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We're in a drought here in the south of Iowa and northern Missouri. Pasture is short and so is the hay crop.There's been a lot of CRP and other weedy hay put up around here.

A client asked if a bale processor would pay for itself in better utilization of his hay supply? Opinions?

My biggest gripe in feeding round bales is the amount of waste that's involved. Despite the claims made, I've never found a hay ring that prevented waste. I have seen some farmers around here that use the method of unrolling the bales on the ground, and letting the cows eat that way. I guess if you have a lot of time, that would mean less waste.

I look for the easiest and most labor free way, and that means I feed my cows by putting the bales in hay rings and giving them access 24-7. I am pretty much on a schedule where I only have to haul out hay about once a week. I'm thinking that you're talking about the machines that chop up the hay and put into feed bunks. Never seen one in use around here, but if I had cows to feed and very little hay to do it with, I'd sure be looking for methods that would make my hay go as far as possible.

I guess North Arkansas is short of hay this year, and East Central where I live is below normal. A neighbor has been selling a lot of sorry hay to North Arkansas, with full disclosure, and they are grinding it and mixing feed. Has a standing order to bale everything that He can. Got some rain in the past few days and things are looking better with time for some growth. miles

We finally made some hay this year. First time in 3 years. We have always just rolled the round bales out on good packed down feed grounds and the cows seem to eat every bite. To me a processor is a waste of money that chews all the good stuff off the hay and turns it into dust and that cash would be better spent on more hay or have you tryed cow cake? We fed alot of cake the last few years and they did well on it also, but we also had good grazing up until the end of this winter. Maybe try some lick tubs? It blows ass to not have enough hay so i feel your pain. Hope it works out for ya!

Cowdoc, we use a Haybuster 2650 for chopping up old straw bales, bales that had a little too much moisture when baled(egg shaped), bales that the deer have eaten the core out of and are impossible to roll out with a pickup, weedy hay, etc..


And of course we also use it to feed regular ol' good bales as well.

We use it out in the open but have also used it a few times next to a feed bunk.


It really works well IMHO, especially with 'funky' bales and straw that would roll out too thick.

You can adjust the windrow thickness by speeding up or slowing down the tractor and or adjusting the conveyor speed. It's nice to be able to spread the cows out so they all get an even share.


And it will make poor quality feed more palatable for sure.


Whether or not it will pay for itself would depend on the number of bales and amount of cattle you are feeding.



But it is slower than using a bale bed on a pickup, especially when you are making multiple runs to the haystack. What works really slick is if you have two guys. One in the tractor and a guy in the bale bed.

You can haul two bales on the pickup, two in the processor and one in the grapple bucket. That's 5 bales in one trip....




To cut down on the dust(and there will be some...) I bought a piece of hallway 'rug' from the hardware store and bolted it on the deflector. Makes a big difference.






I also try and remove the net wrap from every bale if possible before chopping. You don't have to clean the 'rotor' and you don't have to worry about your cows eating any wrap.

It's a little bit of a pain in the ass but once you figure out a technique it only takes a few more minutes per bale. And you'll want to have it off before you get swarmed by the herd!

.

And, as my father told me his father told him about silos, the feed you get out can be no better than what you put in. Poor hay will not improve going through a bale grinder.

That is a great point Richard.

I should have stated that we use the processor to basically use up poor quality feed that is fed in addition to the good stuff.

You gotta take care of those cows!



Last year was uber drought and some guys were forced to scrimp on feed. They paid the price when it came to calving time.

Luckily we did just fine.

The old story Sam, you take care of the cows, and they will take care of you.

You know it!

Thanks for the replies.

I've heard from several guys that use processors that they think they eat poor quality forage better.

Sam, great idea in expanding the deflector. And you're right in cutting the net wrap off. Seems I post at least one cow a year that has a wad of the stuff obstructing her GI tract. Net wrap obstruction is now on my differential diagnosis list of cows with ADR ("ain't doin' right")

We got a general 0.2-0.4" of rain across our area yesterday. You can still lose your pliers in the cracks in the ground. Ponds are as low as they were in 1988.

Several years I sold a horse to the daughter of a friend of mine. A few months later, the horse got sick and died. Though they never contacted me directly, I heard through the grapevine that they thought I'd sold them a sick horse.

Then, their other horses started getting sick and dying. Turns out they were feeding hay that had been net wrapped, and weren't removing the wrap. The horses were eating the wrap with the hay, and it was slowly killing them.

I like wrapped hay, as far as how good it keeps, but hate feeding it. Cutting that wrap off dulls my pocket knife quicker than anything will, and I can never think to carry something else with me. I should buy a good blade and just keep in the tractor.

We carry an exacto knife in all of our tractors just for cutting off the net wrap. Honestly though, you can just grab the loose end of the wrap and peel it off the reverse way it went on and it doesn't take much more time than cutting it. Only gets tricky in the winter when it's frozen, but then again cutting off the frozen wrap is tough also. that's when you use the axe that's carried in the cab for winter feeding/water hole cutting

Oh yeah, I keep a couple utility knives handy at all times.


And a jumbo pack of replacement blades.


The best one yet is the Fatmax.

https://www.amazon.com/Stanley-10-7...sr=8-2&keywords=fatmax+utility+knife


At $8 it's a helluva lot cheaper than replacing a good pocket knife or Leatherman!

And it's grippy and easy to spot if you drop it.

I like the DeWalt mo' betta......

https://www.farmandfleet.com/products/955227-dewalt-retractable-utility-knife.html

being able to snap it on a ring is handy.....

Damn Don, I do believe you could castrate a T-Rex with that sonuvabitch......grin

the size is nice with gloves or choppers on.....

For sure.

I have another Stanley utility knife with a fairly wide string cutter or whatever they call the cutout.

Had to cover it up with electrical tape. Just wide enough to catch netwrap and made (quick)slicing a real pain in the ass.

I bought a demo Haybuster 2640 when I was in college.

Been using it ever since 2002.

Very little maintenance.


Originally the idea was that what ever hay you put into the processor would be utilized more efficiently.


There fore the cattle would consume less hay over a given winter.

I have not necessarily found that to be true. Cattle seem to eat the same number of bales whether rolled out or processed.


A hay processor WILL make crappy hay more palatable.

I know its not what you should do, but I have run moldy hay through my processor and the cows ate it all up. The white cloud behind the machine looked like we were on fire.


It gives you options.


I do think there is some loss in quality between rolled out and processed hay. I dont think its enough to really matter though.




What we are wanting to try is bale grazing in winter time......but that is a ways out yet.

Bale grazing?



I think it would take too many round bale feeders.....



And you know the cows would just pig out 24/7.