Update with pic! Feeding round bales with no tractor - just asking for a mess?

[QHEventer]

Feeling frustrated as my Tarter Hay Basket literally just fell apart on me (3 legs came un-welded and fell off) and I’m trying to simplify my hay feeding routine.

I’ve fed round bales in the past, but had a tractor at the time to clean up the mess afterwards. Now, I just have a Polaris Ranger, no tractor. I have a guy who can deliver round bales and place them in the field for me, but I can just envision a total hay-trodden, muddy mess when the bale gets eaten down with no way to clean it up. Has anyone successfully fed round bales without a tractor? How did you keep the area tidy? Horses are shod so a net is out of the question.

[Turntable]

I wouldn’t worry, the wasted hay is excellent fertilizer and organic material for your pasture and the grass will grow in better in that area the following year. I would just place them in a different spot each time.

[BroncoMo]

It’s a pain but absolutely doable. And not terrible once you get a routine down. Not sure how big your bales are or if the Polaris will be able to flip them. Maybe use a vehicle. But here’s the process:

If you need to drag the bale to a place, take a standard 5000+ pound ratchet strap and hook to the bumper/hitch of an appropriate vehicle, run around the bottom of the bale (4-6 inches off the ground), and hook the other end to the to the bumper/hitch. Roll the netting on the “front” side of the bale up 8-12 inches so that it doesn’t get caught under the bale as you drag it. Drag in to place.

If your hay guy places the bale in the field where you want it, it’s even easier. Get a Hay Chix hay net. Put the net over the top of the bale, cut the netting from underneath and pull out. Using a vehicle, run the ratchet strap around the top third of the bale, pull forward and pull the bale on to its side. At this point either tighten and tie the net off, or flip it over again so the opening is on the top.

It sucks in bad weather and footing. But I did this for years until I could afford a tractor. The net reduces wast down to practically nothing.

[QHEventer]

That makes sense! I have a winch on the Ranger so can probably even use that to move the bale. I’d love to use a net, but horses are shod…I wonder if I could use a net if I bought a poly ring to go around the bale. I also need to find a way to protect it from the elements (something lightweight and portable), only two horses so it’ll last them a while. Has anyone used one of those Shelter Logic kits over a round bale before?

I’m pregnant and due in few months so really trying to get the horses set up to be as easy as possible - round bales would be SO nice if I can find a way to make them work!

ETA: After re-reading my post, maybe a hay hut would be the ideal solution for me…assuming they’re easy enough to move from one spot to another?

[beowulf]

To answer your question, yes, we put out a bale without a tractor. We have the person we buy the hay from load the bale onto our truck and drive the truck out into the field. Roll it off the bed of the truck, push it onto a pallet. It is not physically easy, but it’s a simple process.

I have a small quibble about the claim hay is good fertilizer/good for the pasture. Wasted hay is definitely not good for maintained pastures. Hay does not make grass grow better the next year. What it does instead is kills existing grass and introduces weeds/unwanted vegetation in its place. It changes the topsoil, traps sediment and silt, and contributes to mud and poaching. It is also slippery and takes a long time to break down as far as organics go. It won’t break down in one season, so come fall the pastures become a goopy mess with lots of slippery patches horses can lose their footing because of the hay. It also prevents proper water run-off because it traps in silt and sediment, effectively turning pastures into soup if there is enough waste.

OP, you mention your horses are shod so hay nets are out of the question. Can you buy a Haychix and feed it on an elevated platform where their hooves can’t get through? If not a Hay Cradle, something like a Hay Ring or Hayhut (IMHO, Hayhut is the best).

For years I had a very similar set up as yours OP. I put a roundbale out on a Hay ring with no haynet. The amount of waste from the hay was astronomical (50-60% of the hay) and it was not something someone could pick up on a Sunday with a few wheelbarrow loads. After years of this I got a Hayhut - it helped cut down the waste some, but I was still looking at 20-30% of wasted hay underfoot that still needed to be removed every time I put a new bale out, which was once every 5-7 days. I finally got a Haychix; I wish I had done this years ago. It would have saved me SO MUCH labor. There is zero waste. My pastures have never looked better; spots that in the past got messy/muddy because of former hay have finally broken down enough grass is reclaiming it, and the best part is I don’t have to move my Hayhut every week when we put a new roundbale out. It used to be I needed to move the pallet & hay at least 30ft away because there was so much waste; now I can keep the pallet in the same place for months and there is still no hay underfoot.

The Hayhut keeps hooves free of the netting, as an added bonus. I really would look into a net if waste removal is a concern of yours – and I get it, they waste SO much without the net and it’s impossible to keep up with if you’re a one-man operation juggling this with a full time job. I regret waiting as long as I did to buy the net. It’s really that transformative and my paddock has never looked better in the 20 years we’ve been here.

[QHEventer]

Ahh this sounds perfect! So, hay hut with haychix net…place round bale on a pallet? Loving this idea!

[Turntable]

We dragged them on a plastic sled when we did it. Much easier.

[BroncoMo]

If you’re interested in spending little bit more I have an even easier solution which is shoe-friendly. Look up Century poly feeder rings. You can attach the hay net to the ring. All you do is cut the netting off the bale, stand the ring on it’s side, and flip it over the bale. That is it. I’ll attach a picture to another post of a homemade feeder ring that hasn’t exactly held up well, but it is the same concept.

I’ve heard you can do the same with a hay hut. Attach the net to the inside so all you do is set the hut over the bale, and you still have the waste reduction but with a roof.

Depending on your location, you may not waste much hay staying out in the weather. I get tons of snow and my hay sits outside from the time I pick it up in September, until it’s fed the following summer. Some spots only have two horses on a bale so it takes a few weeks to go through. But still works. I understand it may be different if you get rain.

I agree with beowulf that waste is terrible for pasture grass. Ask me how I know…

[beowulf]

Yes. It is an expensive cost up front but my Hayhut paid for itself within a season, and the Haychix net paid for itself in four roundbales. The amount of waste reduction is so significant I can focus weekends on more important projects.

Pallet > Roundbale > Haychix Net > HayHut.

Not saying it’s not possible, but it would take an incredible feat for a horse to get a shoe caught on a net with the HayHut over it.

[BroncoMo]

This is my homemade imitation Century poly round feeder. Some of the rails have been damaged by a yearling who puts a knee on it so she can scratch on the bale. Ideally I wish I would have made it taller. If I had shod horses, I would want it taller so they won’t step in it. But putting out hay now is so crazy easy. You just lift the feeder over the top of the bale. It is a one person task.

ETA: this was the first time using this feeder and there’s a little bit of a learning curve. I have 4th cutting alfalfa that falls apart instantly once the netting is removed. So now I leave the netting installed down low to keep it all together, and reduce the hay falling out the bottom.

[tabula_rashah]

I do, I roll them by hand to the field- it’s a long way a (I skip the arm work out on round bale days haha)
I feed them in hay huts with nets. There is zero mess

[S1969]

Doesn’t a round bale weigh like 1000lbs? I can’t imagine having to roll one!

(Admittedly, I’ve never tried, so maybe it’s not that heavy or that hard.)

[tabula_rashah]

The ones I feed are usually like 700-800lbs but yeah it’s an interesting task lol. Esp the part where there’s a little bit of steep downhill into my field and I have to angle it exactly right or it will take out the fence. I should set it up as a cross fit task haha

[beowulf]

Ours are 600-700lb. The whole chore can be done by one fit, able bodied person — but it is not easy. Two is ideal. It is easy to roll them. It’s a huge PITA to twist/change the trajectory of their rolling.

[trubandloki]

@Turntable

I wouldn’t worry, the wasted hay is excellent fertilizer and organic material for your pasture and the grass will grow in better in that area the following year

I guess this depends on your climate and footing because my experience is that anywhere a layer of thick hay/manure is left the grass dies because it is does not let light/air thru.
Maybe many years down the road after it breaks down some, then the grass might grow there.

[JB]

Round is just a shape, and they can be 4x4 (in the 500lb range), or 5x5 (in the 1000lb range) and even bigger in some less common situations. Actual weight can vary depending on how tightly the hay is packed by the time it gets to the size the baler can handle. The baler will spit it out when it reaches the weight you set, or its actual volume capacity, whichever comes first.

No matter how you place a bale in the field, the area around that will be trampled, so at the very least, unless you have all-weather footing, you’d want to change locations every bale.

Loose hay in the field that’s wispy is fine to leave, it will break down just like cut grass. But clumps of hay left will do nothing but kill the grass under it, and while it will also eventually break down, it will take several years, not a season. And if you just leave the remnants of a round bale sitting there, it will be a muddy mucky mess for several years, and will fill in with weeds much faster than grass, left to its own devices.

If you have a place to dry-store a round bale, and the delivery guy can put it there, you can peel-n-wheel to the pasture a couple times a day. No real waste, no mess out in the field

[NancyM]

If there are only a couple of horses in a paddock or winter pasture, indeed- the “peel and wheel” option is usually my choice too. Load into a wheelbarrow, wheel it out to your big rubber tire feeder, and pitch it in there. No waste, no nets, nothing for a horse to get caught up in. A 4 X 4 round bale will also fit into a tire feeder, but you do need a tractor to lift it in there (after removing the twine before making the lift)… and there is more waste. But it will last several days.

[Jarpur]

I decided to try feeding round bales one summer. They were delivered by a guy who basically roped the bales, tied the rope’s end to a tree, and pulled the flatbed trailer on which the bales were loaded out from under the bales with his truck. It was like a magic trick and took him no time.

How I moved the bales into position as they were needed was to use a stout galvanized pole that was a few feet longer than the diameter of a bale. I stuck the pole through the center of the bale, turning the bale into a giant wheel with the pole as the axel, then attached a heavy chain to either end of the pole. I placed the center of the chain over my tow vehicle’s hitch, and towed/rolled the bale where I wanted it to go, using wide, sweeping turns when necessary to make it around curves or turn into gates. This technique lost very little hay off the outside of the bale (strings still in position).

Once the bale was in position, I removed the chain and pole, rolled (by hand) a round bale feeder designed for horses (consisted of three solid curved panels that bolted together, with no place for a leg or neck to be caught) to the spot and flipped it over the bale. I varied where I place the bale, too.

[QHEventer]

Well yeah, but that would completely defeat the point of what I’m trying to achieve ! With my routine right now, I only refill my hay feeder 3-4x/week. I’m trying to be able to do so even less once I have a newborn!

[BroncoMo]

I always forget they make small round bales Mine are consistently 1600 pounds and I have rolled them with help when in a pinch. But it’s waaay not ideal. I’ve had some weigh a legit 2000 pounds before. Needless to say, dragging with a vehicle is the only way if heavy machinery is unavailable. If I had 700-1000 pound bales, yeah those get way easier to deal with.