Slicing round bales?

[Dry Rot]

Round bales are difficult to ration. It is a lot easier if they can be cut up! There are various implements that will slice a round bale in half but most need a tractor. Last year I got myself a hay knife which is what the name suggests -- a very large knife that slices through the bale but even when it's kept razor sharp it is hard work.

I've been searching through forums for ideas. None sound particularly safe! You can get special chains for chain saws, but they aren't very fast and I'm not sure they are available here in the UK. (Ordinary wood cutting chain saws quickly choke). Someone has suggested using an electric reciprocating saw which sounds interesting. Another says to use a power saw with the blade reversed. Have you tried any of these -- before I risk life and limb by experimenting??

 

[JanetGeorge]

Sounds like very hard work to me. I've started feeding large round bales to my field horses again as they're quite a hit heavier than the large square bales - but my supplier charges the same per bale. Last year I just dumped the bales in the field and cut the top plastic for access - it worked well - but then I heard of horses eating the net and getting colic!!

So I looked at the Big Bale Buddy - but they were rather expensive. I then got a brainwave as I have an endless supply of big round hessian bags (the sort builders get sand etc in - but I buy my straw pellets in bulk!) They're not quite big enough for the huge big bales I get, but if I strip of a couple of layers, I can pull them on easily and then tip the bale. Minimises waste considerably - four big mares with foals at foot polish off a bale in 2 days with very little spillage!

 

[Enfys]

Janet, how do you keep the sacks in place so that they don't end up like Norah Batty's stockings please?

I gave up on feeding round bales as is last year when I had 12 mares together which would have meant 3 bales to ensure that they all got some, I used to unroll the bale in the field 50' + of hay meant everything could eat and very little wasted, slightly more labour intensive but worth it, if only for the fact that I could look at them eating without snarling about the wastage.

 

[Dry Rot]

I don't really have a problem with big bales of hay. I put them in the quad trailer and fork out small heaps. But this haylage is a b*gg*r!

I've been to town today so no chance to experiment but the power saw with the blade turned backwards sounds a good one. The problem with the hay knife is keeping it sharp enough and I'm not getting any younger!

Small bales I can do but I don't have enough inside storage space, which is not a problem with 4x4s of hay or haylage. I've got the baler and the full flat 8 system and find hay making very satisfying, just need a bigger barn.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

What those with this issue with hay could do (not haylage unless they have a wrapper too) is find an old boy with a small baler sitting in his shed - a chap near me used to do a lot of work for horsey places rebaling the round bales into small ones. It was cheaper for them to do that because of the vast saving that round bales were compared with small ones.

It might be worth asking around. Easier somewhere rural like wot where I am, but I bet most places there might be someone. One lead might be to look out for vintage machinery shows, the guys with the old tractors some of them have old balers too, which will be small square ones.

just a thought.

 

[JanetGeorge]

Janet, how do you keep the sacks in place so that they don't end up like Norah Batty's stockings please?

I gave up on feeding round bales as is last year when I had 12 mares together which would have meant 3 bales to ensure that they all got some, I used to unroll the bale in the field 50' + of hay meant everything could eat and very little wasted, slightly more labour intensive but worth it, if only for the fact that I could look at them eating without snarling about the wastage.

They end up looking like Norah Batty's stockings! But it's not a problem - the bags just gently and slowly collapse - and mares and foals keep eating from the bottom until they're empty. I DO cut the looped handles on the sacks, in case a foal gets a leg caught in them.

I work on one bale for up to 6 mares unless there's a real cow-bag in the group. Once they realise there's an unlimited supply, the vast majority share peacefully. I have one real softie of a mare in the group of 4 - she stands back until 1 or 2 of the other mares move off - then you see her sharing happily with 3-4 foals!

I've got 1 very old girl (21) who IS boss - but worn't eat haylage for more than 10 minutes at a time - keeping a bale in with that group means there's always some there whereas feeding piles means that when she decides she'll have a bit more, the greedy biffers have hoovered it all up!