Member
Posts: 28
Location: Kansas | We feed round hay bales to our horses in the winter. It seems that there is a lot of hay wasted as they eventually walk on the hay and don't eat a lot of the hay. Do any of you use the steel round hay feeders that go around the round hay bales? I have heard that they are worthless and a waste of money. But it seems to me that they might save hay. Can't decide if I should buy some. Let me hear your opinions. |
Regular
Posts: 51
Location: VA | I've been feeding round bales for 13 years under a large run-in shed. I use a tractor loader to put a bale in a ring that sits on a concrete slab. This shed is next to the hay barn. Sure the horses waste some hay as any round bale usage will. What I find is that the ring slows down what they waste. Hay builds up in the ring as new bales are added. The horses will burrow down into the hay into pockets. The hay they drag out makes a dry place for them to stand and when we get a dry spell, I clean out the shed with the tractor. I've never fed anything but kept in the dry and fed in the dry round bales, so this may not fit your situation. I feed 4 horses a new 4x4 orchard grass bale once a week or so, depending on the weather. |
Expert
Posts: 5870
  
Location: western PA | A friend of ours has used one of these for over a year now, and is very pleased with the results. It fully contains the hay, keeps most of it out of the weather even in the winter, and four animals can use it at the same time without getting in each other's way. There are no sharp edges and an animal can't become trapped. There is little to no waste. http://www.hayhuts.com/ |
 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 455
Location: Texas | My wife and I just bought our second round bale feeder. Both of ours are the horse-type, similar to this: http://www.tractorsupply.com/horse-bale-feeder-2168032 We bought a second one because we wanted to feed in two locations. We've used the cattle-type and they work just fine, except as already mentioned, the horses will rub their manes off. We get a lot of snow, and we've found the ones with feet on the bottom work a lot better than the ones where the ring sits directly on the ground. The same is true for wet ground, manure, etc. I can't imagine feeding round bales without some sort of feeder. There is still a little waste, but nothing like there would be without a feeder at all. Every once in a while the hay can be picked up off the ground and put back into the feeder. Also, you can let the feeder sit nearly empty for a couple days to force the horses to scrounge for the last bits inside the feeder and around it. Whereas without a feeder, they'll just start walking all over it, and you'll have to feed a new bale sooner. Pencil out the value. Say a bale costs $40. And say a horse eats a bale per month for half the year. And say you have 2 horses. Now say the bale feeder saves 20% of the hay. So, the feeder saves you $16 per month. So, you've paid for a $300 feeder in 18 feeding months, or about 3 years. After that, put the $16 per month in your pocket. Or, spend it on Netflix because you'll have extra time to watch movies in the winter while your NOT putting those extra bales out! |
Round Hay Bale Feeders
