Opinion on round bale feeder???

[boondocks]

http://albany.craigslist.org/grd/5821102009.html

Are these good? We have the kind with the diagonal slats. Sometimes a calf gets in but usually no biggie. Is that an bigger issue with the kind posted above? How does loss compare?

Any advice/experience appreciated. Thanks!

 

[southernultrablack]

We used one like that style last year, not any good IMO. The cattle would lean into the uprights and bend them in.

 

[midTN_Brangusman]

I had the same results, don't waste your money.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I'd offer $200 for the pair and be tickled pink.

 

[midTN_Brangusman]

I'd offer $200 for the pair and be tickled pink.

I wouldn't waste my time or money, I have two bent all to h2ll you can have if you come get them :lol2:

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I'd use them for weaned calves if they're that flimsy.

Are you sure you didn't bend them putting bales in with your tractor? I've been known to wreck a ring or two that way.

 

[skyhightree1]

http://albany.craigslist.org/grd/5821102009.html

Are these good? We have the kind with the diagonal slats. Sometimes a calf gets in but usually no biggie. Is that an bigger issue with the kind posted above? How does loss compare?

Any advice/experience appreciated. Thanks!

Save your money

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

http://albany.craigslist.org/grd/5821102009.html

Are these good? We have the kind with the diagonal slats. Sometimes a calf gets in but usually no biggie. Is that an bigger issue with the kind posted above? How does loss compare?

Any advice/experience appreciated. Thanks!

Save your money

And buy goats!

 

[skyhightree1]

http://albany.craigslist.org/grd/5821102009.html

Are these good? We have the kind with the diagonal slats. Sometimes a calf gets in but usually no biggie. Is that an bigger issue with the kind posted above? How does loss compare?

Any advice/experience appreciated. Thanks!

Save your money

And buy goats!

:lol2: He will come out ahead on that deal Worse case scenario you can eat them.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Build them your self out of old trampoline frames. I've built well over 2 dozen now. The hay stays up off of the ground and does not get trampled or laid in. Virtually no hay gets wasted.

http://ranchers.net/photopost/showphoto ... puser/2144

 

[backhoeboogie]

http://ranchers.net/photopost/showphoto ... puser/2144

 

[boondocks]

Interesting design, BHB!
I've got a couple mamas that pull out a big stack of hay ("protecting" it from interlopers); munch it from the ground for a few minutes; turn around to see who has "better" eats that they can horn in on, thereby immediately commencing to poo in the bale they just dragged out, then mooing at me to put out more. Anybody got a design to prevent that? lol

Thanks for the overwhelming vote against it. It helped, since I was sorely tempted by the price.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Interesting design, BHB!
I've got a couple mamas that pull out a big stack of hay ("protecting" it from interlopers); munch it from the ground for a few minutes; turn around to see who has "better" eats that they can horn in on, thereby immediately commencing to poo in the bale they just dragged out, then mooing at me to put out more. Anybody got a design to prevent that? lol

Thanks for the overwhelming vote against it. It helped, since I was sorely tempted by the price.

Cuastic put me on to this a few years back. I had an old trampoline frame. Built two out of it and it worked great. I got another old frame from a nephew. Another from a guy at work. Dustybritches put me on to yet another one right here in this forum. I had ten of them put together in a hurry. All built out of scrap. I could put out fourteen bales at a time with very little wasted hay, before I sold the farm.

I estimate about a 30% saving on hay. When you put out a couple hundred bales a year, that's a lot of hay. All of which leaves me beholding to Caustic and his contributions here in this forum.

 

[Ohio Cowboy]

Hey boogie-
Those feeders dont just end up with a pile of wasted hay under them ?

 

[backhoeboogie]

Hey boogie-
Those feeders dont just end up with a pile of wasted hay under them ?

No There are pieces of cattle panel welded into the bottom. Some fines get through the panels. Calves generally eat the fines. Nothing walks on it or poops on it underneath of there.

I tried rings. The cows or bull would get the ring off of the bale. The hay was in direct contact with the ground. There would be quite a pile left. Laid in, pooped in, ground into the mud etc.

These cradles work well for me. My hay waste was reduced drastically. They are light and easy to load or move, by hand. Gusseting is what gives them strength. They cost practically nothing to build.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Caustics are a little different than mine. He didn't use trampoline frames but it is the same concept.

 

[boondocks]

Went by a neighbor's today and he had one like the one I passed on. It was STOMPED. Just a "suggestion" of a feeder! I'm sure my Angus would have trashed it just as well as his Holsteins had!

 

[backhoeboogie]

Went by a neighbor's today and he had one like the one I passed on. It was STOMPED. Just a "suggestion" of a feeder! I'm sure my Angus would have trashed it just as well as his Holsteins had!

I've had to weld the rails back on a couple of times. Nothing else. If one of my cradles was completely trashed, that might be a $20 loss. But when I think of how much hay I have saved over the last few years, I am way ahead. Plus I could put out a week's worth of hay at once. That saved me fuel and time.