Cradle type round bale feeder

rrlund

Well-known Member
Anybody ever use one of those Tarter cradle type feeders? The ones where you set the bale in them lengthways. I need a new feeder before I wean calves. I didn't figure they could climb in one of those and crap all over the hay and that they could reach all the hay and clean it up so I didn't have to keep throwing it to the outside.

My big concern is that they'll eat the sides out of the bale and the top will slide off in to the manure instead of the feeder. Are they wide enough so they'll catch it or am I right to fear they'll slide and miss?
 
The bale feeders I used do have a sort of cradle the bale fits into, but also has the slant bar headrail outside of that. Any bale feeder that has a slant bar headrail plus a type of slant bar cradle inside of that works well.....if the cattle pull hay from the inner cradle, it will fall inside the outer slant bar headrail and not on the ground. Plus, smaller cattle won't tend to crawl into it since their head will come up against the bale cradle. While the perfect feeder has yet to be invented, the wastage from one of these is much less than a feeder with only one slant bar headrail and no inner cradle. They are likely twice the money, but having the extra steel means you can readily flip them over to clean out any old hay without damaging it.

Ben
 
Here's a picture of the one I'm talking about.


cvphoto57932.jpg
 
My opinion....and it is what it is....there will be spillage from that style onto the ground when the cattle pull on the hay....and they may reach over the top and pull hay in larger chunks from there, but I have not seen that type here in Ontario.

Ben
 
I've got concerns about it too, but I waste so darned much now from them getting inside and turning it in to a big manure pile from the inside. I've got three that a guy here in Michigan built out of old well pipe. Those are great for cows and larger cattle that can't get in them, but the holes are so big that the calves can climb in and out.
 
(quoted from post at 07:38:35 10/02/20) I've got concerns about it too, the holes are so big that the calves can climb in and out.

Is it possible to add a few extra bars to keep them out ? It seems if it would be it would be worth a try.
 
I bought one this morning. I haven't got the calves weaned yet to try it, but it looks like it'll be OK. I don't see any way for a calf to get inside of it, so that's a big plus.
 
we had one made out of stainless and it worked well. I cut the legs off and use it to feed goats now that we only have 5 feeder and 50 goats. If your in the market for heavy feeders I have a fiend that makes them out of stainless but its a little far from you. (Southern IN)
 
We've got a guy up here who makes them out of used well pipe. I have three. They're pretty much indestructible. I had one that one of his cheap help welded up and some of the welds broke, but it's thick enough stuff so that I can easily weld them back up.
 
The style you posted will have waste, but less waste than normal rings. There are several other styles of cradle feeders that allow the hay that the cows drop to fall into an area where they can reach it to eat it, but they can't step on it. I think they usually have the least waste. Most are pretty pricey, but the good ones will last.
 
My concern is 500 pound calves being able to reach it in one of those fancy cone feeders. I'm hoping their instinct to graze will have
their heads down eating what falls through one of these before it goes to waste. I don't think it's going to fall where they can walk on
it too much. I always have so darned much waste in a regular round feeder from the smallest ones getting right up inside of them and
making a mess. Time will tell. I'll leave the calves out with the cows as long as the weather is as nice as it is now, but I imagine
I'll have them weaned and penned in the next few weeks to try it out.
 
On the plus side, I don't see a way for one to get stuck in that one. Of course they've proven me wrong before. I had a 550 lb steer get his head stuck in half a ring last year, in a small mud hole of a corral I penned them up in so I could load them. More of a rodeo than I cared to partake in.
 
Ya, if one does manage to get in it and get its feet through, one end tips down by pulling a pin so they can be wrangled out of the end.
 
I'm not gonna use this one out in the mud for cows. It'll be on concrete with just calves. I hope it works.
 
The legs need to be taller for cattle. That is made for goats and sheep. Unless the pic is deceiving.
You can also ad to the top or they will pull it down and waste it anyway.
 
I'll have to take a picture. We sorted 10 smaller feeders out of 70 the other day and put them in with it. They'll weigh 800 pounds probably. So far, very little waste. I put a bale of third cutting in it and what's falling through, they're eating off the ground before it gets walked on. There's some on the ground inside the legs that they haven't reached for yet. If it goes like this when I get the weaned calves in there too, I think it'll be a success.
 
Here's a picture of it with those cattle around it. If they get big enough that they can get in it, they need to be moved in to the finishing pen anyway.

cvphoto60500.jpg


cvphoto60501.jpg
 
I've gotta tell you, I'm liking this thing. There's 40 of them in that pen now. When the wife and I went and bedded them yesterday afternoon and they had it emptied out, they had slid it on the skids and had cleaned up everything off the ground. For calves on concrete, I give it high marks. It sure beats the tar out of having a round feeder full of manure from them climbing in to it.
 
Won't go into the why's but I modified a standard hoop (round) bale ring once and found out why they make them round.....not because the bale is round necessarily as I fed my bales lying on their side, just like the tractor dropped them on the ground. It's because when the cows make a sloppy, muddy, quagmire around the bale they just finished off, you can flip it up on it's side and ROLL it over to a new location. With that said, what you are talking about is of no value to me. I'd move on. Wink!
 
I've got two feeders out in the field for the brood cows. I feed two bales a day. I use one feeder in the morning, the other in the afternoon. It gives the stragglers a chance to clean out the one feeder while the rest are crowded around the new bale. There's next to no waste that way and for some reason they don't seem to get frozen down. I'm thinking it's because there's no mat of hay there to keep them from sliding it by themselves.
 
I Googled it. Pricey, but looks like it'd work OK as long as it's not built out of cheap junk.
 
I totally agree...the mat is your enemy. Best to avoid it by doing what we are talking about. I too ran multiple hoops for the same reason. You always have your lead (bully cows and for sure the bull earns his name) that run to the bale as soon as it's dumped but having two, it gives the little, timid ones, a chance to grab a bite and while chewing on that, being run off, it's ready to grab a bite out of the other one before being run off from that one.
 
One thing I've noticed is that the area of the field where I used to feed has had some bodacious growth over the years from the feeding remnant influence. Other thing, on leased land, when I ran rolls of Coastal Bermuda, normally you have to sprig it to get a stand, but everywhere I fed a roll, poor , neglected soil no less, I had a patch of it occur as a result.
 
Randy, You have raised a whole lot more cows than I have, and got tired of cleaning up muddy hay, around my feeders, and having steers up in my feeder messing in hay, that they could not eat. I finally found the hay manager brand round bale feeder on google. I had to travel across the mountains, to buy my first feeder, and had a very hard time making myself let go of $1000. plus taxes, to get it. Called myself a fool, for spending on it, in November. By march, I had saved so much hay, that I bought a second feeder. I feed 4'x5' round grass hay, handle it all with a bale spike mounted on a front end loader, from hay shed, to top of feeder and only get off the tractor, to remove the net wrap, before I raise it up and drop in feeder. I wish that I had known about those feeders 15 years ago, when I was still feeding the small squares, and hauling manure every winter, however there is no place for a calf to lay up close to the feeder, like they used to. Hay Manager, calls them 90% effecient, I think they will beat that! NO I DON'T WORK FOR HAY MANAGER! But I sure do like their feeder! And you like Olivers!Google them!, and take a look.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top