Unrolling hay tip and question on older hay

[Brute 23]

How do you get bales from the baler, to home, to feeding without handling them at least 3-4 times?

We literally baled in like mid Nov. It will get moved out of the field where it was dropped as needed. It either gets fed there or hauled on a self dump trailer to other properties. What little is left gets stacked before the grass starts coming out. Pretty minimal chances for loss.

We are at 0.2 bales per hd so far this year and we are greening up already. The less hay and handling of hay we do the better.

 

[Dusty Britches]

wow, yall need to calm down. Is a fight over net vs string wrap really worth it? Goodness graciousness. There are far more important things to fight over. I can't believe anyone would choose to fight over this!

 

[chaded]

I only have experience with twine/string and mostly everything is stored in the barn. I was thinking if I ended up getting my own baler that I would want netwrap but is there something inherently different about them over twine in regards to holding together?

I unroll almost all of my hay so it wouldn't go well if all of my bales fell apart.

 

[simme]

wow, yall need to calm down. Is a fight over net vs string wrap really worth it? Goodness graciousness. There are far more important things to fight over. I can't believe anyone would choose to fight over this!

I am not sure which is the bigger issue - net wrap vs twine or whether beans can be used in chili. Both seem to cause very strong opinions.

My opinion - anyone that does not see the benefit of net wrap should lose the right to vote or own a gun.

 

[callmefence]

I have conceded to brute

"When he followed no one does net here anymore it went out with the dinosaurs," with " it never caught on here" I realized what I was arguing with.

 

[Brute 23]

I have conceded to brute

"When he followed no one does net here anymore it went out with the dinosaurs," with " it never caught on here" I realized what I was arguing with.

You still haven't got it. As soon as you bit I purposely said stuff to get under your skin... even admitted to it. You got all puffy chested and ran with it.

 

[Brute 23]

I don't care what any one uses on their hay... not my pig... not my farm.

 

[callmefence]

You still haven't got it. As soon as you bit I purposely said stuff to get under your skin... even admitted to it. You got all puffy chested and ran with it.

Okee dokey brute...

 

[Lee VanRoss]

It wasn't until I came across CT forums that I became aware that starting a tractor every day in the winter and rolling bales out
on the ground was such a time and money saver. I had subscribed to the theory of avoiding iron and oil between the sun and the
ground. Wouldn't be my first mistake.

 

[Brute 23]

It wasn't until I came across CT forums that I became aware that starting a tractor every day in the winter and rolling bales out
on the ground was such a time and money saver. I had subscribed to the theory of avoiding iron and oil between the sun and the
ground. Wouldn't be my first mistake.

Use net to be more efficient because the study says so then handle it 3 or 4 times with equipment.

Guess we need a study on that too.

 

[chaded]

While I don't get out of using the tractor completely, my hay is unrolled with a utv. I don't have to spread manure either so there is that i guess.

 

[callmefence]

While I don't get out of using the tractor completely, my hay is unrolled with a utv. I don't have to spread manure either so there is that i guess.

Don't let anyone talk you out of unrolling hay. It works no doubt about it.
As far as buying a baler. I wouldn't consider buying a string only baler. Even if one could found. The string is a little cheaper but that will easily get made up just in fuel savings. Not to mention time , leaf loss etc. Shedding water etc. There is no argument about it. It's pretty much fact. The only viable reason I see to avoid net appears to be if you get bales frozen in ice. And in that case I would think it would have to be sisal twine to help much.

 

[chaded]

Here is the big 'iron' heading out to unroll after an inch or two of rain. Tractor will work too if you like ruts.

 

[RDFF]

While I don't get out of using the tractor completely, my hay is unrolled with a utv. I don't have to spread manure either so there is that i guess.

That'll never fly up here in the north country...

 

[RDFF]

Here is the big 'iron' heading out to unroll after an inch or two of rain. Tractor will work too if you like ruts.

Just curious what that ute costs vs. an older model tractor? When it comes to the cost of iron, it's not all about how much iron is involved... My guess is that the tractor will have alot more iron per $$$ invested, and will end up with less upkeep and depreciation costs too, if you work that goat-kart much.

Don't get me wrong... I like your ute... but they're awful expensive for what you actually get. Handy for sure... but expensive. Enjoyable to have around... absolutely... but expensive. The grandkids love riding around in 'em... but expe..... you get my drift.

 

[chaded]

Just curious what that ute costs vs. an older model tractor? When it comes to the cost of iron, it's not all about how much iron is involved... My guess is that the tractor will have alot more iron per $$$ invested, and will end up with less upkeep and depreciation costs too, if you work that goat-kart much.

Don't get me wrong... I like your ute... but they're awful expensive for what you actually get. Handy for sure... but expensive. Enjoyable to have around... absolutely... but expensive. The grandkids love riding around in 'em... but expe..... you get my drift.

It was under 20k brand new a few years back and the only work that has been done to it is changing the oil. It hauls and unrolls some pretty big bales almost every day on some decent size hills and does it without tearing up my pastures.

It also hauls a skid sprayer and gets around the hillsides a lot easier. Everything here but the hayfields are hills. I use it to drag a small disk and cultipacker around a few acres for food plots.

I am not very nice to it but it keeps on going. It could break today and I would write a check tomorrow for another one. When I need a tractor, I have one of those too.

 

[chaded]

Tractors are for making coffee.

 

[RDFF]

Yeah... I know... and I get it. We've all got our toys... but I wonder how many cattle are raised actually having to pay for, on their own, all the ACTUAL investment that goes into "getting it done" for them... you know what I mean? Are we too often willing to subsidize our "hobby"... and still somehow call it "profitable"? Do we really and honestly attempt to account for and justify all the costs we incur to produce our product? I think it happens way more than most of us are or would be willing to admit to. How many other "businesses" are willing to do that perennially?

It's a free country... so more power to you..., and to all of us... But the rest of the business world would say..., "This is what it costs me to produce this product, and I must have at least X % return on that investment, or I simply can't and won't continue to supply you with any more product...", period.

A majority of the U.S. beef cow and calf inventory is held in operations of fewer than 100 cows, that are dependent on supplemental income from off-farm employment. And I've got nothing against anybody who is willing to work "two jobs"... or three. I did it too, for a long time... and at a time in my life when I wasn't farming...

My "beef" comes in when that off-farm job is used to "subsidize" the on-farm job, instead of the family that's doing both. As long as we're willing to continue to subsidize this admittedly wonderful, enjoyable enterprise with funding from other sources..., and as long as we continue to then willingly provide a subsidized supply of product, the rest of the world will certainly be willing to take advantage of our generosity, and will continue to be taught, BY US, to expect us to do it.

I love what I do... but I'm trying my darndest to make sure that what I raise is profitable after honestly and objectively accounting for all my input costs. I encourage all of us to do the same, or we're all going to continue to beat our heads against the wall as we go down together. It's pretty obvious that the "good years" in the cattle industry (or any industry) are when demand outpaces supply. The supply swing in cattle numbers from low to high in the last 20 years is about 6%............. My guess would be that if we refuse to "subsidize" our enterprise, and instead insist that the animals we raise HAVE TO pay for themselves or we just will not raise them, we'd lose a little more than 6% of the national herd... and the steady profit would be there... because we would be demanding it through the supply chain... "voting with our feet" so to speak. (And where opportunity presents itself, opportunists will step in and fill that gap...........................)

It's a free country though, and thank God and all the individuals that fought to make it and keep it that way, that it is. Just "food for thought"... for ALL OF US. Sorry for the soapbox..................... just thinking out loud among friends.

 

[Lucky]

Yeah... I know... and I get it. We've all got our toys... but I wonder how many cattle are raised actually having to pay for, on their own, all the ACTUAL investment that goes into "getting it done" for them... you know what I mean? Are we too often willing to subsidize our "hobby"... and still somehow call it "profitable"? Do we really and honestly attempt to account for and justify all the costs we incur to produce our product? I think it happens way more than most of us are or would be willing to admit to. How many other "businesses" are willing to do that perennially?

It's a free country... so more power to you..., and to all of us... But the rest of the business world would say..., "This is what it costs me to produce this product, and I must have at least X % return on that investment, or I simply can't and won't continue to supply you with any more product...", period.

A majority of the U.S. beef cow and calf inventory is held in operations of fewer than 100 cows, that are dependent on supplemental income from off-farm employment. And I've got nothing against anybody who is willing to work "two jobs"... or three. I did it too, for a long time... and at a time in my life when I wasn't farming...

My "beef" comes in when that off-farm job is used to "subsidize" the on-farm job, instead of the family that's doing both. As long as we're willing to continue to subsidize this admittedly wonderful, enjoyable enterprise with funding from other sources..., and as long as we continue to then willingly provide a subsidized supply of product, the rest of the world will certainly be willing to take advantage of our generosity, and will continue to be taught, BY US, to expect us to do it.

I love what I do... but I'm trying my darndest to make sure that what I raise is profitable after honestly and objectively accounting for all my input costs. I encourage all of us to do the same, or we're all going to continue to beat our heads against the wall as we go down together. It's pretty obvious that the "good years" in the cattle industry (or any industry) are when demand outpaces supply. The supply swing in cattle numbers from low to high in the last 20 years is about 6%............. My guess would be that if we refuse to "subsidize" our enterprise, and instead insist that the animals we raise HAVE TO pay for themselves or we just will not raise them, we'd lose a little more than 6% of the national herd... and the steady profit would be there... because we would be demanding it through the supply chain... "voting with our feet" so to speak. (And where opportunity presents itself, opportunists will step in and fill that gap...........................)

It's a free country though, and thank God and all the individuals that fought to make it and keep it that way, that it is. Just "food for thought"... for ALL OF US. Sorry for the soapbox..................... just thinking out loud among friends.

I'm not sure were you are going with this post (what items you refer to anyways).I bought a Deweze hay unroller about 10 yrs ago for $1,600. At the time I thought it was expensive but I can tell you it's paid for itself in hay savings alone. Not sure how many $250 hay spikes I would've went through by now to boot. The SxS pay for themselves as well. It's not like they are a throw away item that has no value after 5 yrs. The Polaris Ranger we've had for the last 5 yrs will bring what we paid and we've used it alot. The Cab Kubota we bought 3 yrs ago has been a life saver when it comes to checking cattle in the winter and has saved many calves we wouldn't have found otherwise. I don't think it'll bring what we gave like the Ranger but it'd be close. Granted not every investment on the ranch makes money but these two definitely will. I've ask on here several times what folks think an acceptable profit per head is but never have gotten a straight answer, $100,200, 500.....that being said if I wasn't making money on the cattle I'd be out for sure. I will admit I put most of the profit back into the operation but I have the luxury of doing so at this time so I try to invest in things to make my life easier, more productive, and more profitable in the years to come.

 

[Brute 23]

It was under 20k brand new a few years back and the only work that has been done to it is changing the oil. It hauls and unrolls some pretty big bales almost every day on some decent size hills and does it without tearing up my pastures.

It also hauls a skid sprayer and gets around the hillsides a lot easier. Everything here but the hayfields are hills. I use it to drag a small disk and cultipacker around a few acres for food plots.

I am not very nice to it but it keeps on going. It could break today and I would write a check tomorrow for another one. When I need a tractor, I have one of those too.

Same here.

A utv is more valuable to me than a tractor.