round bales

[happy appy]

Happy Appy, can you buy the hay nets in Ontario?

Also my solution for the hay hut is to put the round bales

on 2 pallets to get it higher up off the ground so the minis

have more access to it. It works well for me but mine are B

size so maybe easier for them to reach--the openings in my

huts are fairly low too.

That's where I got mine! Google Bale buddy slow feed nets, they will come up. I love mine. I have like 1-2% waste now at most.

I only have 1 B size, the other 3 are A. We were thinking about cutting the window openings a little more for them.

 

[happy appy]

happy appy can you take a photo of what you do with the ply wood I am trying to picture it but cant. i fed the round when I was expecting as I could'nt lift the bales and it seemed to do well that is the problem I am finding around here the farms want to do only the round so will have to go with the flow.

I don't have any rounds out for the minis this time of year sorry.

This is my feeder. I cut the 3 legs off and it sits on the ground. On the top of the upside down V is where I attach the plywood. We cut 2 half circles and screw them together and then tie them to the tops of the feeder through holes that we have drilled. works great.

 

[wantminimore]

I've been feeding 6 of mine round bales since December. It is so much easier but there is waste. When I know bad weather is coming (horses are inside) I cover it with a tarp. I use square bales for 2 of my other horses that are kept seperate and for night feeding. One round bales gets me about 2 weeks for 6 horses and that's depending on the weather, a little longer if it's been raining.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Wow, wantminimore, what size of round bale do you feed? I feed 7 horses off a round bale for nearly a month and a half. Of course that is being hand fed with hay nets not free choice so no waste. My bales are about 1500 lbs. some a bit bigger others a bit smaller.

 

[happy appy]

I have about 700 lb rounds and very little waste and I only get about 1 month out of them with 5 eating. My hay is from my own fields that I pay a farmer to cut and bale for me. My cost/bale is very low so I use as many rounds as I need for the minis. I saved enough the first year by feeding rounds to pay for the feeder, hay net and plywood and still have money in the hay savings account. Now that I budget so much less for hay I can do so much more with them. The money is still there, I'm just redirecting it! Hubby doesnt' need to know right!

 

[wantminimore]

Wow, wantminimore, what size of round bale do you feed? I feed 7 horses off a round bale for nearly a month and a half. Of course that is being hand fed with hay nets not free choice so no waste. My bales are about 1500 lbs. some a bit bigger others a bit smaller.

Mine is fed free choice so there is waste there, I haveno idea on the weight of the bale. As for the size, I can put 1 bale in the back of my truck with a 6' bed, 2 bales in an 8' bed. Wish my hay lasted them longer

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Your bales are definately smaller than ours. There is no way you would get more than one of our bales into a pick up even with a full 8' box. In winter our 1500 lb bales last about 1.5 months, in summer when they are on grass for the morning it is close to 3 months perhaps more. Your bales sound like small 500 - 750lb ers. As happy appy says, the savings with netting quickly add up but of course you have to find the $ in the first place and thats sometimes a challenge.

happy appy, I agree LOL, if he doesn't ask no need to tell

 

[Minimor]

I feed round bales; luckily we can get some good quality hay in rounds and it is so much cheaper than buying squares. I get some that are about 800 lbs; one of those will last five horses about 11 or 12 days.

The pastures each have 30 bales set out; there are 10 horses in one pasture and 8 in the other. This batch of bales was put out on April1st, so 2 1/2 months ago and the bales are roughly half gone now. The eight mares waste more than the ten geldings do. These bales are net wrapped and shed water very well; we lay them on the side, not on end.