poop and hay around roundbale feeder

[SquishTheBunny]

Do most people leave the poop/wasted hay around the roundtable feeders in the wet/snow season or clean it up weekly?

I work from early morning and don’t get home until it’s very dark so can’t pick the paddock during the week.

I’m assuming it will be fine for the winter and scrape it all out in the summer?

I did the winter paddock poop picking today but once the snow comes back its impossible to stay on top of it. They do have a huge grass paddock for the summer. Am I a horrible horse person for not picking the poop outside in the winter?

[saultgirl]

Can you move the feeder around? That might be easier. I try to clean up the paddock a little bit here and there when we get a few days above freezing, but most of the mess gets frozen into the snowpack and dealt with in the spring.

[Tom_King]

I set the next bale somewhere different, and go pick up the feeder with the spike, and put it over the new bale. The bushog shreds everything next Spring. One reason to only use net wrapped bales.

[jawa]

When I have used a roundbale feeder in the field or paddock, I would move the bale to a new location each time. I would also try to clean up around the bale every 4-7 days since it took my 2 30 days to finish a round bale.

I now feed them with a round bale feeder under a run in shed. I clean this area whenever I notice any manure in there or an over abundance of wasted hay.

[trubandloki]

The joys of the winter mess.

I have the same problem as you do. All springer, summer and fall I keep my paddocks picked clean daily. Winter comes and it becomes impossible between the weather and only being home during the week during hours that there is no daylight.

We had a thaw last week so I scraped clean everything that had developed so far. I will keep it clean as long as I can, which will not be long with the freeze and snow coming again.

At some point it just ends up being a mess and waiting until spring to get cleaned. It is a huge task at that point but there really is no other choice. Sure I could move the round bale every time I refill the feeder but then I just have lots of horrible messy places to clean instead of one.

[Flash44]

I move the feeder to a new location with each new bale set out.

[McGurk]

We try to move the feeder with each new bale (for us that’s every 10 - 14 days) and then clean up the manure and excess hay afterwards. For us its as much abiut not destroying the grass and having to reseed as it is abut the mess. Weather and time permitting, sometimes we don’t have a choice and have to dump a new bale in the old location. We also rotate paddocks once or twice in winter and then drag the empty paddock, that helps too.

[cowboymom]

We leave it. Don’t want to scatter trampled poop rings all over the pasture so it all stays in one spot until we can get to it with the tractor in the spring or during a thaw.

[trubandloki]

I think some of the difference in how this is handled has to do with climate. In my case my mess spends a good portion of the winter totally buried in snow and ice. Then when spring finally comes we have way too much wet to go with the left over ice. Moving the round bale would simply make more of a problem all over instead of in one place.

[SquishTheBunny]

Thanks all. I can move it around and do a bit but generally it’s in the same area. It will be covered in three feet of snow soon so daily picking just isn’t going to happen. Good to hear a bushhog will go through the mess!

[FalseImpression]

My BO fixed the hay problem this winter by covering it with a hay net… much much less wasted hay on the ground around the feeder…

the poop… well, I live in the same area as the OP and usually, by now, it is covered by snow… BO does not pick up until Spring… and right now, it is way too muddy to do anything but refill the feeder.

[gypsymare]

I move the feeder if the mud is getting deep. If it’s pretty solid, I have a back blade on the tractor and I just drive it in a circle to scrape away the poo and leave it in a pile til spring.

[mestle]

I second using a net over your bale, will cut way down on the wasted, spread hay so much less nasty mess in the spring. When we were still feeding round bales there were some wet years when we didn’t get the mess cleaned up until mid summer or later I am so glad not to have that to deal with anymore. We did not use a net on the round bale either–was before most people had heard of doing so.