Round bales

[mydaddysjag]

I admit it, Im a hay snob. I generally feed only small squares of second and third cutting alfalfa or timothy hay, I mix it myself depending on the horses needs. I've always been afraid to feed round bales, associating them with moldy, bad hay. Over the years I have heard people on LB talk about feeding rounds in the pasture through winter, and now Im considering it. If I do, I would have to find someone that would deliver them, as I dont have equipment to load and haul a bale that big.

Now, the embarrassing part... I honestly dont know how to feed round bales in the field. How do you keep the bottom from molding, and what about it being out in the weather? I have a 34" gelding, a 36" stallion, and a now yearling shetland/mini colt who is expected to grow to be 38" or more. How fast would they go through a round bale? Whats the best way to reduce the waste?

Ill admit it, its partially me being lazy. I like my horses munching hay throughout the entire day when its super cold during winter, and I dont like going outside in the cold and tossing hay 6x a day because they scarf it down thinking they are starved and its all they are getting. I figured with a roundbale, once used to it, they might eat it more leisurely. If I do the roundbale in the drylot, I would just feed them alfalfa when I put them in their stalls at night, so they would still be getting part of their hay as alfalfa.

I did find someone with nice roundbales that would deliver right into my drylot, BUT they are 2000lbs. Im having a hard time imagining how big that is, but it seems HUGE. Would my horses even go through that before it went bad? Its certainly way cheaper than my small squares, and still nice hay.

 

[Eagle]

I am very interested to here what people can advice cos that is exactly what I am thinking of doing too.

Thanks

 

[heartkranch]

throw a tarp over the top and there you go. I have 10 horses eatting on a round bale so mine go quick enough that I don't worry about mold. If they eat it within a couple of weeks that not enough time for mold to set it, Plus horses are picky the stuff they don't want usually gets stepped on.

 

[Lindi-loo]

I used to feed round bales in the winter..Id have the farmer that delivered it to push it tight up against the fence opposite side to what the ponies were in so they eat it through the fence acting like a very large hay rack..I had it on a couple of pallets so it was off the floor and covered it to keep the weather off..once they had eaten as far as they could reach it would be light enough to push closer by hand (a few of you obviousy)..my 2 minis would go through a bale in about 4-6 weeks..although they always have hay and it saves the time of feeding everyday I found the waste was rediculous..they tend to pull a new mouthfull from the bale each time rather than pick up what they drop as its so freely available and my greedy pair never moved away from it

I no longer use them..I fill the hay rack in the feild shelter now and once they have finished that its no more till bed time lol

 

[ohmt]

Tarps make molding worse-know that one from experience! Just leave it-in the winter (depending on where you are, on my phone so can't see if you have it listed) the snow will make a nice little layer on top that protects the hay. You can't stop the outside layer from going bad, but I like the outside layer because it protects the rest of the bale. We round bale feed our mares and put two bales out for all of them-one in a metal round bale feeder that protects the bottom and one in a very large old tire that also protects the bottom. I prefer the metal feeder. If you post an ad in your local newspaper, I bet you could find a cattle farm with an extra. Just make sure it's not starting to rust.

After putting the bale in, I cut the strings and pull off the crusty layer of hay on the bottom half of the bale. Leave it on the top. The horses almost always eat from the sides anyway. They are smart

they know what's good and bad. The round bales are nice, but a lot of waste. One bale should last you a long time, a couple weeks would be my guess. My 20+ mares go through 2 bales a week, sometimes 3.

 

[stormy]

I feed round bales but have alot of horses so the bales only last 3 to 4 days. With as few as you have I would put them under cover and peel off what you want to use. You would be at high risk putting them in the field. Too many weather changes and too much time for them to tear it apart and waste it.

It is not difficult to find VERY high quality hay in rounds these days. Farmers here do not like to do squares anymore as it is too difficult to find anyone willing to help stack bales, a job many of us oldsters did as teenagers.

 

[mini horse mania]

We are also going back to round hay...cost issue.with hay at $6 a bale for coastal....and round bale for $35... I'd save a ton. I feed over 2 square bales a day now. The only problem is it does make a mess..and the wont eat it all.the outside layer just seems to get pooped And peed on and stomped into the ground...we back up to the fence with our pickup and roll it off. It takes my 12 minis about 3 weeks to eat a 1200 pound bale. Always set it on the side so it can't rain in it and mold....

 

[donnalee]

I kept round bales in the pasture when I had horses and never had a problem. Just get good quality as you do with the square bales. I made sure they didn't have to eat it down to the nibs but replaced with a new bale so they always had the good hay. I had enough horses that it didn't stay around long enough to go bad.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

If you can find nice round bales that are stored inside instead of out will certaintly go a long way. Most of the time the horses won't eat the top layer if its pretty nasty. My problems I've had with feeding round bales are 1 they get overweight, and I'm talking about easy keepers here that get obese, I don't care if they get a lil heavier during winter time but not to the point where they get obese, and 2 they do leave alot behind. If mine weren't pigs I would prefer to give a roundbale of grass hay during winter and I'm like you I don't have any equipment to move roundbales so I just find a hill and push it out of the truck.

It seems like squares are dying out, I'm paying $12 for orchard grass and even tho its really nice hay and the horses love it but I wish I was paying half of that. I've seen bales of alfalfa for $15 here in SW MO and thats the highest I've seen so far.

 

[chandab]

There is definitely more waste with round bales, but usually that is more than made up for in the cost savings (well at least in most areas; around here, rounds and squares are about the same cost per ton, but a whole lot less work with the rounds, just drop in with a tractor). Luckily, we raise cattle, so the outer layer and any that isn't horse quality goes to the cows, so little to no waste around here. I do have round bale feeders for two of my paddocks, the rest, I fork daily rations to.

 

[mini horse mania]

Another idea we have done in the past is to put a round bale outside of the pen And roll off rations for them to keep the pens clean and them from puffing up like balloons...I have a hay feeder shaped like a V....made out of a metal baby crib...lol...I just roll some off and fill the feeder.

 

[dannigirl]

We are also going back to round hay...cost issue.with hay at $6 a bale for coastal....and round bale for $35... I'd save a ton. I feed over 2 square bales a day now. The only problem is it does make a mess..and the wont eat it all.the outside layer just seems to get pooped And peed on and stomped into the ground...we back up to the fence with our pickup and roll it off. It takes my 12 minis about 3 weeks to eat a 1200 pound bale. Always set it on the side so it can't rain in it and mold....

I read a story a long time back about a large bale on its side. It said that the bale was feeding mares and their foals. The mares ate the middle out and a foal got into it and it collapsed on the foal and suffocated it. I have been scared to put a bale on its side ever since because I would freak out if I went out there and found that one of my babies got its head stuck in a collapse and suffocated. Don't know if it is even likely, but it scared me.

 

[Riverdance]

I started using round bales in MN during the winter. It was too cold to rain, so I did not have to worry about that. I got cattle panels and cut them into two 6' sections and 2 4' sections and wired them together. It made a great round bale holder with very little waste. Only problem was that as the bales got smaller, I would have to pull the hay off the bales and stuff it around the sides once a day. When we had a hugh snow storm last year and I could not get out to the horses for 2 days, I was not worried as they had round bales and automatic waterers that were double heated. I did not have to worry about ground rot because of the frozen ground.

Here in Florida I use them too (all I have been able to find), lots of waste, but at $35 a 900 lb bale, not bad. The pastures are bare, but they have something to graze on all day. I have 20 mares in one pasture. They are not allowed to graze 24/7 and are put in paddocks at night. That round bale lasts about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks. The stallions and younger horses can graze on their round bales 24/7.

Easier for me, as I only have to grain them 2x a day and not have to worry about lugging 4 square bails around while feeding.

 

[dannigirl]

We feed large bales to the mares in a round feeder. There are 19 minis and a llama in that pen. They are in the pen about 16 hours overnight and during the day they go out to a pasture that is mostly dead grasses because of the cold. During the day, we let 28 horses from the barn stalls out to play in the area with the bale. They nibble on it for about 8 hrs a day between playing. This bale lasts about 4 to 6 days depending on how cold it is. The colder it is, the more they eat. I think the bales are about 1800lbs. We also just put one on the ground in the fence corner of our back lot. We let 5 weanling minis and 3 weanling llamas out there about 8 hrs a day. They do waste some, but not a lot and when it is gone, I let them out there a day or two without a new bale. That bale can last up to a month. The mares can reach some of that when they are in the pasture. The fence is cattle panels so they eat through it.

We love our round bales and use very few small bales here.

 

[Jetiki]

now I haven't personally tried this but I have personally seen it in use. A Soccer/hockey net over the round bale acts like a slow feeder and keeps it from getting stomped/trampled/scattered and it lasts a bit longer since they don't waste it as soon as I have some extra cash I will be purchasing one or two the holes are tiny not big enough to catch a foot even a mini foot from the ones I saw.

Karen

 

[happy appy]

I use a Bale Buddy Slow Feeder net and a round bale metal feeder with the 3 legs cut off so it sits on the ground. Works great. No one get obese, no mess or waste and the bale lasts my 5 for 3 weeks with no mold. Once it gets to the 1.5 week mark I might have to drop the netting down into the feeder and pull down more hay from the core but it still is less work and less mess than anything else I have tried.

I just found a pictures of my setup.

 

[lucky lodge]

I kept round bales in the pasture when I had horses and never had a problem. Just get good quality as you do with the square bales. I made sure they didn't have to eat it down to the nibs but replaced with a new bale so they always had the good hay. I had enough horses that it didn't stay around long enough to go bad.

hi donna i have your miniature horse book...great read and iam in australia

:yeah

 

[donnalee]

hi donna i have your miniature horse book...great read and iam in australia

:yeah

Oh wow! That is so cool to know someone on the "other side of the world" has read The Book of Miniature Horses. Thank you

 

[wildoak]

2000 pounds is a big round bale. What we get here is generally about 850-1200 pounds. I know most people store and feed them outside, but I do my best to buy barn stored, dry bales and barn store them here until they are fed. I use a hay ring and put a tarp over the top with zip ties. If you are concerned about the tarp sitting directly on the hay, you can put something like a Strongid can on top of the bale until it's eaten down some. Pretty hard to keep the bottom clean & dry if you feed it outside.

Jan

 

[Ashley]

I put hog panels around mine. They last 2-3 weeks each, thats with 2 big horses eatting. Mine are stored in the barn but most of the time before I get them they are stored outside. They dont waist any of it. With the hog panels around them I go out every other day and pick up any that has fallen outside. They clean it all up, even the outside of the bale.