They now have a couple of round grass/clover bales to "graze" on and are pretty happy with them. What is everyone's experience with round bales and Shetlands? I've got the bales hemmed in with Sydell lamb jug panels and they seem to be working out fine. If they do ok, we might consider getting a few more round bales to feed for awhile. It really isn't feasible to feed them in the winter around here outdoors because of the miserable mud we have (at that time of year - very little snow, unlike northern/upper Mid-West). Jeff would prefer finding big squares because they would be easier to move and should be easy enough for me to flake off to put in feeders (not having done it yet, I can be optimistic). Thoughts?
Woohoo! Showers of blessing. It is so pretty there, even when it's dry. I think Jeff is right, and you'll like the squares better. The flakes are easier to handle. Ann feeds a lot of rounds, and I have the last few years. They have pros and cons, well I guess any bale does. Are you thinking 4x4, 3x4 or 3x3 squares? We've fed a lot to the cattle in the past, and I prefer the 3x4 (kind of ambiguously) because I can tip a flake off the feed truck easier... If the 4x4 are baled green at all, the centers of the bales get harder to pry the flakes loose. It kind of ensiles and becomes caked. And you need a bigger tractor to lift them. Other than that, they seemed more efficient to stack, transport, cover, etc...
ReplyDeleteHi Theresa,
ReplyDeleteHope that rain is headed my way....Ohio.
We are in desperate need of it. We baled two fields today and got one 60" round bale and one 34" piece of a round bale and it took all day to make it. I have been feeding round bales for two years now. I put the bale on two pieces of 4x8 plywood and peel it apart and feed into a panel feeder and a feeder made from an 18" culvert pipe, so they don't loose any of it. It works, it doesn't get in their fleeces and the bales are not as expensive as square bales. The bales can be stored outside without much waste if netwrap is used, it shed's the rain off the bale. But, if we don't get rain soon we won't have any hay to make to get us through the winter.
Great to here that you got some rain!!! We got about 1/8-1/4 in today too.
ReplyDeleteI use big squares all the time and most of the time a flake breaks in half easily. I don't like the pre -sliced as much as they just fall apart, but wouldn't turn down some hay just because it was pre-sliced. Could you feed outdoors for the late fall early winter. Oct/Nov?
I only fed round bales once and stored the hay out side, it is ok by spring in the inside of the bale, but there is quite a bit of waste on the bottom and some on the top, if stored inside then not a problem. I didn't care for the rounds, as I was pitch forking off the amount form the bale and it took forever and the hay was fluffy and hard to move.
Could you irrigate from you pond?
ReplyDeleteBecause of Jake's new shoulder, he should not throw small squares around anymore. We decided a year ago to just feed round bales. He makes small, in diameter, round bales and puts them in a square formed with four gates. We have been feeding with that for over a year now. It has worked fine for us for both the rams and the ewes. This year our new lamb from Garrett has decided that she can climb into the feeder to get the good stuff on the inside. We have 14 ewes in that pasture. The gates are four feet wide.
ReplyDeleteHappy you got some rain!
ReplyDeleteJared - most of the big squares I've seen advertised around here are the 3x3s. Then we found a "neighbor", who lives about 3 miles away as the crow flies, and he said that they come in all different sizes like 28" or 32" or whatever the baler does. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any hay available for sale but it is nice to have found him.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the input Diane. Hope you get some rain and hay.
ReplyDeleteI've been peeling the top layers off of the two bales we have set out and throwing it into the 50 gal water tubs that we use for feeders. This helps them all get hay and not have to work so hard to pull it out. But, I think they are wasting more of what I'm pulling off.
Thanks Laura. I don't want to be messing with the round bales every day, but will if I have too. Yes, we can feed in Oct/Nov but they are in breeding groups then so scattered all over the farm. The rains have been fairly good that late and we normally have pasture for them to eat in the groups. We'll see about this year.
ReplyDeleteJeff would store the bales in the barn so hopefully not too much waste. Of course, big squares would stack better, hence the search for them. The biggest downside would be his ability to get them out of the barn and to wherever we decide to feed the ewes. It all depends on the weather - too muddy or too icey would be a big problem.
Jeff bought a big "fire hose" last month and did pump the pond down 2' onto a couple of the fields. It did give them pasture to eat so we fed less hay but I think it just depleted the pond more than necessary (my opinion).
Interesting Sharrie. Jeff sold our sm square baler this year. If he ever gets another, it will be a small round baler. Saw that there was a dealer that was selling them about 45 min away.
ReplyDeleteWe've fed round bales when we couldn't find square bales. We peel off layers and feed them like that in the hay feeders. Worked out OK. We need to do what we can and don't forget to thank Him who provides.
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