Round bale question

[Lucky788]

Does anyone puts a round bale out without a net or having it in a feeder?

I’m thinking ahead to winter time - does it matter if they get rained on?

With 5 horses I’m thinking it would only last a week ish

 

[milliepops]

I do at the moment but am planning to get a haybell for the winter. they do trash a bit of it.

 

[Parrotperson]

I think you'd need to contain it so a proper round bale feeder would be best otherwise they'll waste a fair bit. if you change it every week it should be fine if it gets a bit wet but I wouldn't be leaving it any longer. I assume you have a tractor to deliver it round the field?

 

[TPO]

We are going onto round bales this winter and having the same thoughts re what feeder to use.

I've bought mud slabs to make a dry standing area but reckon I'll need to order more.

A hay bell seems to be the safest type of feeder

 

[SpotsandBays]

My friend does and it upsets me how much wastage there is! They end up standing on it and treading it in. Round feeders and hay bells (mentioned above) are expensive initially but the amount of hay saved it’s a good investment. And they last forever! I wouldn’t put a net on a bale without a feeder as I’d be too worried about feet/legs getting stuck

 

[paddi22]

farmer put a round bale into the field last year with no feeder. four horses in field and they had it gone in three days id say, the amount of wastage and stood on stuff was appalling!

 

[doodle]

Yes at work they do. There is a lot of wastage and mud/trod in hay/poo round it.

 

[Britestar]

Yes I have. Yes they waste a fair bit, but still manage to eat most of it.

 

[tda]

Don't do it, the waste is appalling!

We have a mud control matted area, the bale is covered with a net and then a round sheep feeder (smaller/lower than a cow one).
A round bale can be gone in 6/7 days with 4/5 horses no other forage available

 

[Gloi]

It makes a terrible wasteful mess. They pull it out and sleep and poo on it and by the end of the winter needed a tractor to remove all the mess. That was on a patch of hardstanding too.

 

[honetpot]

Not outdoors, but I used a sheep ring feeder covered with a small hole net, it lasts about a week for five. The net goes all the way over and down the sides, then the feeder over it, the net is then tied with rope woven through the metal feeder so they can not pull it off. For the cows it's in a feeder but only cut the wrap down a foot, and so they have to eat the top first.
Some of my bales are 5ft, so a normal hay bag net will not ft, so I use hockey nets, but you can buy skip nets with small holes.

 

[MagicMelon]

I do, I have a hardcored area in front of my stable block which the horses have free access to. Round bale feeder with a pallet so round bale sits on it then with a bale net over the top (mine goes over the whole thing). Works really well. I only have 2 horses eating it and it lasts them probably 2 weeks in winter if its not too bad. They dont seem to care it gets wet. I find because its on hardcore and then on a pallet, it doest soak up wet or mud.

I find very minimal waste - the nets are brillant. If you get one of those feeders which are split in half so you just open it up, we then roll a bale ourselves up onto the pallet, take off the mesh, put the net over it all and then close up the feeder. The only real waste is with the odd horse Ive had who decides over time to chew a hole in the net big enough to get his fat nose in! But definately get a net!

 

[Lucky788]

Thanks for the comments

we have A tractor to deliver, might have to look into a haybell or feeder of some kind. We are very lucky we don’t usually need to feed hay at all but with such a dry summer I don’t think we will have the grass growth we normally do. Didn’t want to end up with lots of waste if we fed as it come so lots to think about

 

[SpotsandBays]

Thanks for the comments

we have A tractor to deliver, might have to look into a haybell or feeder of some kind. We are very lucky we don’t usually need to feed hay at all but with such a dry summer I don’t think we will have the grass growth we normally do. Didn’t want to end up with lots of waste if we fed as it come so lots to think about

It’s abit of a pain but we use the big square bales and I just take a few sections out a day in the winter. They eat the lot, no wastage and no need for a feeder!

 

[dorsetladette]

My other half built me this last year so I can feed adlib hay without wasting any. This year I can't get hold of round bales without selling a kidney

 

[chaps89]

Another who says it's not a good idea unless you have some kind of feeder.
Last winter we were getting through 2 rounds a week, maybe 10 days if we were lucky.
5 horses (none above 15.2) turned out on about an acre and a half.
It was a mud bath around the hay area, we weren't allowed to move the bales to different areas so it got worse and worse, they were all far too fat and we wasted so much.
I've never had such a big hay bill or fat pony coming out of winter.

 

[JanetGeorge]

Round bales I wouldn't touch anymore. Just getting a net on and delivering them was hard enough (only had a 50HP tractor and the front bucket couldn't more them - and getting them onto transport box took 3 people 30 minutes each time.) And then the smart alech horses took on the challenge of removing the ESSENTIAL nets, and taking them to the far end of the field! In the end, I resorted to 3 pallets tied to the fence - but the ground was quickly trashed and moving them was back-breaking: tremendous waste too. I moved onto big square bales - still wrapped - but cut a hole in the top (which quickly got bigger. Easier to deliver - and 'safer' but still waste (and recovering wrap & string an ongoing problem.) For a few horses, the easy way now is to deliver a bale outside each field and throw slices over, well spaced out, and change positions regularly. Still some ground damage, and a bit of waste - but nowhere NEAR as bad as other methods.

 

[Lucky788]

Thanks for the idea, it’s a long uphill walk to the field and no storage in the field so we can’t keep it elsewhere and take up.
We are very fortunate we normally don’t need to hay at all and the field doesn’t get muddy. We might be able to find a feeder but I was worried about the youngsters we have getting caught up in one

 

[myheartinahoofbeat]

My horse is at a retirement livery where she just puts a couple of round bales out for the herd. She doesn't put it in anything at all as she would rather not risk any of the horses getting stuck or caught up in a net or crate etc.

 

[MNMyShiningStars]

We have 3 small horses who have one roud bale out and it lasts a week (Just!) with a small holed bale net on it. The first 2 bales we put out wuithout lasted 4 days ish and were pulled apart by said horses to eat, sleep, wee and poo in.

Next aim is a ring feeder as well, when finances allow...