Round bale woes- feeding pasture horses (newbie to keeping-horses-at-home question)

[tpup]

I love round bales and will never go back to square in the pasture! Mine last several weeks for 2 horses, a large pony and 12 hand shetland, but I don’t start using them until early Dec. and my horses come in at night Dec. to approx. March. I have been VERY happy with the Big Bale Buddy. My 12 hand shetland can even reach. Our barn builder only hays enough for his best barn clients and it’s great quality hay. We also have decent pasture even in winter. I do vaccinate for botulism. The Bale Buddy is easy to use but it does take 2 people to wrap around the bale. We remove all twine before we bag it. Here’s the key: heavy rain or snow overnight can be a problem. If we are expecting either overnight, I put a tarp over the bale buddy/bale with heavy dumbbells on top. This makes my bale last MUCH longer vs. it getting soaked and yucky inside. It’s a pain to do, but worth it. Square bales were way too much trouble for me. I love that our rounds last several weeks (like 4 usually!) So much easier and at $60 a bale, it’s a no brainer.

If your pony is too short, you can pull some off until they eat the bale down some to his height

[RedHorses]

Head holes are definitely a concern for horses with COPD/Equine Asthma. As an owner of a horse with EA I would not ever put him in a situation where his hay was in one of those plastic houses with head holes.

My EA horse DOES get free choice access to round bales year round. They are in small hole nets, inside tombstone feeders.

The nets prevent the horses eating a head sized hole, instead forcing more of a shallow bowl shape. The action of pulling the hay through the net shakes the dust loose and much of it blows away.

When it is going to be rainy, or even as a standard practice, standing the round bales on their side instead of flat like a pancake allows most of the rain to run off instead of soaking in. This alignment doesn’t affect the horses’ access.

The nets are a new thing for my current barn. When the bales got netted the herd dynamics around eating changed. Eight horses, three bales. The low horse in the group actually put on weight. Much to my surprise there was far less jockeying for position, and chasing other horses off the apparently tasty bits. The lowest horse started being able to share a bale with any two other horses. We saw him sharing a bale far more often than before the nets, and actually approaching occupied bales.

When a feeder is left in one spot, and the round bales are netted, the hay dust and chaff left from bales eaten by three horses over the winter made an 8" thick pad at the bottom of the feeder. That’s dust that no one ate or breathed in.

Horses are remarkably adept at getting the good hay out of the net despite copious sticks.

They are also very good at leaving that molding spot that the bale had been sitting on uneaten in the net.

And pulling empty net out of the feeder. The trick is to empty it when there is about one day’s worth of hay left in the net, letting them eat that loose, and then putting the new, netted bale into the feeder. The trick to emptying the net is to open it up and turn it inside out which sort of rolls the remaining hay into the feeder. This is harder to do when you have a horse attempting to shove loose net aside so he can get the hay. :lol:

[candyappy]

@Ferdinand offspring here

Is there any harm in having a round bale of hay in a stall with a Stallion who has been fed leaves in the past? Why? I over mowed his paddock and its brown and spotty green. I feel so bad and with temperatures dropping to 37 at night tonight, I want him to eat enough but also wondered if he could overeat and get sick?

Don’t put out a whole round bale . If you put the bale under cover and tip it up on it’s flat side you can easily peel off what you want to feed.

[beau159]

The last time my 2 quarter horses were wintered alone without any other horses, they would eat a 900 pound round bale in about 2 weeks. They are both easy keepers…

This is the first year I bought a Hay Chix net. We haven’t used it yet but I know it’s going to help with waste, and I’m hoping it helps with not letting them get too fat. I have my horses with my parents for the winter, so it’s 4 geldings (all easy keepers) together and we’ll see how it goes!

[JB]

@Ferdinand offspring here

Is there any harm in having a round bale of hay in a stall with a Stallion who has been fed leaves in the past? Why? I over mowed his paddock and its brown and spotty green. I feel so bad and with temperatures dropping to 37 at night tonight, I want him to eat enough but also wondered if he could overeat and get sick?

I’m not getting the connection between the over-mowed paddock, and needing to put a round bale in a stall

Do you mean in a covered shed area that is a “stall”? If so, you can certainly leave a round bale in there, but setting a plan bale out is going to end up a mess with a lot of wasted hay. And if he’s not used to eating hay, then yes, he could well get himself into trouble as that’s a very big dietary change.

It would be much better to put the bale where it’s protected, out of his reach, and peel off what you need to feed at a given time. But if he’s not used to hay, then you do need to cut back on what he’d ideally get, to 1/3 or maybe 1/2 of that.

[Ferdinand_offspring]

I apologize I did not reply sooner. I decided a round in his stall would be a mistake. So much new hay allowing his free eating would be a recipe for sick stomach. Thank you and again sorry for delayed reply.

[warriorhorse]

@Ferdinand offspring here

I apologize I did not reply sooner. I decided a round in his stall would be a mistake. So much new hay allowing his free eating would be a recipe for sick stomach. Thank you and again sorry for delayed reply.

Eating free feed hay doesn’t make horse’s sick. Mine have rounds out all winter,eating free choice. Never ration out hay ever…I feed pure alfalfa horse’s do just fine. Summer now so on pasture 24/7.