for those of you who feed round bales.....

[helmstead]

IMO Horses should have all the hay they can eat to keep healthy...none of this % of bodyweight thing. (grass hay! not alfalfa/legumes)

 

[valmom]

When I fed square (small) bales I counted on about 50# of hay per horse per day (about 1 bale). More in the winter.

I have fed round bales to my guys for the last 6 years and have tried absolutely EVERYTHING I could afford to minimize waste. The ring was awful (plus we had a yearling climb into the ring once and gave me a heart attack)- the hay just fell out through the bars.


Then I tried the bag- basically a tarp bag that you pull on over the bale, then flip it up and the horses eat out of the top opening of the bag. Great until the bale got about halfway done, then the horses pawed it all out and kicked the bag around. It was cheap- I think only $100 (as opposed to a hundreds for the ring) and it lasted a whole summer, though.

Now I have a hay "house". It keeps the bale covered and dry (really invaluable in this horrible weather we've been having), it is easy to use, and it keeps a huge amount of hay inside itself, even with my experts at pulling out hay.

 

[miss_thenorth]

I only have two horses, and we use rounds. Takes them a week to go through about 700 lbs. We just set them in the field, and never set one in the same place. Yes, there's waste, but its not too bad. We've never had one mold in the time it takes them to eat them.

This just confuses me...considering a horse should eat 2% of its body weight per day, my two horses should get roughly 40# hay per day-- x7=280. That bale should last two weeks at least. Or do I have my math wrong?

How long have you had your horses?

Two years. I have a paint/perch, and a QH. We have always fed 40# a day, and I have never had underweight horses. (except when Jigs needed his teeth floated, but he put the weight back on right away.) This is what the vet recommended, and this is what we do.


Mind you, they are on free pasture all summer (except when being introduced, and weaned off it) and we don't really work our horses in the winter.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I'm like the others that have posted. Free choice hay. When we had FIL's horses here that is what they got even in the winter when they were in their stalls. They were for looks and were not worked. They weren't over weight.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Well, I guess it is something to consider and research. but I do see it as wasteful for a bale that should last two weeks to only last one?

 

[Pure Country]

We've been using rolls for over 25 yrs. My horses are in seperate pens as several do not get along. Plus I have a stallion. So, I can't put rolls out. I take off what I need per horse. It lasts a bit longer doing it that way. All of mine are nice and fat. They don't have grass so they get hay in the morning and evening. They get their grain in the evening. I have rarely had one get sick or colic.
We don't cover them once they are open. As long as the round part is up and not the flat part, they don't get water in them and get moldy.

 

[RayNC]

We have only one horse and use round bales almost exclusively
We have a 20x20 run in shed/barn... no stalls...we set the bale on the floor on rubber stall mats. Free choice along with water, salt and mineral blocks. A bale (5x6) last about a month with very little waste. My wife also picks up loose hay inside that he pulls out and fills a haybag that hangs outside in a tree that he plays with during the day. As far as I'm concerned free choice hay and beet pulp are 2 of the most important things you can do to keep their gut working properly.

 

[crazygoatlady]

I have goats, but also paint gelding, so am reading and learning what I can. I have a neighbor that buys large round bales in the fall for the winter and covers it until she feeds it. She covers the open bale with plastic and ties the plastic over it. She then "spoons" the hay over into a hay feeder of sorts. We put a big round bale into a round bale feeder for our horses, but she doesn't and doesn't ever intend to. I have looked and looked for a pattern or design that I could make for her that she could open and close it easily without taking the entire thing off. Anyone know of one or have any ideas? I can work with tarps, heavy duty zippers and snaps. my main problem is turning the covering as the layer of hay is taken off, KWIM ? Any ideas? Thanks

 

[Beekissed]

I have seen a tarp like covering that has elastic along the bottom that one uses to cover riding lawn mowers, cars, etc. Would something like that work for a round bale? Just lift one side to detract from the bale and flip that covering right back on afterwards?

 

[lupinfarm]

We boarded at a "facility" and I use that term very loosely with this place, they had a myriad of Egyptian Arabian champion stallions that sat in dirty stalls, did nothing, and developed diseases, neglect, 2 shetlands that sat in a stall with 4 feet of compacted poo, etc. We called th SPCA several times, but nothing happened. ANYWAY, the owner fed rounds, she'd peel a section off for the evening feeding and it worked well for us.