Big Bale Buddy V large haynet for round bales in field?

[MagicMelon]

I'm planning to put a round bale of hay out at all times over the winter for my 2 horses (fed up of filling huge haynets for my 17.1hh WB who never stops eating!). It will be put in the hardcore area, on top of a pallet and then I can't decide between the "Big Bale Buddy" or the big haynets which go over them (on Ebay). Anyone know pro's and con's of them? I need to decide pretty much tonight / tomorrow as picking first bale of hay up next week!

The bale buddy looks good in that it would keep the hay drier BUT I did read that someone found it didn't drain water properly and ended up making the entire bale mouldy. Also I dont know if it would suit my two as one is quite grumpy about his food so I doubt the other would be happy about getting so close to him to get into the hole on top! My worry about the haynet is if they pulled hard enough, could they pull the whole bale over off the pallet?

I decided against those metal feeders farmers use as too many horsey people said not to! And one of mine is rather accident prone.

 

[budley95]

Another livery had a big bale buddy and it worked great, her horse ate it too quickly for it to go mouldy! Personally if my horse had shoes on the haynets would be a no go as I'd hope the holes are too small for hooves to go through on their own! Failing that I brought a barrow booster and got the equivalent of 3 wheelbarrows probably in 1 trip to the field of hay with very little mess. Or a haycube if you're wanting to keep it off the ground? If it's so you don't have to take hay out everyday, my personal preference would be a Big Bale Buddy. I know my 16.2 IDx gets through a large round by himself in the field in about 10 days so I don't think they really give it much time to get mouldy!

 

[MagicMelon]

Thanks, thats good to know someone likes the BBB. Neither of mine have shoes and never would in winter so that's thankfully not a problem. Yeah, its really to make it even more low maintenence so I dont have to keep putting armfuls of hay out every day to be honest! The warmblood eats so much, I thought a big bale should keep him going for a little while.

 

[clippi]

I was thinking of getting a big bale buddy, anyone know how well they work for sharing between a 15hh and 12hh? Can the little one reach the hole?

 

[MagicMelon]

Clippi - I ended up getting the big haynets which seems to be working well, it does go all floppy by the time they've eaten a lot of the bale but mine aren't shod so its not an issue. I decided against the BBB as I thought that mine wouldn't like sharing so closely in the top. I would think a 12hh would struggle?

 

[thedutchess]

Sorry to jump on your thread but where can I get the full net from for the reels? X

 

[clippi]

Clippi - I ended up getting the big haynets which seems to be working well, it does go all floppy by the time they've eaten a lot of the bale but mine aren't shod so its not an issue. I decided against the BBB as I thought that mine wouldn't like sharing so closely in the top. I would think a 12hh would struggle?

Thanks. I think I'm leaning more towards the big net as the little one is a tyrant round hay, so close sharing would be out anyway. Mine aren't shod either.
thedutchess I'm getting my big net of amazon

 

[Kallibear]

A round feeder would probably be easier. Surely they drag a bale about once it's half done? I've got a large circular hardcore area of the bale feeder and can't see how I'd keep a netted or BaleBuddy bale on it?

If you get a feeder, get one made to specification and they're perfectly safe.

 

[DonskiWA]

I ended up using both. The round bale in a net, in the buddy bale. My horses were shod, so I couldn't use just the net. With just the buddy bale there was too much wastage as they pulled out huge mouthfuls onto the ground where it stayed. The net sliced them down and the buddy bale kept it together

 

[MagicMelon]

I got my round bale net from here:- http://www.ropeseller.co.uk/hay-net-for-round-bales---slow-feeder-design--hard-wearing-241-p.asp

 

[Jnhuk]

I ended up using both. The round bale in a net, in the buddy bale. My horses were shod, so I couldn't use just the net. With just the buddy bale there was too much wastage as they pulled out huge mouthfuls onto the ground where it stayed. The net sliced them down and the buddy bale kept it together

This is what I did last winter.