Round bales

[BlessedWithGoats]

Hello BYH-ers!

I'm looking at hay possibilities for the winter and was thinking about round bales... how many bales do you think would be needed to last from Oct-May for medium and large sized goats? About 15 goats? We have pretty cold winters here too.

Thanks!
BWG

 

[animalmom]

That's a good question. I use round bales for feeding my 21 Nigerians and I'm rather chagrined to say I don't know how long a bale lasts. It depends. I don't have a way to keep an open bale covered so if it significantly rains I know eventually I'll run across mildew. If it doesn't rain the bale may last 6 weeks... I think...

It will be interesting to see other folks' responses.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

Our issue is storage. We don't keep a stockpile of hay because it molds and mildews badly. We also don't have the greatest place to store hay.

Calculate how much your goats are eating now and do the math. Take into account that they will eat more during the winter and when bred. It's better to have a little extra.

 

[Baymule]

I have a round bale placed in a corner of the fence. I cut a cow panel in half and clip it to make a square. The sheep can out their heads through the square holes and eat the hay. I put a small tarp over it to help keep it dry. If your goats are horned, the cow panels won't work for you, but you could put some T-posts around it to fasten a small tarp to.

I would plan on 1 and 1/2 round bales a month.