Anyone here doing this on a regular basis? Any suggestions on a type of feeder, should the hay be shredded or is it OK to simply dump out the bales into the feeder and let the cows do the work?

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Because of the severe drought in NC and SC alot of square bails are getting shipped in on RR cars as part of the relief effort. My relatives cut the strings and put them directly in the feeder--they are flaked 'horse' bales anyway, so I don't see any reason to shread.


Gonna get expensive, though.....

Thanks for the info! This is our first winter to actually have our herd (all 6) on the property and needed to feed. In prior years they've been mixed in with the neighbors cattle and he's done the feeding. We just started feeding about a week ago because there's been some pretty decent standing forage. We've been dumping the bales into feed bunks that we already have and the waste is staggering. I'm looking for a better way.

With all the rain around here last summer, hay has been a bargain. These are tightly baled coastal (around 65# ea) and have tested out at >20% protein. I paid $4/bale for them. The going retail rate has been $8+ bale....

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Running $13-15 in NC About $3 here.

I have never seen a good way to prevent waste--the merry go rounds are wasteful, but I have never seen anyone make a 'trough' style feeder that could drain well enough to put hay in. Horses eat so little in comparison I always put it on the ground--four flakes per with a gallon scoop of sweet feed on top

Talk about waste... Ours got into the hay lot and busted up several large round bales.
Large rounds are running around $30-35. I need to get some more after the holidays. There appears to be plenty available not like last yr when we trucked in 26 bales from 400 miles away.

Hay is no problem here...everywhere you go, you see dozens round bales still stitting out in the fields. I guess, because they ran out of storage room. At some point, I may have to get a bale spear and see if my 2040 will lift a round bale. Meanwhile, square bales it is...

I'd really like to find someone using this kind of square bale feeder and hear about what they think about it:

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I guarantee you that is ten times more efficient than the kind I am talking about......plus it has paint


My BIL has carpet stores and I transformed a damaged carpet pole that attatches to a fork lift into a bail spear. Worked like a million bucks.

My granddad used a feeder like that at one of his pastures. His wasn't as modern, but the shape was the same. It was built on an old wagon chassis with steel-spoked wheels.

The understatement of the year is that cows are messy eaters. I'd bet they waste 50% of what they eat. Having the feeder moveable is a real plus, because of the hay+feces+dirt+urine cake that will build up around the feeder. When it gets too bad, just drag the feeder out of the way and scatter the nature-made compost out around the area.

The good thing about the feeders is that you can lay out a fair amount of hay, and it stays up off the ground so it won't rot. The cows can eat their fill and return later, even after a rain to eat some more.

Granddad had 2 leases around the small town (Bellville) where he lived. One had the rollaround feeder - he kept it backed up to the hay loft and would just pitch the hay out of the upper door. This was back in the days of wire-bound bails.

The second lease had the feeder attached to the hay barn under a shed roof. The detrius would build up under the cover to the point where the cows would start to rub on the top of the doorway to enter, and then we'd have to muck it out. We'd use a small lawn tractor with a blade and a makeshift ditching plow to rip & push the stuff out - took hours and hours over days and days to get that work done.

One other thing about square-bale feeding - on the whole I think it's a lot less wasteful than the big round bales. The waste with the feeder is limited to what the cows drop while they're eating. The waste on the round bales, especially as they're worked down, can be substantial.

I would expect the cost per volume is far higher for the square bales - lots more handling by humans for the pound. With only 6 head, I'd bet the round bale would rot before the cows ever eat all of it.

Of course, with square bales, you've got to feed practically every day - especially during the winter. I remember my granddad making the trip to each of the leases on alternating days throughout the winter - rain or shine.

Storing the round bales out in the open is very common - the outer layer of hay acts like a thatch roof - the inner grass stays dry.

You use a feeder? Lucky cows or? Its been a long time but we use to take the bales out cut the banding and just drop them out in field.

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1981 300TD
2005 C55
2004 E500
1999 ML430
1992 400E
1998 C43
2001 SL500
1988 300SEL
1986 190E 16V
1991 190E 2.6

I had to buck every one of those bales so, on a personal basis, I'd like to see a little more yield and a little less waste. And at $4something/bale it wouldn't take long to amortize the cost of a feeder if you reduce the waste by 50%.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

You could always save up the waste and when it accumulates, re-bale it and build an addition onto your house. Badum-dum

Store round bales in the open yes, I know, but around here you see a LOT of places that have dozens of rolls stored against their fences and the last cutting has been baled and is still sitting in the pasture. No effort made to move any of it for a couple of months now.

Economically, I understand that the best money you can spend is on a good hay barn. At some point, I'll build a pole barn that will hold a couple of years worth of hay.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

No need to explore wattle and daub yet as I have at least 300 straw (not hay) bales still in the barn, waiting on the big house project. Straw is damned near impossible to find near the place so, when I found some, I stockpiled enough for my next sadomasochism (balestacking) session.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

We always used round bales for the cows and the sheep, horses as well while in Texas. An alternative to a hay barn is some of the relatively inexpensive soft side and top shelter (read frame "tent") structures. True there is quite a bit of drop (waste) to a round bale system, but dollar per pound cost is always going to be better on the round bale. There are feeders out there for round bales that drop over the bale and control access like a square bale feeder.

I found that a regular long bed pickup can hold two round bales and they are easy to deliver in the field like that. Get to your destination and simply push one out. Get out roll it on it's side drop the feeder over it (optional) and cut the twine. Voila! instant cow buffet! We were getting 1200 pound coastal bermuda for around $35.00 each.

I have a friend that raises world class $sixdigit cattle and he prefers rectangular bales because the square bales are impossible to find.