# Round Bale Feeder?



## Fowllife

Anyone build there own round bale feeder? Or modified a bale ring to eliminate waste?

I"m thinking ahead for once & trying to get ready for winter feeding. I really like the J & L feeders ( http://www.jlhaysavers.com/our-products.html ) But I don't know of any dealers in my area for them & it's a 250 mile drive each way. One thing I'm not sure about with them though is how they work with various size stock. They have feeders for cows and others for calfs. We run 4-500 lb calf & 1200 lb cows in the same lot in the winter.

Last year I used 8' bale rings & was hit & miss on waste. If it was fairly dry weather I had little waste, but when it was yet I had more then I like. A lot of the waste came from the bales sitting right on the ground. I was thinking of either putting a floor & some kind of basket in my existing rings, or making up some kind of craddle feeder.

We feed 4x4 & 4x5 bales for the most part.

So, anyone got any ideas or suggestions?


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## Waterway64

I guess my favorite feeder is my Apache portable feeder. It holds 4 5x6 round bales and can be moved to a clean area every day. I make them clean up good and have very little waste. I have not been as sucessful with round bale feeders like you describe. Mel


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## Fowllife

Maybe I should have also said I'm only feeding 6-10 head of varying size. It would take them over a month the eat 4 5x6's


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## 8350HiTech

500 pounders can eat from a cow-sized J&L feeder.


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## Dill

I've seen a couple ones with floors or chains to hold the bale off the ground. Not sure how well they work. This time of year it seems like my cows waste as much as they eat. Since they have pasture too. But when there is snow, they clean it up better.


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## swmnhay

I've got a few of the cone type made at a local machine shop.They were $850 but that was a few yrs ago.They save a lot of feed compared to just the bale ring.

Some things I've noticed with hay feeders.

The closer the bars the less feed waste.

The taller the botton skirt the less feed waste.

Bigger the diameter the less feed waste.


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## JD3430

I like hay huts.


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## Fowllife

swmnhay said:


> I've got a few of the cone type made at a local machine shop.They were $850 but that was a few yrs ago.They save a lot of feed compared to just the bale ring.
> 
> Some things I've noticed with hay feeders.
> 
> The closer the bars the less feed waste.
> 
> The taller the botton skirt the less feed waste.
> 
> Bigger the diameter the less feed waste.


Everyone I talk to that was them says the same thing, the cone style save a lot of hay.

If I could find one locally for $850 I would go for it. The J & L though I would have $1300 into it & a wasted day by the time I drove to PA to get it.

My neighbor found some hoops to put on this regular feeder to turn it into a cone style & is pretty happy with it. Thats what made me think about trying to convert mine to a cone style, or making something else.

I currently have something like this

http://www.ruralking.com/feeder-2-pc-14-gauge-rd-red-w-o.html

It's heavy duty & has a tighter bar spacing. They still seem to waste a lot in wet weather mainly, or when I give them 5x6 bales & it take them too long to clean it up.

I wonder how it work work if I put a bottom in it half hay up the bottom ring, & put some chains or pipe from the top ring to make a cone?


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## Tim/South

I remember a web page where a guy made his feeders out of old trampoline frames. He used either chain or nylon rope and made a V type net to hold the hay. The calves would walk under the frame and eat. He had removed sections of the frame to make the ring what ever size he wanted.

I have an old tractor tire in the bottom of one hay ring to keep the hay off the ground and not make them reach as far. The down side is moving the tire when I move the ring. I lift the rings with the spear so it is not than big of a deal.

I removed an old fiberglass satellite dish from a neighbors place. I believe it is 10 feet across. One of my projects is to build a frame and mount the dish over a hay ring like an umbrella. It would look like a giant mushroom out in the pasture. Not sure how I would move the ring.


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## swmnhay

There are some here that a guy makes with chain for the cradle.

Another uses steel rods to make the V.
http://www.thehaymanager.com/


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## vhaby

Keeping the round bale off the ground in the hay ring should prevent some waste. but I don't understand how hanging the rb in a cone in the center of the hay ring will prevent waste from cows grabbing a mouthful, withdrawing thier head from the ring, and dropping hay on the outside of the ring as they work the hay into their mouths. I use 8 ft diameter heavy duty rings with 3 horizontal rings close together at the bottom and slant bars up to the top horizontal ring. I don't see that slanting the bars makes a whole lot of differenct compared to vertical bars. As long as the cows can grab a mouthful and withdraw their heads to chew the hay, there is going to be waste. Perhaps a larger diameter ring that forces the cows to reach farther into the ring for the hay might allow them to keep their heads in the ring longer, but then they may not be able to reach the center of the rb.

This is a great discussion and hopefully someone can come up with a working modification that can be implemented for a a reasonable cost. Would crossing two chains in the center of the ring put so much stress on the top bar that the bar would be bent inward at the four attachment points? I feed 4 x 5s.


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## swmnhay

the bars or chains holding the bale makes it harder for them to pull the hay out.If I get smaller cattle on mine I have to lift the bale every once in awhile or they may not get enough.A tight heavy bale can get jamed pretty tight against the bars.

I would say I have under 1% waste with cone type feeder vs maybe 5% with a ring type.Well worth the $ IMO esp if hay is $200+ a ton


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## Fowllife

vhaby said:


> Would crossing two chains in the center of the ring put so much stress on the top bar that the bar would be bent inward at the four attachment points? I feed 4 x 5s.


I was wondering the same thing. I would think that with a decent heavy duty feeder it would hold up. The more attachment points/chains the better. I was thinking of using 3 or 4 so the bale wouldn't want to roll off. The other thing you could do it to put a piece of tube steel or something across one of the lower ring & let the cradle & bale sit in that to carry some of the weight. That way the chains would more or less just keep the bale centered in the feeder.

If you used pipe instead of chain & ran it from the top ring to the bottom ring across the feeder to make your cone I would think that would also work. As long as you either bolted or welded the pipe it would distribute the stress more evenly.


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## mlappin

I used to take hog panels, cut em half length ways then wire them to the bottom of my ring feeders. Worked better than the ones with solid skirts as it allows for a little air movement so things don't go south as fast in wet weather. Saved a lot of hay over the ones that had no skirts.

A buddy had the feeder wagons based on the cone ideal, those save a lot of hay compared to a ring feeder.

We both have decided though if you really want to save hay, grind it first then waste gets real close to zero.


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## robert23239

http://www.progressivecattle.com/focus-topics/facilitiesequipment/4429-saving-money-with-hay-feeders

Check out the link above. I have a few of theses feeders and seems to help. I think theory is they can have their head out and the extra hay will drop back down .inside the ring. its amazing how they clean it up. Cows with calves do better than just a bunch of cows.


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## C & C Cattle and Hay

I have two of the apache hay feeder wagons they work real good. Not a lot of waste. Plus it has the trays in the bottom after a couple weeks I'll buy some of the real high molasses sweet feed and pour in there an they will clean most of what they weren't eating up. I've had real good luck with them there just expensive.


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