Round Bales

[MountainWoman]

Does anyone feed round bales? If you do, how do you keep the minis from overeating and do you keep them off the ground with a hay feeder and if you don't how do you keep them from absorbing ground moisture? I don't know much about round bales so sorry if this question sounds ignorant. I've been using square bales only.

 

[atotton]

I feed round bales sometimes. Only when no square bales are available. My bales are kept in my hay shed. I do not put them in with the horses, i just fork some off at each feeding about the same as they would get off square bales.

 

[chandab]

In a way I'm lucky, we raise beef cattle and put up our own round bales, so any hay that isn't suitable for the horses gets fed to the cows and there is no waste. I've been feeding mostly round bales for the last 10 years (I do get a small number of squares for in the barn), mostly straight grass or a grass/alfalfa mix (heavy on the grass for the horses). [All our round bales are stored outside on the ground. I haven't found that putting them on pallets helps me any, but it might for others.] Shayne brings me a round bale sets it on end for me (I prefer them on end, I find them easier to pull hay off) outside the minis' dry lot, I peel the outer icky layer off and make a pile for him to remove later with the tractor (mostly its just sun bleached, but sometimes its ickier) to haul off to the cows. I usually fork hay over the fence into a community round bale feeder for the big group of mares, two mares get fence hay feeders stuffed, and Topper will get his hay feeder filled. The geldings (now plus the yearling boys) get their own round bale at their pen, same initial procedure, then their hay goes in their feeder or just on the ground (right now just on the ground, I had to block the round bale feeder as Junior, one of the yearlings, has decided he needs to crawl in the feeder and get himself stuck). My biggest complaint about round bales is measuring out daily meals, if I only had one or two, I'd likely way over feed; but with 4 eating out of the round bale feeder in one pen and about the same in another, those two aren't quite so hard to measure out (and I have weighed what some of my fence feeders will hold and its about right for the number of horses in those pens). In the dead of winter, I have put whole bales in the feeder for the mares, and it'll usually last 6 mares about a month (give or take a little depending on the temps).

 

[Minimor]

I feed round bales--they are stored outside and when I feed them I set them out in the pasture and let the horses eat free choice. I remove the twines as the horses loosen them and twice a day i fork up any hay scattered on the ground. As long as the bales aren't heavy in alfalfa the horses don't over eat.

 

[happy appy]

I feed rounds with slow feed hay nets on them. I also have a roof over them and a metal feed around the bale. I sit the bale on a couple pallets. Usually 2 pallets high inside the metal round bale feeder. I ended cutting the legs off the feeder and it sits on the ground. I find that they eat the first bale quicker than any other bale. Once they get use to hay always being there they slow down. I have very little waste with the slow feed nets.

 

[Rhondaalaska]

I feed round bails.

I have a roof shelter over mine.

And my bail is on palets to keep it off the ground.

I also have plywood around the palets to catch any loose

Hay that gets dropped.

Diva will get in the hay shelter in the middle of her hay and eat.

What gets pulled out on to the ground

If it is not rained on I rake up and put in her barn for her to eat

If it is rained on I put in the composts pile.

She dosent waste much.

When I get my hay barn built. She will be able to eat in there.

I will have a half wall separating her from all the bails and than just

Fork over a large amount at a time in a hay box.

If she runs low I will give her more.

Diva does better if she gets to eat when ever she wants than only twice a day.

She regulates her self.

I usually get two months out of a 600# bail.

Some times more.

 

[MountainWoman]

Thank you so much!! This was very helpful to me as I didn't know anything about round bales. I think I'm going to give them a try with the square bales for the barn at night.

 

[dixie_belle]

Typically I use square bales just because it's easier for me to move them around. I can load and unload 100 bales of square bales better than I can unload one round bale. Having said that, when we went out of town for 10 days for my daughter's wedding I bought a round bale so the guy I had coming here twice a day to check on the horses wouldn't have to fool around measuring hay. I put it under the roof in my rather large run-in. You should have seen their faces when they came around the corner and saw it for the first time. It was pretty funny. They thought they had died and gone to hay heaven!! The bale lasted a month out there. But, there was a lot of waste. They would pull hay out, lay on it, pee on it, even poop on it. So every day there was clean up needed. I'd have to get all that pee'd on, pooped on hay out of there. Pricewise it was probably still a real deal. That giant round bale only cost $25, so even with all that waste I still came out ahead of the game. But I much prefer the square bales because I can do it myself, don't have to get out the tractor and chains to move them around and have a much more accurate measure of how much they are getting. I've got a little over 100 bales stored in my barn even as I type. Should last me a year (give or take a little).

 

[amysue]

Farm tek sells these neat bale covers that are re-useable canvas. You slip them over a bale and they have feeder holes in them to slowly allow the hoses to eat the hay. Usually when feeding round bales on the ground, the little bit that touches the ground just gets left or discarded. Some animals will eat it, others won't. I know someone who made a base out of wooden pallets with a plywood top (so no one gets a hoof stuck) and he sets the bales down on top of it to feed.

 

[Shes My Style]

Hmmm...I use round bales for my large horses, but never thought about using round bales for the minis. I can't help but worry that they wouldn't get through the bale fast enough and it would all go bad and be a lot of wasted hay. With 3-4 large horses my bales last 1-2 weeks depending on the weather, but I suspect with the 3 little guys this would extend out for a month or more. I was just going to get squares for my little guys instead but now I need to think abou this.

 

[paintponylvr]

I, too, feed round bales.

Here in NC, I have several suppliers - one of whom will deliver them up to 5 at a time for me. I put them directly out in the pastures (have 2 pastures and 3 paddocks).

The pasture that has 8 boys in it - 1 round weighing roughly 800 lbs (guessing - much smaller than they were when they were 1,000 lbs) will last a week. The pasture that has 3 full grown Arabs in it will get a little over a week per round (has the most grass and they are grazing a lot right now and only getting fed 1x daily and FAT). Have only 2 ponies in one paddock that gets a round - wish I hadn't put that one there! Should have stayed with using small squares and individual feeding in that pen! The other two pastures vary as to how many bales are consumed per week/month. Number of ponies has gone up and down recently in both. Neither really has any grass - enough to hold down both the clay and the sand and "look pretty". They are "mowing" it as fast as it comes up!

The hay is out 24/7. Some bales get a round cattle feeder around it, some get tipped on end and get a 16' cattle/stock panel wrapped around it. When I use the panel, I can tarp the hay (haven't tried with the other bale feeders - but don't think it would work as well. Both help with waste a bunch, but don't completely prevent it - as they can pull the hay out and still stand on it and use it for bedding. I used to pick up all the loose hay and get it back into the feeder, but again found it didn't always matter and really haven't had time to do that lately... I handled more than 300 small squares last year and YUCK. If I don't have to move and stack it myself any time soon again, I'd prefer that. I picked up 70 bales from a field and loaded about 1/2 of it myself into our stock trailer - then got it home and had to unload and stack it by myself - thankfully it didn't rain as I wasn't able to do it all in one day - thought I was dying by the 3rd,

Recently no one I have contacts thru has the small squares and half the hay fields in our area are either growing wild or have been torched to see if they can get another growth since they couldn't get into flooded areas to cut...

I did get some hay tested last year (whew -were some folks MAD about that) but it was interesting as I found our drought ridden areas were getting really pretty but really "crappy" hay (how is that possible???). It explained a lot as to how our ponies have been looking and this year with the abundance of rain and oversaturation - we're still having major problems with hay quality. My feeding program has tripled in the last month or so and still have a couple that are loosing or have lost too much weight. I've moved several ponies and one aged arab into the only completely grassed field we've got (not usually having ponies on it) - and feeding them 3 x daily - looking at going to a 4th feeding!

MAN, do I miss that Canadian and Montana hay we used to get!! Wish I could afford to ship a couple semi loads down, but I can't...

 

[Riverrose28]

I guess I'll be an odd ball! I hate feeding it to my minis. In the past we have given it to the big horses, just drop it in the field and let them have at it. With our minis we have been putting it in the indoor, getting five large rounds at a time with a flatbed trailer. The guy we buy from is a big time quarter horse breeder and his hay is always so green, smells good and is kept indoors to maintain value, but I hate having to peal it off the round bale, and since my back is bad, I also need to bend down to pull from the bottom. If I put one out in my drylots the horses would blow up like beach balls. The strands are really long, course and even though my horses seem to love it, I don't like fooling with it. It is less expensive then square bales and that is why we are using it right now. Right now I am feeding one of my mares bagged chopped hay, cause she coliced last week, and I'm not taking any chances with her and those long strands of hay.

 

[MountainWoman]

I've learned so much from this thread. Thank you all!

 

[Magic Marker Minis]

I've used big round bales in several different ways in Colorado and Oklahoma...

1) On end in a round bale feeder - but if you use a cattle round bale feeder, turn it UPSIDE DOWN so the horses don't get their heads stuck in the 'loops'

2) Placed on end on pallets between two pastures - big horses on one side, Minis on the other. I then placed cattle panels on either side. As the horses ate it, I moved the cattle panels inward... I also had a tarp over the top.

3) Placed on its side in the middle of the dry lot, did not remove the webbing and the horses ate it from either end until it collapsed... Had to keep an eye on it more than the other methods because of the webbing...

I don't think any of the above ways are any better than the other... I still experienced too much wasted hay and that sticks in my craw...

While in Missouri, I noticed MFA started selling a different kind of round bale feeder. It was a 'cradle' feeder. The round bale was placed on it's side and up off the ground... The only thing I don't like about it is, Minis would have to lift their heads to pull hay off the feeder... I don't want any of our horses to do that... It allows dust, dirt and particles of hay to fall into their nostrils. It can cause running noses, sneezing and other respiratory problems.

I've also seen round bales surrounded by pallets.

The best way I've found is leaving it in the barn, under cover, and forking off into a wheel barrow and feeding as needed.

When we were in Missouri, we bought the 'big square' bales (3' x 3' x 8') which were about half a ton. We'd leave them in the bed of my one ton pick up and peel off the big flakes as needed. The best thing about the hay supplier? They weighed each bale and I paid by weight!!! Lakey and Lakey in Ada, MO.

Kari

 

[Zipper]

I feed round bales to all my minis and love them. I have cattle feeders and we just too the legs off of them and they sit

on the ground and we tie a tarp over the top and the minis free feed. The first bale went pretty fast but once they know

the hay is there all the time they leave it.

 

[wildoak]

I feed round bales to my big mares and to the mini mares that are pastured, mostly to cut down on labor & time spent feeding so they eat free choice. I currently have 9 little mares & geldings on a round bale and most of them are butterballs. They are older broodmares and retired show geldings - would not do for anyone I was trying to keep in shape but it sure saves my back. Otherwise I would be carrying a bale a day out there and scattering it. I prefer squares, I think you can control the amount and quality better but it's a trade off..

Jan

 

[BiologyBrain]

With my bigs I fed round bales. My dad built a feeder for them that raised the bales off the ground at least a foot and was also covered. We put hog gates (narrow slotted metal rod fence thingie) on the long sides (it held 2 big round bales) and I built an x shaped thingie on both ends out of landscape timbers to keep the horses from pulling too much out. My bales lasted a long time (2 big bales lasted a couple months) with 2-3 full sized horses on in a bare minimum sized pasture. The floor was framed and supported plywood/particle boards for the hay to rest on. I had some waste -- the most when the bales were still tight bc they had to struggle to pull the hay out & would get overly energetic. However, it was much easier than trying to keep square bales clean and dry without a barn. The square bales didn't do so well in the feeder because the horses were able to pull them off the feeder so much easier. They'd get a whole bale or two out at a time and step, poop, and pee on it. Ick.

 

[kdhminis]

We too feed round bale to our pasture of 8 mares. We put in a horse round bale metal feeder. We do have to go out with the tractor after about 1 week and pick up the bale and fluff it some - because the mini's have short necks and it gets harder for them to reach in and get to the bale as they feed on it. We use square bales for our stallions since they are each in their own pen. Works great for us.

 

[Minimor]

Here is one of my Minis with "his" round bale--actually there were 8 boys in this pasture, with about 6 round bales at the time this was taken.

 

[Shari]

I bought a couple of round bales this summer, trying to get the cost of hay down. Also bought a couple of commercial bales. All are in a dry hay shed.

However, I can't free feed mine... all but one would just keep eating and they would end up as Basketballs with hooves.

So I pull off the hay and stuff them into slow feed bags.