Round Bale Hay, How to Neatly Open It?

[CassTheCob]

Hello everyone,
We've just switched onto big round bales of hay. We've got it in the corner of our garden at the minute with tree cover and a tarp and will take it to the horses as and when we need it. How does everyone open it neatly so it stays together and is easy to pull bits off?
Thank you!

 

[Iwantakitten]

The only ways we have found are either; leaving one string on, near the top or the bottom, difficult at first but once the bale gets smaller, easier.

Second, propping pallets or something alongside and then only pulling sections off in the area with with removed pallet.

Hope that makes sense!

 

[LHIS]

Carefully remove it layer by layer, peeling it away, like an onion. Leave the string on at the base to help hold it together.

 

[Midlifecrisis]

As LHIS says but I manage to remove all the wrapping net and just peel away each layer and use.

 

[cowgirl16]

The big round bales of hay I've used in the past, have been wrapped in fine plastic netting. I make one vertical cut with a Stanley knife through the net, then carefully peel it all off. Then the bale will unravel like a loo roll. Provided the bale is not parked tight against a wall and you can get access all round it, it will unroll easily. Found it works really well.

 

[EQUIDAE]

With haylage just cut half the wrapper off and pull from the outside in, then inside out

 

[Boulty]

It is a proper artform and I have major OCD about it and get very upset when other people don't do it properly and I have to pick up after them! It is easiest to unwrap if you stand it upright on one of the flat, circle shaped ends. Stand it in a place where you can get all the way around it. Unwrap the wrapping by making a slice roughly in the middle going most of the way to the floor on each side (may be easier to get off if you make another cut going the other way so that you've quartered it, wrapping should just peel off then and I'd probably leave the bale stood on it so it catches some of the mess tbh). Then find the end of the netting type wrapping and carefully unwrap this by unwinding it around the bale (making sure not to tear it at the bottom or you'll end up with a random stringy bit where your haylage will keep getting stuck as you peel layers off). This should allow you to just peel haylage off in nice layers. It will however mean that when the bale is in about the last quarter it probably won't stand up very well and will fall over. Best way to get entire layers off when this happens is to roll it back and forth along the floor unpeeling as you go.

By this point there are probably a few people rolling their eyes at me but I get upset when other people at the yard only pull haylage off from the top and leave a horrid mass of haylage at the bottom that's all caught up and requires effort to untangle (I also get very upset when they don't full take the wrapping off / leave part of the stringy stuff on as it makes pulling stuff off a right PITA!)

For the record I much prefer square bales!

 

[Whizza]

I have yet to get the hang of these round bales. I try my hardest to keep them neat and tidy, but they just end up looking like a huge unkept pile of hay! And the hay gets in everything! Frigging nightmare... But very cost effective so def worth all the mess

 

[Dry Rot]

 

[sarahann1]

It is a proper artform and I have major OCD about it and get very upset when other people don't do it properly and I have to pick up after them! It is easiest to unwrap if you stand it upright on one of the flat, circle shaped ends. Stand it in a place where you can get all the way around it. Unwrap the wrapping by making a slice roughly in the middle going most of the way to the floor on each side (may be easier to get off if you make another cut going the other way so that you've quartered it, wrapping should just peel off then and I'd probably leave the bale stood on it so it catches some of the mess tbh). Then find the end of the netting type wrapping and carefully unwrap this by unwinding it around the bale (making sure not to tear it at the bottom or you'll end up with a random stringy bit where your haylage will keep getting stuck as you peel layers off). This should allow you to just peel haylage off in nice layers. It will however mean that when the bale is in about the last quarter it probably won't stand up very well and will fall over. Best way to get entire layers off when this happens is to roll it back and forth along the floor unpeeling as you go.

By this point there are probably a few people rolling their eyes at me but I get upset when other people at the yard only pull haylage off from the top and leave a horrid mass of haylage at the bottom that's all caught up and requires effort to untangle (I also get very upset when they don't full take the wrapping off / leave part of the stringy stuff on as it makes pulling stuff off a right PITA!)

For the record I much prefer square bales!

^^^^ This^^^^

Take note folks, this is how it should be done, it's the only way, nothing else!

Drives me mad when folk pull at bales from all angles and it ends up a giant mess that you can't get anything off of!

 

[FfionWinnie]

Unwrap it like a present. However be aware your tarp might make it sweat.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

We like to store big round bale hay on its side, so that it "thatches itself", to keep it dry. Then stand one bale on its round end on a pallet so that it doesn't wick the moisture out of the earth up into the.middle. Take off the netting carefully, so that none is left to get into the horses ration, by unwinding it from the loose end. Then, before taking any hay off, get a bungee (or three) round the bale to stop it unwinding itself. Then unroll what you need to feed and the rest will stay on the bale. As the bale gets smaller, adjust the bungees, or they become a real nuisance as you take the hay off.

 

[Redders]

My friend removes all wrapping and uses a long rope with a loop one end and ties the other end by a quick release knot through the loop ( if that makes sense!) tied around the middle of the bale which holds it together. When she wants some she unties rope but doesn't take it off, leaves it around like a lead rope dangling through string. She peels off what she needs in a layer and reties it. She then covers it. This works really well for her.

 

[Coblover63]

It's an individual preference. I prefer to cut through the the net (leaving it in situ but peeled back) and then pull off the layers to halfway and work my way through it until I can pull the "core" out. Then the back layers come off "inside out" until it becomes unstable, then I pull it over and take the net off and lift final layers.

 

[FfionWinnie]

Unwrap it like a present. However be aware your tarp might make it sweat.

Actually I meant like a toilet roll 😂

 

[Dry Rot]

Last years hay had to be turned so many times that I could put a bale in the quad trailer and just tear the bale open at one side (after cutting the net wrap) and lift back the layers. The bales almost fel apart. It was then forked out into the field, enough for one day.

But in previous years (and I hope this year!), the hay was so long pulling the bale apart (whether hay or haylage) was hard work. That's when I got the hay knife. I'd just cut down through the bale at 12 o'clock and fold the leaves out like a book, then fork out as usual. To work easily, a hay knife needs to be kept razon sharp.

Forking out of the trailer onto the ground means hardly any waste and no poaching around a feeder. I can also manage the weight in Highland ponies which can become obese if allowed ad lib. Last winter the hay was of such poor quality that everyone was on ad lib and some came out of the winter quite lean.

 

[Neversaydie]

With hay I just unwrap the netting once the bale is on a pallet and leave in the shed/barn and peel is off layer by layer going round it.

If it's outside on a tarp I place it on a pallet, remove the netting place two tyres in a little tower on top, pop the tarp over the lot and pop a rope around it. The tyres on top stop it sweating as Much and the rope stops it falling apart.

With Haylege it's easier. Pop the bale end up on a pallet, slit the wrapping near the bottom all the way around the bale, roll up, take off the netting, pop a tyre on top of the bale, roll the wrapping back down you can add a rope if you wish but I never found it necessary, this allowed air to circulate and a round Haylege bale lasted me 3/4 weeks this way without rotting as long as it wasn't a wet bale to begin with

 

[MyBoyChe]

I stand it on one end, take all the netting wrap off and then unroll it like a loo roll. Ours is stored under an open sided barn so I have an old garden gazebo thrown over it and down the side nearest the outside of the barn to keep it protected from the weather. This also helps to hold it together a little bit.

 

[ester]

I think Dryrot's definition of neat is a bit different to mine
Always been really short on space so they've had to be shoved in a corner so can't unpeel like said toilet roll but because space so small (in barn) at least any mess stays very contained. Mostly only cut the first half of netting/string and left it tied at the bottom to prevent complete collapse.

 

[Deltic Blue]

I used to have round bales and it was never tidy!
The best way to try and keep it tidy though is to peel it like an onion, like someone else suggested

 

[turnbuckle]

Put it in the field and let the horses work out the best way

 

[ester]

that's no good if you aren't feeding it in a field though

 

[CassTheCob]

Put it in the field and let the horses work out the best way

We're feeding it to the horses in their stables so can't really do that! I'll also be feeding it to my cob that needs to lose some weight so don't really want to give him unlimited hay! 😁

 

[atropa]

Opening it neatly isn't the problem...using it neatly is

 

[turnbuckle]

that's no good if you aren't feeding it in a field though

Tongue was slightly in cheek. but I'm so untidy I would stuff a grenade in the middle and blow it up if I thought that would save effort.

Seriously, it should unwind very easily. If you have trouble pulling it apart once un-rolled I guess you could use a 3 prong garden fork (sort where tines do a right angle) to sort of hack at it and loosen it up?