large bales of hay in the field

[digitalangel]

Hi my grazing is pretty much down to nothing again. Last year i hayed the field daily with slices of hay from a large square bale which worked fine.

This year i am thinking it might be better for me to have a large bale delivered directly to the field - the horses (2) are out 8-4pm.

would this be a good idea or would it be wasted/go off if it rains a lot? also i can only get square bales not round ones.

Any ideas welcome!

 

[ISHmad]

Could you rig up some kind of tarpaulin cover using pallets or wooden posts to protect it from the worst of the weather, with the horses able to access the hay down the sides? Fairly sure I saw some specially designed covers for round bales, but for the price they were I remember thinking a bit of improvisation could save a lot of money.

 

[digitalangel]

my only worry with that is them getting somehow caught! theyre pretty good at that kind of thing...

 

[moodymare_1993]

Very intrested in this thread. I too have had 2 bales (mine are round) delivered to my field a few months ago. But haven't decided wether to put them put or not, I don't want the rain getting too them, but are a pain in the a*** to unwrap and keep giving in Haynes. I bought them so my mare could eat what she wanted whenever she wanted it. So putting it in Haynes goes against what I bought them for :/

 

[Clodagh]

I made a big bale holder from an old cross country table! Its great, but I'm sure you could do the same thing with pallets. I don't cover mine as they are out 24 hours and it doesn't have time to rot but in your case I think you need a 'roof'.

 

[AmyMay]

For two horses only, I would hay - rather than put the whole bale in.

 

[digitalangel]

thanks guys. have just ordered small bales so can put a small bale out per day.

 

[Sukistokes2]

Have used large round bales, without a holder, the only problem we had was that my two could polish it off in under a weeK!!