Feeding round bales

I was watching a video today of someone feeding round bales into a round hay ring. I got to wondering is there a right way or wrong way to put it into the hay ring. I use a inline feeder and put them on the sides not
the edge is this right or wrong or dose it matter? Which way do you do it?
 
I have put bales in on edge or laid in flat, never seen a difference I think that what the weather is doing and how long the bale is going to last makes more of a difference. if it is going to rain or is raining, I prefer to put the bale in as it comes out of the baler as I think it sheds water a little better this way.
 
I cut the twines off once I get to the feeder the lift it up and plunk it in flat side down. When I need to feed a round bale with a fork it also works good as you just unroll the hay. Putting it in a round feeder with round side down is not as handy. But the cows cant pull it out as easily to scatter it around.
 
I don't think it makes a bit of difference which way the bale falls into the feeder. I have done both ways.

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Ditto what Mark and Sandcaster said. If it looks like rain, its on its side. If no rain, on its end, so the hay ring goes on easier, with the bale spear.



No bale ring, and the cows waste more, peep and poop on it. Also keep moving bales so that new land gets exposed and planted with the coastal hay.. The cows even fertilize it for you.
 
(quoted from post at 17:26:57 01/20/23) Use an unroller to roll out the bale so the cows can all eat and spread out the manure on the field,couldn't give me a hay ring to use.
Pretty sure mine would waste at least half the hay that way by walking and crapping all over it. If they are wasting it in the round feeder then they are being over fed I think.
 
We do both , depending on our timing and what is going to happen with the weather and school, ball , 4H schedules.
Currently we are rolling some out every day to stretch out the supply.
I do like setting bales on the core when I ring feed, so they will clean up the bottom edge where it set.
Go net wrap, you won't go back!
Faster to bale, better to handle, sheds water better and faster to get off than plastic twine.
GG, Wes
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The key is to give them about the amount they will go ahead and eat,I generally have some rougher bales I set out around the fields so they can have something to work on.Big plus is when unrolling no big mud swamp and manure is already spread out.Real muddy here now and will be for the rest of the Winter most likely.
 
flat side or end down if real tight baled, much easier for calves to pull hay off bale and the older cows do better too
 
I don't think there is a right or wrong way. But each way is a little different. And people might have thier own preference.

Flat side down allows livestock to get the hay a little easier. But there is ussually always a bad side on the round part. The part that was on the ground when stored. This bad side will be up if the flat side of the bale is down. Cows really won't eat from that side of the feeder if that bad part is very bad at all. In this case, the cattle will really only eat from 3 side of the feeder, leaving one side untouched until it falls over. Then they might nose through it a little. This side would already be down if fed the other way.

Feeding round side down, the cattle can eat from all sides of the bale. Although, on the flat end sides, it is harder for the cattle to pull hay out from the ends of the bale. This leaves all sides that they (can) eat from, but leaves a couple sides that are not quite as easy to eat from.

Never moving feeder, and just dumping bales in the top repeatedly, builds up trash in the bottom of the feeder. Trash that they aren't going to eat. Do this long enough, and you will have a half full feeder of trash that you are putting your bales on top of. This is not a good scenario. If you get a foot or two of trash in the bottom of your feeder, it's time to move it, or clean out that trash. Don't just keep putting bales on top. Or you will eventually just end up with a whole feeder full of trash.

Some of these cone shaped feeders such as hay savers and others, are designed to feed hay flat side down. If you have one of these such feeders, feeding round part down is not going to work very well.

Some feeders are to heavy to handle by hand. If you have heavy feeders that you move with your loader, be carefull how you do it. A poor loader operator or a careless person, will have a new feeder all bent to he?? in no time.

What ever you do, don't use feeders that have some of the bars knocked out, or don't have uniform neck holes. Especially if you have all sizes of livestock. Because if you do, you will sooner or later find the right sized calf trapped in one. Go in a big hole, and only make it half way out of a small hole.

I feed all my hay round side down. But I am using the old style three section feeders. Might feed differently if I had different feeders.

One more thing. What ever you do, cut and remove all string and net wrap. If you don't, you will ussually end up killing something in various ways if you don't. Get legs tangled up in it, and fight it untill death. Or eat a big ball of it and won't digest it.
 
How you feed the bale only matters if you or your cattle are OCD.

If you have a circular bale ring it makes sense to lay the bale on end so its circular shape matches with the circular bale ring. Does it matter? Only if the bale won't fit the "wrong" way.

If you have a rectangular feeder wagon it makes sense to lay the bale on its side so the rectangular shape matches with the rectangular feeder wagon. Does it matter? Not in the least.
 
We fed in an old green chopping wagon with the sloping sides out of it. We set them in so the ends were what they ate from. Hay lasted longer and less waste. Then go down and unwind part of the string each day as they get to it. Move wgon about once per month or when I could not get to it with the loader to put hay in. Parked it on the hills. I have fed in the old freestall barn alley when it was real cold and windy like around 0 or below so they didn't have to walk down to the field and back in the wind.
 

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