Poly Bale rings ?,ARE they any Good?!

My brothers Cows Destroy a heavy steel Ring every Yr , Ok Guys ,.Weigh In.especially those that know..... will the poly-rings hold up?

The ploy bale rings I have seen do not work well in cold weather. They get frozen down and then get brittle with the cold. Cow push them or you try lifting them with a loader , then they break.

I have heavy pipe feeders. I keep them full and that keeps the cows from pushing them much. I move them with my loader and they have held up well. They do not have the skirt on them and they are 2 inch heavy gauge steel. They cost me right at $500 each but they last 5-8 years. The ones Farm and Fleet or TSC have will not hold up. They are smaller/thinner steel. They are cheap for a reason.

Too bad you're not closer to me here. There's a guy who builds square ones out of well pipe. So far they've been indestructible for me. He gets $285 for them.

I bought a Century brand couple years ago to see how it would work. My cattle are hard on the cheaper metal bale feeders as well. They turn them into pretzels in a couple weeks. I bought some heavy duty Winkel brand and they've stood up very well. The drawback is they are very heavy to move especially if they are frozen any. I bought a couple of the lighter duty Winkel brand and they are standing up nice as well. I decided to try out a poly one. They have a skirt kit but I didn't buy it until I figured out if it was going to work. The first day I set it out I expected to see shattered plastic everywhere the next time I fed. Two years later it looks just like new. The theory is that it gives when the cattle push on it where metal bends. It has a bottom ring that is bigger diameter around so it doesn't seem to freeze to the ground as easy as a metal feeder. Now that being said, I'm still undecided about them. I don't feed with a loader tractor so I don't pry them around like a lot of others do. I also can't help but wonder if with a little age that plastic won't "give" like it did when it was newer. JD Seller also mentions them getting brittle in cold weather. I can't agree or disagree with that yet. The past couple years have been pretty mild, with the exception of a couple days here and there. It's something I've been concerned with but so far it's still going. I've just been thinking of getting another one but like I said I still haven't made up my mind about them yet. Probably not the type of opinion you wanted to hear.

If I remember correctly you are in southern indiana?there's a guy close to me that makes stainless steel feeder. I have several that are 20 years old still in use.

I have had very good luck with the poly ones so far. Had one in with 5 hereford bulls weighing around 2,200lbs all winter and it still looks like new.The only steel ones that have held up ok are the 4 piece collapsible ones from bomgaars for me.