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Unrolling hay
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<blockquote data-quote="Lucky_P" data-source="post: 1679132" data-attributes="member: 12607"><p>In spite of buying bale feeders, and even pouring a concrete feeding pad some years back, the last 2 or 3 years we had cows, we unrolled. If you can do it, it's the way to go!</p><p>Starting in 2015 we 'limit-fed' hay and DDG , so my wife had calculated how much hay they needed each day... depending on stage of pregnancy or lactation. One group might get one roll, the other one and a half, etc. </p><p>Essentially, they got their entire daily ration at one time, and pretty well cleaned it up within two hours. Virtually no wastage. Even in muddy conditions, there was very little trampling in - certainly less wastage than when they were eating out of hay rings on the feeding pad. </p><p>If it was SO wet that severe rutting was going to be a problem, we would occasionally unroll on the 50x80 concrete pad - they wasted more, peeing/pooping on it that way than when unrolled on pasture, but still, way less than when we'd have 5 rolls sitting on the pad in rings and allowing them access for 2 or 3hrs at a time to consume their daily allotment. </p><p>Both winter feeding paddocks here at the house had sufficient slopes that we could position the bales at the top and unroll them downhill. They didn't always go all the way on their own... usually had to get out of the tractor and manually unroll the last one-third or one-fourth of most bales, but the cows would be in the barnlot eating their grain ration while we unrolled, so we weren't mobbed by hungry cows while unrolling.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lucky_P, post: 1679132, member: 12607"] In spite of buying bale feeders, and even pouring a concrete feeding pad some years back, the last 2 or 3 years we had cows, we unrolled. If you can do it, it's the way to go! Starting in 2015 we 'limit-fed' hay and DDG , so my wife had calculated how much hay they needed each day... depending on stage of pregnancy or lactation. One group might get one roll, the other one and a half, etc. Essentially, they got their entire daily ration at one time, and pretty well cleaned it up within two hours. Virtually no wastage. Even in muddy conditions, there was very little trampling in - certainly less wastage than when they were eating out of hay rings on the feeding pad. If it was SO wet that severe rutting was going to be a problem, we would occasionally unroll on the 50x80 concrete pad - they wasted more, peeing/pooping on it that way than when unrolled on pasture, but still, way less than when we'd have 5 rolls sitting on the pad in rings and allowing them access for 2 or 3hrs at a time to consume their daily allotment. Both winter feeding paddocks here at the house had sufficient slopes that we could position the bales at the top and unroll them downhill. They didn't always go all the way on their own... usually had to get out of the tractor and manually unroll the last one-third or one-fourth of most bales, but the cows would be in the barnlot eating their grain ration while we unrolled, so we weren't mobbed by hungry cows while unrolling. [/QUOTE]
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