Unrolling hay tip and question on older hay

[Dusty Britches]

I like to unroll hay to spread out the cows. I get less fighting, more polite cows that don't try to squash me. The babies get a dry place to lay and with the frequent trips to feed, the babies are very uses to humans.

Keeping the waste to minimum and unrolling only what they need in a 24 hour period, I only need to unroll a half bale a day. With my busy life, feeding hay every day can be exhausting in the short winter days. I noticed when I unroll, the cows stick with that area for a full 15 hours or longer so then I thought, what if I unrolled half on this side of the field and unrolled the other half on the other side, separating them as far as I could. What a brilliant idea! It works! Now the cows spread out and they do eat more and waste less. I'm looking forward to seeing the impact on weeds, too.

Last night I went to unroll an older bale but when I cut the net wrap half of the bale fell off and it was about thigh high. The grass hay was vey short instead of the long stems from when it is cut. I could not even pull the net wrap out. I had to tie it to the hay spear to pick it up. Disappointed, I started thinking I might half to pull the old hay rings out again but with the bale collapse, I'm not sure I could even place a ring over it.

Has anyone else who unrolls hay experienced this? How do you approach solving this?

 

[bird dog]

Leave the bale barely touching the ground without a lot of downward pressure. It needs to unroll the same way it was rolled up. Cut the netting but don't try to remove. Pull it over the top if needed. Get moving and feather it down slowly. Wait until they finish and pickup the netting then if you can't get it pulled out by hand.

This works some of the time and takes some practice. Some of the windrows on my hay were big so the roll ups were thick. It makes it difficult at time to get a even roll out.

 

[Brute 23]

Just say no to net wrap.

 

[RDFF]

Yup... I've had it with some really bad bales... with no "wrapping of hay to hold the bale together at all"... like chopped cornstalks almost. And the netwrap isn't the problem for DustyB... it's the lack of this wrapping of the hay within the bale itself. Once the netwrap is removed, the bale just falls apart, period.

Not much you can with one like that to achieve what you posted first... (putting some of the bale on one end of the farm, some on the other). My unroller is built with some hanging down extensions on the underside of the frame, so I AM able to at least reach in with it over the "pile", hook some hay and drag it out a bit... but you're not going to take it very far. I'm able to spread that pile out enough into "smaller piles" so that they eat it all though pretty much.

 

[Lucky]

I've found that bales that were rolled with big fluffy windrows tend to fall apart when you take the net wrap off. Long stemmed grasses will do the same. On the flip side shorter grass with thinner windrows seem to unroll too thin. There's not much you can do but just work with what you've got.

 

[Silver]

I’m into so hay now that was baled too dry and was shattering. Very heavy windrows. They pretty much explode on contact.

 

[Lucky]

I finished up feeding last years hay yesterday. It all unrolled very easy and in a good mat. Started feeding this years hay yesterday and it's frustrating to unroll it. It just falls apart and doesn't go very far. I feed 2 rolls a day so it's not that big of a deal. If I was feeding 1/2 rolls it would be hard to manage.

 

[libertygarden]

For older hay rolls, try unrolling in the opposite direction of how it was baled so that you don't leave big swaths of hay as it unrolls.

 

[Down in Dixie]

What I have found when I’m baling hay is when I run slower and don’t push the baler I get a tighter bale that holds together well. When I run fast and push the baler hard it usually ends in a looser bale that doesn’t hold together well when you take the string off.

 

[callmefence]

Just say no to net wrap.

Exactly how is that going to help??

 

[callmefence]

I like to unroll hay to spread out the cows. I get less fighting, more polite cows that don't try to squash me. The babies get a dry place to lay and with the frequent trips to feed, the babies are very uses to humans.

Keeping the waste to minimum and unrolling only what they need in a 24 hour period, I only need to unroll a half bale a day. With my busy life, feeding hay every day can be exhausting in the short winter days. I noticed when I unroll, the cows stick with that area for a full 15 hours or longer so then I thought, what if I unrolled half on this side of the field and unrolled the other half on the other side, separating them as far as I could. What a brilliant idea! It works! Now the cows spread out and they do eat more and waste less. I'm looking forward to seeing the impact on weeds, too.

Last night I went to unroll an older bale but when I cut the net wrap half of the bale fell off and it was about thigh high. The grass hay was vey short instead of the long stems from when it is cut. I could not even pull the net wrap out. I had to tie it to the hay spear to pick it up. Disappointed, I started thinking I might half to pull the old hay rings out again but with the bale collapse, I'm not sure I could even place a ring over it.

Has anyone else who unrolls hay experienced this? How do you approach solving this?

Lots of hay had this kinda deal this year.
Due to the grass being short and not making a good thatch to hold the bale together. Using either double spears or pallet forks pick the bale up from the side with the spears under the bale.
Cut the wrap as low as you can in the front. Pull it over the top and tie it to the guard on the spear. Carry it to location and tilt your forks forward. The bale will roll off and out the wrap will stay on the loader.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Hay grapple bucket it the best thing for feeding hay imo. I can carry bales to the field with the wrap off, set them down, then unroll them. If they just explode into a pile of hay while unrolling I can then grab the pile of hay and spread it around as needed.

For winter time hay handling I ditch the spears and only use the grapple bucket.

 

[Brute 23]

Exactly how is that going to help??

When your bale falls apart it won't get worse having to drag that mess out?

I'm actually not 100% sure what the question is in the OP.

 

[cfpinz]

I'm feeding a bunch of rolls now that are from spring of 2021, have been sitting outside since then. The first turn off of the bale is a foot thick or better since the bottom has rotted a good bit. A tractor with double spikes on the front can spread out that big chunk pretty well, or I spread it out by hand after I'm done, or I just leave it alone - most of the time it's the latter. After that first turn, you can't tell it from the hay that was baled this past year.

 

[Dusty Britches]

This hay was cut in 2021 when the grass was tall. The comments about the windrows was very interesting. The windrows when this was baled was very thick and come to think of it ... in some places about thigh high. I like your suggestion Fence, about the forks instead of the spears. I'll try that next time I feed, which should be tonight.

 

[sunnyblueskies]

We unroll hay, never had a bale completely fall apart though, so my post might be just a stupid idea.
If you have this happen with a bale every now and then I would just grab parts of the bale with the loader and make a few piles out of it. You said you only feed half a bale a day, if you have to leave a full bale out there because it fell apart, I wouldn't feed the next day because they've got a 48 hr ration. Consider it like bale grazing.
But if all your bales are like that........ wow, I don't know. Your 'unroller' isn't going to work with those. How many cows are you feeding?

 

[Brute 23]

That's one of my complaints about net. You have to keep it elevated or tie it off or some thing like that. No matter if it's a bad bale or the hay is just old, when it starts coming apart its a pia to get the wrap out. If you are lucky, the net will hold together and you can use some of the methods above. If you are not, the net starts tearing up in to pieces that are hidden all in the bale you just fed.

 

[callmefence]

Hay grapple bucket it the best thing for feeding hay imo. I can carry bales to the field with the wrap off, set them down, then unroll them. If they just explode into a pile of hay while unrolling I can then grab the pile of hay and spread it around as needed.

For winter time hay handling I ditch the spears and only use the grapple bucket.

I've used a brush grapple to feed messed up bale

That's one of my complaints about net. You have to keep it elevated or tie it off or some thing like that. No matter if it's a bad bale or the hay is just old, when it starts coming apart its a pia to get the wrap out. If you are lucky, the net will hold together and you can use some of the methods above. If you are not, the net starts tearing up in to pieces that are hidden all in the bale you just fed.

On a good tight bale the net comes off in one motion and one piece. In frozen places it seems it causes a problem. But around here no. Your doing something wrong I've posted a video to try to help you in the past. Maybe you could post one and we can figure out how to help you. Lol

 

[Brute 23]

I've used a brush grapple to feed messed up bale

On a good tight bale the net comes off in one motion and one piece. In frozen places it seems it causes a problem. But around here no. Your doing something wrong I've posted a video to try to help you in the past. Maybe you could post one and we can figure out how to help you. Lol

I'm good. No one does net here any more. It died with the dinosaurs.

Net is like paint or make up. Most the time people use it to make some thing ugly look good long enough to get some one on the hook.

 

[coachg]

My cows only eat my best hay when I unroll it . If I unroll something they don’t like they waste it . I put those in my hayrings and they eventually eat it . Maybe they are just spoiled ?