# Bale Grazing



## Vol

Hmmmm.....this is different and interesting. Never heard of this before in this part of the country.

Regards, Mike

http://www.agweb.com/article/bale_grazing_popularity_continues_to_grow_NAA_University_News_Release/


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## hog987

There are guys around here that bale graze but to me it does not fully make sense. There is way too much wastage. 25% or more of the hay will be wasted in this system. The guys that do this say what does not get ate will become fertilizer. I than say the cow only uses about 15% of the nutrients of the hay anyways so why not run the hay through the cow and than what is left can be your fertilizer.

Also the part of not running a tractor all the time. The problem here is that guys have a 150+ hp to just feed a few cows. Than they find it burns so much fuel doing the job and look for another way. Myself and my uncle have smaller tractors to feed our cattle. Can get the job done just as fast and burn 1/4-1/2 of the fuel of the bigger tractor. Plus the smaller tractor is about 1/5 of the price of a new one.

Also another thing is to set the bales on the hay field and graze them there. The problem there is that the cattle pack the snow down soo hard that if you have any alfalfa in your hay it will be more likely to be winter killed. I dont let the cattle onto the hay fields at all. Anyone who does this recks there hay field over time.

The thing is that a lot of guys dont look at the whole big picture. Just one small part. Than they think its working great but have never really tried anything else to see how will that works.

Another thing about bale grazing is it is like a lot ideas around here for feeding cattle over the winter. It may not be the best thing that you can do with the land but it is a lazy way to keep the cattle feed.


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## bluefarmer

Not to mention pieces of twine/wrap left in the field to wrap around mower spinners


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## Bgriffin856

Read an article a few years ago. A guy in Canada place a entire winter supply of hay in an unharvested cornfield and grazed the bales and corn at the same time.

Lots of waste to me plus you can manage manure nutrients better if the animals are confined for the winter.

As mentioned above a lazy mans way of feeding animals/farming


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## Tim/South

I first read about this last year. At first it sounded more lazy to me than anything else.

Then I read an interview with a farmer who grazes bales. His way is different.

He placed his bales in rows at one end of the pasture, corn field or where ever he ran cattle during the winter. He did not spread the bales out over the field. He fed from one end of the group of bales one time, then the other end the next time. He rotated ends to allow the ground to mend.

I believe it is recommended to use sisal when planning to bale graze. String or net would be an issue when left on the ground.

I remember years ago before we baled hay or had any real hay fields. We would cut an area for hay and let it cure, rake it, then load wagons with pitch forks. We put the hay into "shocks" and put a fence around each group of shocks. We only had a few head of cattle. When one group of shocks were eaten we would let the cows into another set of stacks.

This was before round baling, but kind of the same idea as bale grazing.

I feed in different places every day. Some rolls go into hay rings close to the barn. Two other rolls go to the woods and privet fence line on the other end of the pasture. The more aggressive cows eat close to the barn. The more timid cows go to the woods where they do not have competition for a place at the table.


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## Richardin52

Bale grazing works great and studies show there is little differents in loss over bales fed out of round bale feeders. The biggest improvement however was found to be in the amount of nutrients lost in feedlots as compared to bale grazing with the biggest defferents in the amount of nitrogen lost (80%) in feed yards over bale grazing.

That and the fuel saved, not having to spread manure, the carbon added to the soil from bale residue and the seeds droped makes this a far better method of feeding winter hay.

They also found that unrolling bales did a slightly better job of nutrients distribution over the field.


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## prairie

We have done bale grazing, with and without round bale feeders, and unrolling/bale processing bales.

Unrolling/processing bales is much more expensive as it needs to be done at least daily or waste can be very high. When we are feeding 6-8 bales a day, I like to feed 4-5 bales first thing in the morning , and the rest at mid afternoon to minimize waste. Along with being at least a daily chore, feeding bales takes a lot of time and equipment/fuel cost.

Bale grazing is much less labor and equipment intensive. The key is to use electric fence to allow 3-4 days of feed to minimize waste and enough bales to allow access for all animals. With less than 3 day breaks, not enough bales are available, and the less aggressive cows will get shorted.

While using bale rings will reduce waste it increases costs due to bale ring purchase/wear&tear, and labor and/or equipment costs to move them. We use a three piece pin together 8' round bale feeder that is light enough weight that I can tip it up and roll them to the next bales by hand. If they freeze down they can be unpinned and usually be broken free. If I did not already own bale feeders, I would not probably buy any.

The key is to go out and pre-set all your bales and set up as many temporary cross fences as possible at your convenience. If set up and laid out properly it only takes me 30-45 minutes twice a week to pick up and reset a fence to feed cows on my ATV. I use polywire on geared reels, smooth round rod posts, a 2# hammer to drive posts, and a 12" pipe wrench to twist and pull posts out of the frozen ground.The amount of time needed shouldn't be a lot different for 50 head or 500 head. I have gone several weeks without needing to start a tractor or bale bed pickup to feed 160 cows.

If you like to sit in a cozy cab, burn expensive fuel, and work for your cows, bale grazing may not be for you.

But if you want to most likely lower your costs and have the cows work for you, give it a try.


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## hog987

Richardin52 said:


> Bale grazing works great and studies show there is little differents in loss over bales fed out of round bale feeders. The biggest improvement however was found to be in the amount of nutrients lost in feedlots as compared to bale grazing with the biggest defferents in the amount of nitrogen lost (80%) in feed yards over bale grazing.
> 
> That and the fuel saved, not having to spread manure, the carbon added to the soil from bale residue and the seeds droped makes this a far better method of feeding winter hay.
> 
> They also found that unrolling bales did a slightly better job of nutrients distribution over the field.


The one video study I watched got the results that you say but they also did a better job of manging the cattle than most guys I have seen bale graze in my area. I have seen guys turn out the cattle into the whole winter supply at once or put up an electric fence for a months supply


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## mlappin

I suppose a big part is what you're winters are like, ours typically go from froze hard as a rock to 6 inches of mud in no time. I could see it work rather well when it's froze, but i could see an excessive amount of hay being wasted when it's mud.

Another problem we've had in the past is the stronger boss cows will guard the bales and the timid or smaller cows suffer before the winter is over.

I've tried unrolling them as well, get enough rolled out so all of them can eat at once, you get too much waste, feed just enough so no waste, then the smaller ones go hungry.

Since the winter pasture gets planted back to row crops in the spring, can't tolerate any mounds of hay ground into the mud like we used to get with the round bale feeders. A person could spend a day trying to spread the wasted hay out enough so the ground could be chiseled and worked without leaving any planter breaking wads of wasted hay.

I've been very pleased with our vertical tub grinder so far. Every three days or so grind 2 round bales of hay and one of wrapped stalks, add some glycerin and corn fines from the grain cleaner and mix, run into the portable bunks we built and no waste and the boss cows can't run the smaller ones off as easy. Only takes a hundred horse tractor to run and only runs a few hours a week, three tops.

I placed to of the portable bunks in the steers summer pasture, started to get a little wet round one, feed in the other for awhile. At the end of the summer I had no feed on the ground and no mud either.


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## Tim/South

I would love to own a verticle tub grinder or TMR mixer. Wonder how many cows a person would have to own to justify buying one?

I am feeding straight brewers grain from a loader bucket, dumping into feed troughs. I can only imagine how nice it would be to be able to grind two rolls of hay and add brewers grain.


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## mlappin

We talked about buying one for years after I looked at the one my friend was using on his organic dairy.

I spent many a late night searching tractor house, fast line, on line auctions and even drove three hours each way up to Dorr Michigan to look at one that was coming up for auction. Then a local place called and they were just un hooking one they took in on trade. Was still heading home from Dorr when they called and no time to look at it that night, went there first thing in the am as they claimed to have already had several calls on it.

Took the check book and had it home before noon. Was in much better shape than either one I had looked at in Dorr and also sold for less than the ones had the day before.

Is a Jaylor 3650, which according to Jaylor requires less hp than the competitors similar sized twin screw vertical TMR's. Place I bought it from also gave me a spare spindle assembly the previous owner had in case of wheel bearing failure as well as all new knives and bolts.

We are feeding between 60 and 70 head of animals. Nothing better than seeing the calves coming up and eating along with mama a ground ration instead of seeing them hang back when we used round bale feeders. Also allows us to use the feed ally in the summer instead of turning a pasture into a knee deep mud hole during a wet spell from the use of round bale feeders. No more calf killing mud and I gained a pasture back to add to the rotation.

In the feed ally we have zero waste as before even trying to un roll the bales they would still manage to pull some back thru the head gates and drop it in the sh*t.

The hay savings alone will eventually pay for it, have zero waste with the wrapped corn stalks as well. Any stalks left over that they refuse to eat I scrape em up and dump em back in the TMR for reprocessing. Is much easier spreading manure as well without the clumps and wads of wasted hay or corn stalks as we use a side slinger and a big wad can plug the impeller and burn a couple of expensive belts.

Herd health is up and the calves are little porkers heading into winter.


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## jamesntexas

i didnt realize people were doing it like that but i dont see anything wrong with it.Seems you just have to have the right mix of hay and cow to be efficient. I sure dont blame anyone for doing it/anything the "lazy" way. If it works with less effort its the smart way.


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## Bgriffin856

Depends on location. Did that here cows would wade through 3-4 ft of snow in the winter and swimming through belly deep mud in fall and spring even if they had a whole field to roam and not a small area


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## prairie

Bgriffin856 said:


> Depends on location. Did that here cows would wade through 3-4 ft of snow in the winter and swimming through belly deep mud in fall and spring even if they had a whole field to roam and not a small area


Bale grazing was originally a Canadian practice that has been adopted by US cattleman. One of its benefits that the Canadians stress is its making feeding in deep snow areas easier and cheaper than other methods.


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## kjonesel

I have been unrolling my round bales this year. It was carryover hay from 2013 I would rate it as being fair in quality. My reason to unroll it was I have an abundance of hay, I have been unrolling it onto permanent pasture, and I was tired of fighting the mud around bale feeders. I decided 2 weeks ago to feed some of my best hay of 2015 (third cutting alfalfa and orchard grass) in round bale feeders as I thought I would have excessive waste. I went to put bales in this morning and after 2 weeks I have mud over a foot deep in the general area of the bale feeders. When I put bales in the next time I am going to unroll the good hay. I'm going to see if they will waste the good hay. I suspect they may clean it up well enough to make it worthwhile.

Where I have unrolled bales I realize that there are some clumps from the bottom of the bales that will need to be spread out next spring what have readers found to work the best? I have a 20' bar type drag harrow would it work or what about a chain harrow? I am interested in what other readers have found that works.


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## BrangusFeeder

I do a modified form of bale grazing if that is what it's called, I just call it my hay rotation plan - basically the same as rotational grazing, just move the cows more often and it works very well for my particular situation. I'm a small cow-calf producer and it is usually just me and whomever I pay to help and so I try to limit having to do that. First off, we don't get snow in Texas, but we do get mud and my 1978 tractor gets cranky often. I do a weekly hay feeding plan mostly to simplify things for myself, cut my time spent, and have back-up plans in place. The plan is designed to deal with utilizing my time available to put out hay efficiently. It might be dark or freezing cold by the time I get home and then ideally all I have to do is open a gate.

Each Saturday morning (when I'm not at "work") I go put 2 round bales in each pasture (have about 6 pastures I use for this and they are set up kinda like pie sections with ponds and wind breaks at the centers) and I remove the twine and then close the gates. I use a 4-bale buggy and truck to transport hay to the farthest pastures to save time and use the tractor for the fields closer to the hay trap. I always have some "emergency reserve" fields that have hay ready to go in them but I only will open up the gate if none left anywhere else.

Then every couple of days I just open up the next gate and of course they go right in. I usually give them cubes then too. This plan is good for me because you never know if the tractor will break down, the hay buggy will get a flat, and the road up to the back will be too muddy for the truck and all at the same time! When this happened I was still able to give them hay by walking up and opening the gate to my emergency reserve pasture pre-stocked with hay. If something comes up and I need to travel out of town a few days, I can have someone just go open a gate and it's not much trouble for them. I put a mineral block in each pasture near the hay and the loose minerals and protein tubs near the ponds that they always have access to so these don't ever have to be moved. It also makes it easier to count and safer for me to get a good look at each cow's condition regularly when I can watch each one file through the gate to get to their new food instead of them all crowding around me at once.



__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=341098226085590


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## bluefarmer

I feed in rings and move them every time I put in a bale, spread a coffee can of fescue seed around them and let the cows stomp it, works good


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## rjmoses

Every time I have left a bale sit on the ground, it has taken a looooooong time for the ground to recover. About three years ago, I left a bale sit in the area of my water hydrant. It was a high moisture bale and I thought that, rather than haul it to storage and back, I'd just feed it off early in the fall.

That ground is still bare, like it had been poisoned. Nothing grows there, not even weeds!

I would be worried that bale grazing would kill my forage crop and that I'd end up with these bare spots all over my field.

I wonder if it might work OK on sandier soil but not loam or heavy clay?

Ralph


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## ac6060

used to feed at one place, haul manure out to fields. been feeding bales in fields that need the fertility roll out one bale of baleage and set dry hay on end. they all get to eat the baleage at once with no waste and then eat the dry hay from the bales set on end. I have less waste from this than putting the bales in any kind of feeder, plus no hauling manure.


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## luke strawwalker

We've unrolled our bales on the Shiner place for DECADES. I take them out to the top of a hill or terraced section, set it down, cut the twine and pull it off, and then "pitch it" with the loader by raising it as a drive into it... get it rolling downhill and then chase it with the tractor and bump it with the front tire to keep it rolling... once it gets down to about a foot and a half to two feet in diameter (core) it wants to go UNDER the tractor tire instead of being bumped in front of it, so I get off and roll it out the rest of the way by hand/foot... (usually once you get it rolling you can walk along behind it and give it a good kick once in awhile and keep it rolling until it's all rolled out.) This is on sandy/loamy sand hilly land. It has some benefits-- first, it lets ALL the cows get equal access to the hay... the strong/lead cows will push the older/weaker cows away from a feeder or bale until they've had their fill, which isn't good in itself. Second, it spreads out the manure as someone else pointed out. Third, any seed grass in the hay will be spread out so it has the opportunity to sprout and grow later on if it's not eaten... Fourth, no huge wasted pile of hay where the ring was or the bale was set out, and no huge "mud ring" that the cows worked to a fare-thee-well with their hooves tussling around a feeder... Fifth, they seem to make better use of the hay... so long as you're not feeding too much or too often, they'll often come back repeatedly and clean up most of the hay before it ends up being laid upon, shat on, or peed on.

Now, when we quit row cropping and put this place in pasture/hay as well, there was a bit of a learning curve. The land here is practically pool-table flat, and a heavy black gumbo clay. It stays VERY wet in the winter, and my first attempts rolling out round bales were less than successful... For one, it's harder to get the bale rolling and keep it rolling on flat ground versus any type of incline. Second, the cows tended to lay on the hay and stuff, leading to a LOT more wasted hay than we'd seen on the sandier, drier soils at Shiner. Third, they didn't eat it as well because of it laying on the cold, wet ground, other animals bedding down on it, etc. Fourth, they'd stomp too much of it down into the mud, compounding the whole waste issue. I knew that bale rings had the same drawbacks basically I was seeing with the unrolling method that worked so well at Shiner on sandy hilly land but was less successful at Needville on the flat wet clay, because a neighbor of mine feeds in rings and he complained a lot about having "two feet of rotted, peed-on, pooped-on, laid-on hay in/around the rings at the end of the season (calves were getting into his rings as well). So I improvised... I had an old truck frame I turned into a hay hauling trailer that I don't really use much anymore, with heavy steel plate fenders over the dual wheels so the bales wouldn't rub. I experimented with using it as a feeder, by setting a round bale up on the trailer right over the axle. Works about as good as can be expected around here. The heavy steel fenders (channel iron and steel plate) keep the cows from getting TOO close and tearing up the bales too much prematurely, and keeps the hay up off the ground so it stays dry and more palatable. No peeing-pooping-laying on it since it's up off the ground, either. Still SOME waste due to cows grabbing a mouthful and stepping back with it, dragging it out onto the ground, and more tussling than I'd like to see with stronger cows pushing weaker ones away, and more hoof damage to the ground around the trailer, but that can't really be helped in this soil type anyway. I found that I can back my hay forks under the tongue, pick it up to grab a bolt under the trailer tongue, and pull it forward with the tractor to a new spot after I load a new bale on it... the loose hay under the trailer is picked up by the older cows while the lead cows tear into the new bale on the trailer, and it keeps the hoof damage/mudding to a minimum, and spreads the remaining wasted hay they pull out and end up stomping on, as well as the manure, so there's less mess to fix/clean up later... usually the grass comes through the remaining tracks and stomped-in hay just fine...

Later and best of luck! OL JR


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## MT hayer

There are a lot of good points brought up here. I have several things to type if I remember them all! First being that every area works different. As I read through this topic every one is saving time money or both. The end result is similar. Working hay ground and doing custom haying I have seen quite a few areas.

First off, to spread any old hay or residue, get a heavy spring harrow. It will not roll the old hay in to wads. They are designed to gather material but let it filter through at an even rate. I jumped on the wagon and bought some Aerway chain narrows because that is what you need. Bad Idea. They just roll material and make a mess.

Now I certainly agree with no feeders any more. We have used and I see people use them. You think you are time ahead but you aren't because you have to go and spread it out any way! I tend to agree with the lazy part. Part of what a cow man does is go out to check them. Sick ones and such.

The point of not having confinement I agree with. Eliminates the loader and manure spreading cost. Why not let the cows spread it? use the spring harrow once a year and have good results.

Another big thing is the feed itself. If you put up poor feed, they are going to waist it anyway! Do you like burnt toast? I have seen this time and time again. They complain about the waste, but won't miss an event in town!! Hay put up correctly, a cow won't waste much, rolled out. I have several pictures showing this. The cow is a huge tool in converting feed into energy we can use. If it is poor stuff, she can still walk, but starving because she can't extract enough out of it.

As far as feeding on hay ground, I only feed on it. We are expecting high production, you have to feed the ground. Manage the feed ground with the spring narrow then. more later...


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## BrangusFeeder

Hey ya'll, this morning when I woke up to this white stuff all over the ground and more of it coming down; I was so thankful that all I had to do was go open the field to they hay I had put out last weekend and had already taken the net off. I can't recommend it enough to put out as much hay as you can across your place (when its not raining or snowing) at once and then move the cows to the hay. Now tomorrow I have to start over and redistribute, but it should be warmer. I only do about a week at a time where I take the net off or it will start to fall apart.

I googled homemade pasture drags and got a basic design. I'm blessed with an abundance of broken down random stuff so it was easy to craft this with an old bumper, chains, and tires, and I did buy some bolt things with springy action.

https://www.facebook.com/RogersBrangus/photos/a.359083737620372.1073741830.332078626987550/359083820953697/?l=6ec4109bfd


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## BrangusFeeder

BTW, I have sandy loam soil on plains and I can tell where dad liked to put out hay for multiple scientific reasons: there are multiple shades of twine, some leftover hay or dead grass, manure everywhere, a can of beer or skoal and a tire or tractor part all near a brush pile.

I guess you do have to go back and clean it up sooner or later. I'm attempting the sooner method. The drag I made pulverized the manure and spread some leftover hay after a few passes but not all. That is somewhat okay with me because I put it in places the hogs dug up so I wanted some coastal left there anyway to see what it does.


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## deadmoose

Feral hogs? Man oh man. If only I could plan my vacation around shooting them. One day.


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## BrangusFeeder

Funny, I'm planning mine around not shooting them.


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## deadmoose

I can see your point. Good thing to visit. Bad thing if they follow you home.


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