Round bale feeders

[rgv]

Anyone used or made a round bale feeder with the interior slats or insert to save on waste during feeding hay?
Have a guy that is welding them up for $ 100.00 around here. They are made where you can just set them on top/kinda like a cone in the round bale feeder.

 

[norriscathy]

Cows will tear up anything! A $100 ring will last 1 year and a $200 ring will last two. We made portable 6'x24' racks out of 6" oil field casing and mounted on heavy duty axles with used 36" airplane tires. Have worked great for 15 years with no problems.

 

[rgv]

Let me clear this up. This is not a round bale feeder. Imagine on the old sqaure bale feeders that had the slats 4-6" apart that the cows fed through. This guy is making a cone if you will that would point down into the middle of the round bale feeder. Has a bunch of pipies going to the center. It is about one foot wider than the circle bale feeder.
They stick their head through the slanted bars in the round baler and can only pull out x much hay at a time. What falls, then falls between the cone and the inside of the hay ring. This can then be eaten, as it did not fall on the ground outside the ring and get trampled into the ground as does with most round bale feeders.

 

[rgv]

Check out this website -
The same idea - only this guy is making an insert that you can put into existing hay rings. Also the pipes are a little closer together.

http://www.haymizer.com

 

[Texas PaPaw]

IMO For $100 it sure might be worth a trial on 1. Looks like a front end loader would be needed to place bale in cone.

Keep us posted if you try one.

Regards

Brock

 

[dj]

Is this it?

here's an article about them
http://beef-mag.com/mag/beef_cone_feeder_tops/

 

[rgv]

Looks just like that.
I kinda thought the bars should be a little closer together -
What do you think?

I have a couple wood hay bunks that we feed sqaure bales through with a wood trough in front of it. We lose almost no hay. Those slats are about 4" apart.

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

I use feeders similar to that one, only the ones I bought are 24 feet long. They work extremely well, and there is very little waste as compared to a standard round bale feeder.

Don't worry about the inside bar spacing, it doesn't seem to matter. And if you don't get too panicked about getting more bales out to them before the feeder is empty, they will clean up what falls down into the "trough" area.

Hundred bucks, huh? I paid $1200 for my 24 footers, so I'd say you're getting a steal.

Rod

 

[norriscathy]

I use feeders similar to that one, only the ones I bought are 24 feet long. They work extremely well, and there is very little waste as compared to a standard round bale feeder.

Don't worry about the inside bar spacing, it doesn't seem to matter. And if you don't get too panicked about getting more bales out to them before the feeder is empty, they will clean up what falls down into the "trough" area.


Hundred bucks, huh? I paid $1200 for my 24 footers, so I'd say you're getting a steal.

Rod

Where did you find your feeders? Are they on wheels? Always looking for something better.

 

[Stocker Steve]

The same idea - only this guy is making an insert that you can put into existing hay rings. Also the pipes are a little closer together. http://www.haymizer.com

These look heavy duty but seem a little spendy for the amount of cattle they feed. For that kind of money I would look into a wagon vs. three square feeders. There are two styles of hay wagons in my area. They make several open bottom models out of out of pipe on a factory running gear in SD. I have never checked on the price. They make the dolly style feed wagon with a solid bottom (which can handle hay or chopped feed) in SD and Wisconsin. They run at least U$S 2500 to 3000 new, and go for about $2000 used at sales

Has anyone share experiences or useful lifes of both a haymizer style ring vs. a feed wagon?

 

[dun]

Has anyone share experiences or useful lifes of both a haymizer style ring vs. a feed wagon?

We used a solid (more or less) bottom one winter. The stuff that fell into the bottom would just rot when it rained, and that winter in rained a bucnh. Never much but a little every few days.

dun

 

[MrBilly]

We have been using the J and L Haysaver for several years. It is a cone feeder made in Pa. Cost us about $650. It is so heavy two of us can not budge it. Takes a palate fork on a tractor to place it and of course a hay spike to put the bale into it.

Two of us went together to buy a tractor trailer load of them so the shipping costs were pretty low, but I don't recall what?

This is very heavy duty, with plate steel skirt.

See on our website :
http://www.sellfarm.com/farm_pictures.htm

Made in Stoystown, Pa. 814-893-5086

Billy

 

[rgv]

Those look like they would do a great job.
Think I will try one of the cones out.
Thanks for the feedback

RGV

 

[buckaroo_bif]

I've read about tests they've done on which way of feeding wastes the least hay. The cone feeders are the best. We unroll hay for the cows and use round bale rings for calves after they are weaned. A guy near here builds rings with the slanted vertical bars. Made of square tubing I have never seen one get torn up , yet.
Also they say a calf will eat more hay with the slanted bars instead of straight vertical bars.

 

[Stocker Steve]

We used a solid (more or less) bottom one winter. The stuff that fell into the bottom would just rot when it rained, and that winter in rained a bunch. Never much but a little every few days. dun[/quote]

I can see where the "drain holes" in a solid bottom feeder wagon would plug up quickly. I have had hay rot in the solid skirted rings too. The lowest labor system I have seen for winter feeding is to spot the bales in rows during the fall and then move the rings. I buy hay a couple miles away so putting a couple bales into a pipe bottom feed wagon and then dropping it into the pasture sounds simplier than load and unload and then move the rings...

Any other low capital ideas for hauling 2 to 8 miles and then feeding :?: I have not tried unrolling thinking it would result in a lot of waste.

 

[MrBilly]

We unrolled for several years, but you are right there is a lot of waste. I guess I never really figured out the correct amount per day, and sometime the coastal bales just fall apart real quickly so you have no choice.

Billy

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

I use feeders similar to that one, only the ones I bought are 24 feet long. They work extremely well, and there is very little waste as compared to a standard round bale feeder.

Don't worry about the inside bar spacing, it doesn't seem to matter. And if you don't get too panicked about getting more bales out to them before the feeder is empty, they will clean up what falls down into the "trough" area.


Hundred bucks, huh? I paid $1200 for my 24 footers, so I'd say you're getting a steal.

Rod

Where did you find your feeders? Are they on wheels? Always looking for something better.

Sorry I didn't get back to this earlier. For some reason the email notification didn't trigger.

A local welder builds the ones that I buy. No wheels, just skids. I'm not sure how wheels would work out. I've got a couple axles here, maybe I'll experiment. Thanks for the idea.

During the winter, I pick the feeder up every couple days just to stop it from freezing down. Every month or so, I'll move it to a new spot to prevent manure buildup around it.

Rod

 

[Anonymous]

HAY MAX HAY FEEDERS ARE THE ULTIMATE< Look the guy up on the web, he delivers them hisself and they are GREAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!