unrolling hay questions

[uplandnut]

I see all the posts about unrolling hay and it has got me wondering?
People show unrolling dry hay all the time, does anyone ever unroll wet bales?
Does unrolling hay benefit me as much in ground value when there is 2 feet of snow and frost as it does when there is no snow and no frost, or am I wasting at that point?

I'm intrigued by the idea of unrolling hay, but am just trying to get my head around having to start a tractor everyday as being more effective.

 

[kenny thomas]

I would rather unroll on snow and especially frozen ground than mud. In mud they do waste some. On frozen ground they waste very little.

 

[Lucky_P]

Unrolled almost all hay the last two years(before we sold out). Dry/frozen/snow cover - they didn't waste a handful - but we were feeding just the right amount to get 25-27#/cow/day. they'd have it all cleaned up within a couple of hours. Muddy days... yeah, they trampled some in, but overall, wasteage was a whole lot less than when we limit-fed in hay rings on the concrete feeding pad - and a whale of a lot less than before we poured that pad and they were pulling out hay and trampling it into the mud.

 

[chaded]

I just started but I am loving it (cows seem to as well) and wish I would got onboard earlier this year. Even with how wet it's been here lately it seems I'm getting no more waste then feeding in the rings. I'm done with the knee deep muck in the sacrifice lot.

 

[sstterry]

My only problem is all of the damage I do to the ground going to and from unrolling. But I am still unrolling unless it is going to snow or I know I will be gone one day.

 

[Silver]

We unroll on frozen snow covered ground. Silage bales seem to get more difficult to unroll as the winter goes on, not sure why. It's not that they are frozen, they just seem to mat together more as time goes on.
And the fertility of the areas we feed on gets to be quite incredible.