Do you have a tractor that you use to put your round bales out with? How do you put the nets on? Do you have the bale on the spike and off the ground to put the net on?
I am feeding round bales but I use a truck to drag them out so not sure if I could use the net on the bales.
We use a cinch chix net on our round bales. The bale is on the ground when we put the net over it. Then we roll the bale onto the forks on the tractor, lift the bale and tighten the net. Then we move the bale into the feeder with the tractor. Once the bale is in the feeder we cut the twine, and pull out the strings.
The bales wouldn’t necessarily have to be off the ground to tighten the net, but I think you would have to be able to roll the bale a bit to get the net under it…
We will put our net on after the round bale is almost in place. Ours are smaller bales, only 500-600 lbs, so we have to roll them out (we keep a path plowed). We bought a net one size bigger than needed, as our bales were right on the cusp of the max capacity for the “right” size. Figured it’d be easier and more flexible if we got bigger bales in the future. We’ll just cinch up the extra netting and stuff it underneath.
My round bale arrived in the back of a pick up truck. We climbed on the truck and put the net over as much of the bale as we could. Then we pushed the bale off the truck into the remainder of the net.
It was as hard as heck. Took at least two people. Four was better.
[QUOTE=Cindyg;7884277]
My round bale arrived in the back of a pick up truck. We climbed on the truck and put the net over as much of the bale as we could. Then we pushed the bale off the truck into the remainder of the net.
It was as hard as heck. Took at least two people. Four was better.[/QUOTE]
This is why I haven’t invested in netting for the roundbales yet. This time of year, we’re often putting these suckers out after dark and trying to get netting around the darn things before getting them put out for the horses, after my husband and I have been at work all day, seems like an excellent opportunity for pissing each other off. A lot.
However, my horses are inhaling two bales every 9 or 10 days and it would be very helpful to stretch them more.
[QUOTE=FatCatFarm;7885566]
This is why I haven’t invested in netting for the roundbales yet. This time of year, we’re often putting these suckers out after dark and trying to get netting around the darn things before getting them put out for the horses, after my husband and I have been at work all day, seems like an excellent opportunity for pissing each other off. A lot.
However, my horses are inhaling two bales every 9 or 10 days and it would be very helpful to stretch them more.[/QUOTE]
Why don’t you manage the time your horses are fed hay. It’s more a math problem than an feeding availability problem. I’ll use myself as an example. My round bales average about 800 to 1000 pounds. An individual horse requires on average 1.5 to 3% roughage per 1000 lbs of body weight daily. I’ve got TB’s so I figure each needs on average 20 to 30 pounds daily. So for one horse at the round bale feeder ring that supposely gets me somewhere in the vicinity of 30 days per horse. A horse can eat on average 5 to 8 lbs of hay in 20 minutes but not consistently. So if I allocate 20 lbs, it takes one horse about an hour and half to eat its ration. That doesn’t work as you can see. A couple of hours of hay just won’t hack it. So I compromise because I have eight mares. I’m busy during the day and can’t be dealing with horses all the time so I feed my mares at night from 9PM to 7AM free choice at the hay ring. Two hay ring feeders with 4 horses to a ring. Theoretically during that time period, that means each horse would eat about 100 lbs during that period, but it doesn’t happen because horses don’t normally eat continously throughout the night. They get full and tired just like people. The rest of the day I keep them in a dry paddock with only water and two slow hay feeders. I feed a textured feed/beet pulp in the morning and evening. By the way, you don’t have to use slow feeders during the day, but I do because my mares are getting old and I do it for weight maintenance. When they were younger, I didn’t bother with slow feeding.
So each day the horses get 10 hours of free choice hay. To put this in perspective it takes 5 to 8 times more grass pasture by weight than hay to maintain a horse’s weight. Horses at pasture graze approximately 16 hours a day.
It appears that you are not at your farm during the day so your mornings and evenings taking care of horses is limited. I’ve been using this method for many years with great results. Even with limited hay during the day in the dry paddock the horses are fine. Once they become accustomed to the schedule they relax, sleep, swat each others flies, groom, and, so to speak, watch their internal clock.
On average, for all my horses I use 8 to 10 round bales a month during the cold months and during the cool and warmer months 6 round bales. I will tell you that the weight and quality of your bales are critical. A loose poor quality bale is not going to save you money and will end up as wastage. A hay ring is essentially to keep wastage under control. Every couple of days I rake up hay that is outside the ring and I wash down and cure it to use again.
You might want to consider this regimen over slow feeder techniques.
P. S. Don’t hold me to the exact math, but I’m sure you get the general idea.
Best wishes.
I don’t have a dry lot. My horses are in good flesh but not obese. There are 3 in each pasture and no they are not eating constantly. The pastures are good during the warmer months and I usually don’t have to feed hay but half the year. We also have two hay huts which I love. I also love the hay netting hoops but at $250 each, ouch!
Would love to hear if adding the netting substantiallyr reduces the number of round bales your horses are consuming. $500 for 2 is the cost of 10 round bales.
I think it reduces the number of round bales I go thru, but more because of a savings in wasted hay, not so much in eating of hay. Mine are easy keepers and the all day free choice round bale (with a small hole hay net) keeps them very round all winter. Before I used the net my one mare used to paw the round bale apart and manure and pee on it. Not an option with the hay net.
Though putting a round bale net on sounds like a difficult process it is not really that hard. I have the Cinch Chix net, it has a large opening and is easy to handle. Open it all the way, toss it over the round bale (sitting on the ground), pull it to cover as much round bale as you can, leaving a puddle of the extra netting sitting on the ground on one side. Push the round bale so it rolls away from the puddle of extra netting, you only have to roll it a little, just enough to see the netting appear under it. Close up the net and you are good to go.
We currently move the round bales with the bucket of the tractor. Roll the bale onto the bucket and strap it in place with a long tie strap.
Before we had the tractor we rolled them around, which was difficult because there is a slight up hill grade from the barn to the paddock.
We have the hay huts which eliminate the waste issue. I was dubious about them at first, but this is our second or third season with them and I am now sold. They weren’t cheap either at $750 a piece but I can leave the round bales out in all weather with no worries. We set the round bale up on a plastic pallet my husband snagged at work, then cover with a hay hut so it is elevated off the ground and also covered.
Using a hay net for us would definitely have to be something we could throw over the bale once in place as we put them out with a hay spike attached to the PTO hitch on our tractor. So it wouldn’t do to try to put on the netting and then spike it for placement.
I use small, close weave/slow feed hay nets for in the stalls and on my horse trailer and while they do slow the horses down some, I wouldn’t call it “substantial” and fortunately, the small nets at $9 a piece are easily affordable.
So what I’m really asking is, does the netting actually substantially reduce the consumption of the round bale given that I already utilize a hay hut to keep the horses off the round bale and causing waste?
My Cinch Chix round bale net has really saved me time and money on hay. I have the large bale net, small hole. Had been using Bale Buddy, but added at least 25% more time on a bale with the Cinch Chix, and have no waste. I had been putting the round bale in an old cut down tractor tire with a plywood bottom, which worked quite well, but required me to be in the paddock to feed. Have changed this year to a simple homemade feeder that is in the fence line so no more tractor in the muddy paddock. http://www.dutchhollowacres.com/2013/09/27/simple-round-bale-feeder/
Our modifications include- bolting it to the fence posts to prevent our shires from moving it around; a plywood floor to prevent the net from freezing to the ground; adding easily removable wood slats to the back of the feeder. So far working great. 600-650 lb round bale almost a full week with 2 shires. I do suppliment with a little grain and flake hay when it’s really cold or I want to give them a treat. I agree the net was pricy, but in the end, I have been happy with it and feel it’s been worth it. This is my 3rd year using one.
Would love to hear if adding the netting substantiallyr reduces the number of round bales your horses are consuming.
I can tell you that last spring my 3 Thoroughbreds went through a large round bale in 5 days without the net. That same size round bale lasted 14 days with the net. They are eating more and wasting less. So instead of that round bale costing me $16.00 per day ($80.00 for 5 days), it cost only $5.72 per day ($80.00 for 14 days). Over my round bale “season” (November through April) that saves me around $1800. So for me, yes definitely worth the cost of the net. I am using the net with the larger holes.
Waste was a huge issue for me, and that has been virtually eliminated with round bales. I find that when I put small squares in my net, they can still waste a fair amount of hay (it seems to come through the holes more easily than round bale hay). I think I might invest in a smaller hole net for square bales for next summer.
What netting setup are you using Kodidog?
I’ll let you know about savings. Just bought a net today. We put out a RB every 4 days. We must get better hay than most, because even without a net they only waste ~50 lbs. I’m just looking to slow consumption a little, because the fat ass quarter horses are obviously eating a whole lot more than they need.
I’m using a Cinch Chix knock off net- same deal but made by a private person. I’ve had this two years now maybe. I’ve had to mend a few holes in it. It’s SOOO worth it. There is ZERO waste in my set up. ZERO. I have mine in my run in, under roof- so it’s never in the mud, never in the weather. My husband rolls the round off his truck, I cut the strings, we both put the net over- he flips it, I tie and tuck the rope…he flips it again into the corner I want. DONE. When there’s about a day of hay left in it, I empty the net of all the remaining hay into the corner of the run in and they get free rein at it for the day until they clean it up- and we do it all over again. Mine has regular size holes, not slow feeder and I go through a 600lb round any where from 10 days to 2 weeks depending on the weather. (2 horses) It couldn’t work any better for us.
FatCatFarm - I am using the Cinch Chix Large Bale 6’ net, and it has the 1 3/4" holes. The hay is put into our homemade feeder, or “hay buffet” as I like to call it.
So the Cinch Chix covers the bale completely, yes? Top and bottom? Like a bag?
I don’t really need that with using the hay huts so I do like the hulahoop net thing. Just wish it wasn’t prohibitively expensive. I would be interested in hearing about any knock-off round bale nets out there that would be easy to manipulate over the bale. Waste isn’t my issue; slowing consumption is. Though as stated above, mine do not constantly eat on their round bales and spend a reasonable amount of time loafing or nosing around the pasture. 1 round bale is lasting the two TB mares (1 is 16.3hds tall and the other is small but still skinny from the track) and 1 Welsh Pony, 10 days and the 3 big geldings 9 days, which really is not bad I guess.
[QUOTE=FatCatFarm;7887282]
So the Cinch Chix covers the bale completely, yes? Top and bottom? Like a bag?[/QUOTE]
Yes, it covers the whole bale like a bag. If you want to slow consumption, I would look at netting with smaller holes. Putting the net on the bale really isn’t a big deal for us, but if we had different equipment/set up, I might feel differently.
[QUOTE=tinah;7887103]
I’ll let you know about savings. Just bought a net today. We put out a RB every 4 days. We must get better hay than most, because even without a net they only waste ~50 lbs. I’m just looking to slow consumption a little, because the fat ass quarter horses are obviously eating a whole lot more than they need.[/QUOTE]
Do that. As I’m still trying to determine if investing in netting in addition to the hay huts is even worth it.
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