

 

[bishopcattleco]

i have also heard if they dont eat them after u roll them out put a bag of loose salt on them.

 

[bigbull338]

feed that 4yr old hay to your cows.they will eat it no prob.

 

[novatech]

If they are rotten then plant potatoes or gourds, etc. in them.

 

[docgraybull]

If they're rotten and you can't move them, you can pour the loose salt on them where they lay and the cows will eat them up.

 

[Stocker Steve]

If they're rotten and you can't move them, you can pour the loose salt on them where they lay and the cows will eat them up.

I did not think to try salt, but I did put some old bales out for bedding and they ate about 80% of them. I think sometimes cows just like a different taste.

 

[ChrisB]

I think your right. I remember reading about a test on dairy cows where they would add flavoring of some sort to the feed ration. Everytime they switched flavors milk production would jump for a while.

 

[tytower]

Our stuff is useless as hay if it sits outside for long. So its best use here is round the vegies as mulch. My cows eat older hay OK but there is a point past which they will not touch it. They know best !

 

[ga.prime]

Stick them in the river and baby eels will move into them. Take them back out and remove the eels. Baby eels make the best bait for striped bass or rockfish. Use the eels yourself or sell them.

 

[dun]

She hasn't been back online since she asked the question. Must not be that important of an issue to her

 

[ga.prime]

Could be an alien abduction.

 

[BrownCow]

Could be an alien abduction.

Yep,the Aliens wanted the hay?

BC

 

[Stocker Steve]

Why aren;t they good to feed to cattle? Rotten? moldy, ???????????????????

I built a second hay shed, but I still have some hay outside, and we had record rains this summer. i feed a few bales this summer and they ate it OK. Now the cows will clean up the grass hay, but stand at the gate and complain for a couple days if given the alfalfa/grass mix. I looked at it and it now has white mold in about 8 to 10 inches from the outside...

Any tips? I thought about unrolling it, or not forcing them to clean it up

 

[dieselbeef]

i kock em apart and dump em in high traffic areas where they tear up the ground..tnd to breed flies in summer but helps the turf...and theyll eat it some if they want and what they dont...well then at least it keeps the dust down

 

[tytower]

We buy round bales about 3 every 3 months. They go on the garden as mulch
Its a wet humid climate here and we often put newspaper ,about 1/3rd the paper , down on the garden then mulch over with the hay and wet down . in a couple of weeks u should see the worms and activity underneath .Nothing like it for vegies

If I let them the cows will eat the new mulch but after a month or so they aint interested .

 

[Fly-guy]

Our cattle will eat old bales also, guess it's like candy to them. They will clean an old bale better than a fresh bale.

 

[Commercialfarmer]

There is a carmalization process of sugars that can occur in older hay. The odor and taste is attractive to them, but there is not as much digestable protein/nutrients available. But it can still be filler.