# Need advice on feeding round bales



## KareninPA (Jan 7, 2010)

One of my geldings has moved 4 miles away to keep a friends' stallion company. Neither of us goes up there everyday (they are pasture boarded on a farm owned by an elderly couple who used to have horses and watch them closely for us) so we have chosen to use round bales through the winter. After we placed the first one in the field it was clear that we NEED a round bale feeder. Her 3-yr old stallion went nuts on it, rubbing against it, climbing it etc...He was ecstatic while we were mortified at the sight, picturing dollar bills flying out of our pockets and carried away in the wind! They made a huge mess of it! Anyway, I need to purchase a feeder fast and would love any input from those with this experience. Keep in mind I need to spend as little as possible. TSC has a couple for $139 and $149. I know some people make their own, but I have 2 jobs, hence no extra time. Plus anything I could make would never last under that abuse! Also - what way is best to lay the bale - curve side up or flat side up? I've seen people do both.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

You should get a broad range of opinions on this. I do feed with round bales because our winters can be incredibly cold so I don't have to worry about mold and I want my horses on free choice in the cold because I'm not having to rely on the only occupation that has the accuracy of a stopped watch - meteorologists. 

I use the tombstone style feeders for horses because they tend to rub their manes off in the slants and the flat panel system tends to shift when stock leans in when they get low. 

Make sure that when you buy a feeder either get a continuous round if you can and if you have to buy the 2 halves, make sure whatever method used to connect the two doesn't have sharp or protruding edges. 

You do have to keep a close eye on your horses when your feeder gets low because I've had a few that figured it was easier to climb into the feeder when feed gets low. Mine are pretty quiet so I just flip the ring on it's side and the offending party wanders off.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

This is what ours looks like:
http://www.mccartsranchsupply.com/horsefeeder1.htm


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## DamnearaFarm (Sep 27, 2007)

I've never thought of them as tombstone type  That's funny. 

I have the horse round bale feeder, with the tombstones so they don't snag their manes. I feed my bales end side up, but I have four, sometimes five horses out in the field. You may want to go curve up so the hay sheds rain better and will last longer with just the two horses.


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## Jackie (Jun 20, 2008)

RamblinRoseRanc said:


> I've never thought of them as tombstone type  That's funny.


lol! But it IS actually what they are called. 
http://www.omegasteel.ca/livestock/tombstone.htm


I don't use a bale feeder for my horses and they still eat every single scrap of hay before they get new bales. I put out 5+ bales at a time and I can't afford so many feeders. Plus, being totally by myself I would have a hard time moving them myself and if they froze to the ground I would be done.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

I've never heard the tombstone thing either. Maybe it's a Canadian thing? It's describes them well though.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

It could be a Canadian thing because that's all I've even known them to be called. It could also be a cattle term because that's the style we need for horned cattle.


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## Jay27 (Jan 11, 2010)

We made a hay bunk out of 6x6s after my horses destroyed 2 round bale feeders... goofy drafts... They would flip them over, stomp on them and generally mess them up. The hay in the center was always better, I guess

Here is the bunk we built - we feed big squares. Unfortunately, in this pic, the feeder got empty, the snow got high and numbnuts decided to climb in. Hubby is taking it apart in the pic incase the ground was slippery... didn't want Jack to fall trying to jump out. We dug the ground down and it hasn't happen since... easy enough to unbolt anyway.


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

Personally, we just put a fence around the bale (or keep it outside the corral) and just pitch it over as needed. They eat it off the ground. 

We've used a bale feeder (and like wr won't use the ones with the slant/top parts because we've lost manes, too! lol) but I don't like it as well. 
And we've also just thrown the bale out and let them tear into as needed. However, I've noticed two of my boys always tended to develop a hay cough when they'd do this because they'd just dig a tunnel into the bale!


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## chewie (Jun 9, 2008)

i would also hesitate to feed round bales free choice. currently i have a mare that i am trying for one last month to keep alive--she (her mother too) developed heaves from round bales. the occurance of heaves in horses rose dramaticly when ppl started making and using round bales. my mare is the one horse that will never be replaced--she is the most wonderful creature i've ever met. she is only 14, loosing weight and breathing like a train. its heartbreaking to say the least. 

i'm not saying not to, just be aware.

i use them, but pitch as needed. have the bales set on their flat ends so i can peel the hay around the bales. i've been doing it for years with 6 horses, for 2 it'd be a picnic!


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## wintrrwolf (Sep 29, 2009)

LOL I just started feeding round bales, so don't have all the nicey nice equipment. Back the trailer up to a tree, wrap a chain around tree and bale and move the trailer forward bam there it is and there it stays. Both my goats and horses been having a ball tearing it all up. So next time gonna back it into one side of the shed and wrap some fencing around it, any fall out will become extra bedding. Sure beats going through 3 squares a week at $5 a pop. I am still experimenting with rounds and hay guys, next round I am getting tomorrow is a little more money but its a brome/orchard/red clover/timothy mix.


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## DaniR1968 (May 24, 2008)

Look at the big bale buddy. I've heard good things about them.

Horses sometimes chill out on tearing up the bales. They are excited at first then get used to it and don't tear them up as much.


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## Jackie (Jun 20, 2008)

DaniR1968 said:


> Look at the big bale buddy. I've heard good things about them.
> 
> Horses sometimes chill out on tearing up the bales. They are excited at first then get used to it and don't tear them up as much.


Mine don't tear them up at all. Never have. But I am sure they were all fed that way before I bought them. 

I get my 1200-1500lb bales for $40 delivered!! At that price who cares if they waste half. Which they don't, but they could when you compare to the price of squares. Also my time is worth something. With rounds I can go away for a weekend and not worry. I only have to feed my horses once a month.


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## wintrrwolf (Sep 29, 2009)

Jackie said:


> Mine don't tear them up at all. Never have. But I am sure they were all fed that way before I bought them.
> 
> I get my 1200-1500lb bales for $40 delivered!! At that price who cares if they waste half. Which they don't, but they could when you compare to the price of squares. Also my time is worth something. With rounds I can go away for a weekend and not worry. I only have to feed my horses once a month.


Oh so not fair!! I don't have enough hay eating animals or room to store allot of hay at one time so buy 1 rounds at a time. One hay guy wants 2.75 per loaded mile ...which is more then the cost of a round of hay.


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## Mare Owner (Feb 20, 2008)

I have several kinds of roundbale feeders, most of them inherited when I moved to this farm. One thing to think about is how are you going to move it, if you want to move it. I like to be able to move it by hand, by myself. Some of the feeders here weigh SO much that it's impossible to move w/o a machine.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I prefer the heavier feeders because they last longer but they can be a bit harder to move. I find the easiest way to handle them is to simply flip it on its side and roll it to the next location. 

I find it much easier if I set my round bale down, move ring to where the bale is located and simply drop it over the bale instead of setting the bale in the feeder. It prevents bent tombstones and keeps the feeders from being bashed up.


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## DamnearaFarm (Sep 27, 2007)

wintrrwolf said:


> Oh so not fair!! I don't have enough hay eating animals or room to store allot of hay at one time so buy 1 rounds at a time. One hay guy wants 2.75 per loaded mile ...which is more then the cost of a round of hay.


Yuck. Makes me doubly glad my 5x5 1100-1200 lb bales are 15 bucks.


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## farmgal (Nov 12, 2005)

I use both round outside and square inside. I keep my rounds inside the horses run in. I can fit 8 in there. then I have a board across. The horses come in about 18 feet deep. I roll up a bale to the board and they can eat all they want. I do this because it gets too cold here. I dont want them ever without food at night and I like them eating inside but access to run outside. They ask for blankets about end of December and use them until march. When that cold north February air comes in, I bring them to the big barn and stall them and they still ask for blankets. It is very cold where my place is. 

When we used to bale our own hay, I used a netted baler for our rounds and never had a problem with setting out the bales. I would leave the netting on. They where so tight the horses could not break them apart. They would eat the inside and there would be this shell left and the mini we had would sleep inside the shell...lol So you could find a suppler that makes netted bales and try that, without bothering with a cage.

If the bale is outside you need to set it round side up if you expect rain. Once snow is there, you can set it anyway.


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