# Can Cows eat rained on square bales?



## Canderson012 (Jan 17, 2012)

Somebody told me no animals can eat a rained on square bale because it wont repel water like a round bale. Today I was directed by an individual to bale today and was told don't worry about getting the bales up they had it taken care of. So I baled all of them and about a hour after the sky fell out raining. I'm in the clear, but is it true that no animal can eat a rained on square bale even if it is dry before stacking or fed?


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

They can. Especially cows. Horses you have to be careful of. I wouldn't listen to closely to the somebody who told you that no animal can eat rained on hay.


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## Canderson012 (Jan 17, 2012)

Yeah I knew horses would be a little iffy on it, but thanks man!


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Heck here most huge dairies and feedlots feed large squares of hay that hasn't been covered at all. Though we don't get the amount of rain I'm sure you do or have the humidity.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

In my part of the world we don't have either problem--hay bales or rain! But I guarantee you by January, cows and even horses will eat any hay bale they can find here, whether it is rained on or not.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

haybaler101 said:


> In my part of the world we don't have either problem--hay bales or rain! But I guarantee you by January, cows and even horses will eat any hay bale they can find here, whether it is rained on or not.


Yup, come the dead of winter when the choice comes down to rained on hay, snowflakes or nothing, they'll eat rained on hay every time.


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## jdhayboy (Aug 20, 2010)

Got .7 tenths on on around 700 squares one time. Picked them up the next day, let the people know, knocked a couple bucks off them, horses and cows ate them just fine. Maybe we got lucky.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

Sugars and fructans are water soluble. For horses with certain medical conditions where they are sensitive to forage sugar levels, people soak their bales to reduce the carbohydrate content. Others soak or steam their bales to to reduce dust, dust mites, pollen, fungal spores and other allergens for horses with respiratory conditions. As long as the bales are dry and not moldy they are fine.....you might even be doing the horse a favor.


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## steve in IN (Sep 30, 2009)

I had 500 squares take 2 tenths before I got them picked up. Scattered them out in the barn for a couple days. No takers. Sold them to Amish with horses and they wanted more. Now the original people are rethinking thier decision. Too late. Theres gonna be alot of hard lessons learned by the "hay making experts" this year. I doubt they will remember though.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

For the most part and something people forget, cows won't eat something that will hurt em unless they are desperate. Several years ago the market was such that the "junk" hay I saved for my cows was worth 2-3 times what I thought it would be. I was hauling my "junk" hay to the auctions and getting 120-140$/ton for it and buying real junk for less than half that. Fed it up and upped the critters grain by several pounds per day and they did just fine. Some of the bales they would touch and I just rolled those out for bedding, then they'd pick thru it.


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## jdhayboy (Aug 20, 2010)

In 07 it rained so much the windrower cudnt cut the hay. It rapped around the impellers, tedder and rake it was so long. The Kuhn bar cutter wud but it was tearing our equipment up , so we stopped at around 10 acres. Ended up with around 90 5x5 rolls.

Stacked the hay in a cow pasture. Cows never touched the hay until fall of 2010. They ate every roll. What was odd to me is there was still plenty of grass to eat and it was way before we got a frost. I guess there was something in the hay they needed that the grass wasn't giving.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

Mike120 said:


> Sugars and fructans are water soluble. For horses with certain medical conditions where they are sensitive to forage sugar levels, people soak their bales to reduce the carbohydrate content. Others soak or steam their bales to to reduce dust, dust mites, pollen, fungal spores and other allergens for horses with respiratory conditions. As long as the bales are dry and not moldy they are fine.....you might even be doing the horse a favor.


I got to thinking about this.......I wonder if you could rebrand the rained on hay as "Diet Hay" or "Low-Carbohydrate Hay" and sell it at a premium? With a lab test, you could even prove it.


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