Cutting up a round bale

coshoo · May 22, 2018

Not much experience with round bales, other than putting them in a feeder and letting the horses eat them up. Now, we need to feed a confined horse hay from a round bale- no way to unroll it, and it is stored such that we need to cut it up from one side to free up enough each day to feed the horse a measured amount (can't be free choice). Not really up to hacking away with a machete- any suggestions on how to cut into it? Don't think chain saw will work- any other ideas? Hedge trimmer? Electric kitchen knife? M79 Grenade Launcher?

johnofnewhaven · May 22, 2018

Hay saw. Google it. They have been around for over 100 years.

grandpa Love · May 22, 2018

One for sale in antique store in town. They called it an ice saw .....in Alabama?!? Lol

Bruce from Can. · May 22, 2018

I looked into a bale shredder to chop up wet wrapped hay , near 38 grand. I am still un rolling them.

johnofnewhaven · May 22, 2018

My Mom has one hanging in her home as decoration. Lol

rick n ohio · May 22, 2018

Put it up on its end and just unroll off what you need.

retired farmer · May 22, 2018

Have somebody help you stand it on end and unwrap it. It unwraps just like it was baled up.

Michael Soldan · May 22, 2018

I had big rounds up in the barn on the floor. There were two ways,unrolling them which was hard or removing the strings and taking the chainsaw and cutting them in quarters, hay would fall apart and I could fork it down the chute. It worked well, occasionally had to pull hay out of the drive sprocket but overall it works well and I fed a lot of big rounds that way.

Traditional Farmer · May 22, 2018

If you have a tractor with 3pt and remote hydraulics there is a bale spear that has a hydraulic motor on it that will unroll a round bale.

cjunrau · May 22, 2018

use a chain saw. it works good. I also have used a reciprocating saw with 12 inch blade. I like the chain saw better.

d9gdon · May 22, 2018

I would find a place in town or a neighbor that sells square bales.

JMOR · May 22, 2018

(quoted from post at 21:24:45 05/22/18) I would find a place in town or a neighbor that sells square bales.

ome people just have to do things the hard way!

JMOR · May 22, 2018

P.S. Even a caveman and my cows can unroll a bale!

Donald in MN · May 22, 2018

i set one on end to feed The goats l cut it verticaly with a box cutter and pealed the hay like a roll of toilet paper

rustred · May 22, 2018

put the bale on its side, remove twines, unroll with pitchfork . you will be unrolling it the way it was rolled up in baler. very easy. thats the way i do it. feed out a whole bale this way. thats if you can get to it to move it.

SweetFeet · May 22, 2018

I second the notion to buy a few square bales... even if they're big squares.

SodBuster87 · May 22, 2018

I've always just cut them up with a chainsaw. Works fine just keep an eye on the drive sprocket. Clean it out as needed. I can remember Nasco used to sell a bar and chain just for cutting hay bales.

quefan · May 23, 2018

We used the recipricatig saw with the blade
custom sharpened like a bread knife.

coshoo · May 23, 2018

Thanks, all. Watched some videos, looks like chain saw is the way to go. Looks like if you cut with the top of the bar, it will throw the "hay dust" away from the saw and not clog things up. As I said in my original post, can't unroll it because I'd have no place to store the unrolled hay as we feed it out over several weeks to one horse. Horse is foundered, needs very low quality feed for awhile- we have some good small squares, but this one over-ripe round bale will be better for her.

Dan in North Houston · May 23, 2018

I have heard that using a chainsaw with the chain on backwards works well, but I've never tried it.

Hay hay hay · May 23, 2018

I have tried The chain saw Method , but they tend to clog. Best thing I found was a circular saw blade on a Weedwhacker. It is a vicious looking tool, but it will cut a neat 6 inch deep slice along each side of a round bale and you can lift off the top arc of hay easily.

John in Md. · May 23, 2018

Tip it up on a pallet and unroll what you need as you need it.

DoubleR · May 23, 2018

I second putting it on a pallet and unrolling it by hand. I've been doing it for years.

Duner Wi · May 23, 2018

Wonder if this would work.
Says it is a hay knife.

http://www.laurelleaffarm.com/item-pages/hand-forged-hay-knife.htm

BarnyardEngineering · May 23, 2018

Not cheap, but check out this device: Tagliafieno

It's an electric hand-held bale slicer.

oldtanker · May 23, 2018

Local family here uses a chainsaw, they feed 3 or 4 horses that way daily. They been doing it that way for years.

Rick

greg oliver · May 23, 2018

My neighbor lifts his up with a winch and pushes a metal bar through that has a bearing so it can spin and a piece of flat iron and a lynch pin goes on the other end. Then you can unroll it. He has a JD baler and takes a little effort to push it through. Works pretty slick once you get it in position.

Brown Swiss · May 23, 2018

I have fed cows in a barn for years and I used a high tech device they call a pitch fork! Just go around the bale and unwind some, its one horse!

Cutting up a round bale

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