Unrolling hay

[Stocker Steve]

Cheapest way to feed hay is to have the seller deliver it to the bale grazing field. Then you just move poly wire, and perhaps hay rings, every couple days. When the going gets tough in the Arctic Vortex - - I have to work off a snowmobile.

I think unrolling would work best here in the spring.

 

[herofan]

Seems like you would have some hungry cows if you only unrolled enough for a couple hours

Not sure if you remember the old days when we only fed square bales. They pretty well cleaned up the hay in a couple hours. We never had a big mess and very little hay waste. The cows came through the winter looking good.

I remember. My grandfather fed square bales. He put it in the hay rack, they cleaned it up, and they were done until next feeding. They didn't have free choice all the time like with round bales.

 

[JMJ Farms]

I think I might give it a try but if so I believe I'll split the cattle into groups of 20-25 in different pastures. It might be tough to roll it out quickly enough for 100 head in one spot.

I guess it would depend on the unrolling setup. I use a Deweze Super Slicer II. I can unroll a bale in around 5 minutes into a wind row that's approximately 2' wide and 100-150' yds long. Im feeding 100 mama cows + calves and it's no problem. If they're not starving then they just come to the tractor at a normal pace and I get ahead of them fairly quickly. A Vermeer or Haybuster works even better. I can't say that it will work for everyone but I can say that everyone should try it. One of the best things I've ever done. Saves me around 1/3 of what I used to feed. If you save 1/3 of 500 rolls valued at $50/roll that's about $8k/yr. That adds up.

I used to unroll bales using a homemade setup where I had a sharpened rod I pushed through the core with a chain welded to a flat washer that slid over each end with a clip pin inserted through the rod to hold it on. If it was a 4' wide bale then it was a 4' wide windrow. The cows wasted a good bit more with the wide windrow. Much less waste with the narrow windrow.

 

[bird dog]

Tux I have a group of 25 spring calving cows that get a roll every other day. They are about 15 miles from my main place. A full roll is to much so I unroll half and put the other half in a cradle. They have some pasture early and then some rye grass starts coming up in late Feb. January is the tough time.

 

[StarBCattle]

hustlerequipment dot com

 

[Bigfoot]

I think I might give it a try but if so I believe I'll split the cattle into groups of 20-25 in different pastures. It might be tough to roll it out quickly enough for 100 head in one spot.

I unroll for 85

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I've been unrolling for 3 or 4 years now. It is more labor intensive during the feeding season as I have to start the tractor up daily. But the trade off is no manure and mud to scrap up, stir around, load, haul, spread, etc. All told i put less hours on the tractor unrolling daily then I do feeding in rings and dealing with manure. And to top it off no more need to maintain and own a manure spreader.

The fields I unroll on during a winter are the best producing fields that following year.

It isn't for everybody thats for sure. But for me winter time is the slow season so I have plenty of time to feed cows, spring/summer/fall are the busy seasons when I really dont have time to be dealing with cleaning a lot and hauling manure.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I think I might give it a try but if so I believe I'll split the cattle into groups of 20-25 in different pastures. It might be tough to roll it out quickly enough for 100 head in one spot.

I unroll for 85

If I decide to give it a try I'll call you for some tips.

 

[callmefence]

I think I might give it a try but if so I believe I'll split the cattle into groups of 20-25 in different pastures. It might be tough to roll it out quickly enough for 100 head in one spot.

I unroll for 85

If I decide to give it a try I'll call you for some tips.

Tip ,1...lay em on the ground side ways. They don't roll good the other way.

 

[callmefence]

The times the cows only have what we're feeding. Like now LoL.
I roll out ~10-15 pounds of good hay a day and set out rolls of poorer hay.
Maybe a little WCS or cake depending on the good of the good hay.
In the spring you'll see the benefit of unrolling on your ground. Also I don't think there's a better way to get klien grass going than unrolling klien hay. Johnson and ryegrass establish very well to.

 

[Bez]

I'm throwing around the idea of unrolling hay this winter but I can't wrap my head around how it's a more efficient.

I'm looking at doing it to spread nutrients out on my pasture and prevent the dreaded 2 acres of knee deep mud.

Will I go through more hay if I unroll? I only run about 14-18 cows and I have 5x5 hay rolls. In this situation would it be better to unroll half a roll at a time?

I plan to build a hay unrolled similar to the one Greg Judy sells. I'd like to be able to pull it with my ATV or UTV to prevent ground damage from the tractor.

We do not unroll it. We simply set the bales out on the ground, take off the wrap and or the twine and let them have at.

Yeah there is some waste but it also adds to the field over time.

Everyone does it differently but the nice thing is the cows in the field in the winter time also stay nice and clean. When it hits minus 30 or colder they are warmer. When that snow comes and gets deep it also provides them a place to lay down.

Cheers

Bez

 

[Bigfoot]

A lot of cost in driving around in a FWA, or a flatbed, every day.

Not sure what an 8N costs to operate. Are you pulling 2 wheel bale unroller with it?

Yes, added a pic to this thread.

 

[kentuckyguy]

Most of the standard bale unrollers that I have seen can simply be pulled with a UTV or ATV. I am already out on my UTV every day to check the cattle so it wouldn't be an extra trip.

 

[Bigfoot]

My little set up

 

[kenny thomas]

Should be illegal to have land that flat.

 

[Dave]

Not many round bales around here. Mostly big squares. But they all feed out on the ground what they figure the cows need for a day. One guy who feeds round bales has a spinner on the three point. Carries another bale on the FEL. Spins off the first bale. Drives a little ways, sets the second bale down, and turns around to spear it. Feeding 150 in one field.

Another guy fed 500 in one field with big squares. Load 6 bales on a wagon behind the tractor. Drive to the field, shift into low, climb off the tractor and on to the wagon. Kick a flake off every 15 feet or so. Go back and get another load to repeat. He said that he would have preferred to have half that many in one field but he was out of room cattle stacked every where. But it is the same concept. Feed what the cattle will need that day.

 

[kentuckyguy]

My little set up

Who makes that bale unroller?

 

[chaded]

I believe that is a Hay-B-Gone unroller.

 

[Bigfoot]

My little set up

Who makes that bale unroller?

Yes, it's a hay b gone.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

My little set up

Who makes that bale unroller?

Yes, it's a hay b gone.

I can see this is much more complex than I first realized. I think I better come up to your place for a week's worth of training.