Hay ring vs unrolling.

[bsrfarms97]

I've noticed that feeding my cattle rolls of hay in hayrings I do have more waste. Un rolling hay when done on a regular schedule does waste less hay. A cow needs to consume between 25-30lbs of QUALITY dry matter a day (more if the quality is poor) to maintain healthy body weight. If you figure how much hay to unroll each day then your cows will clean it up and make less of a mess. Unrolling more than enough hay will cause a lot of waste. They will lay and make a mess of it.
I usually put my hay in a ring cause I don't have the time each day to unroll for my cattle. However during years of severe drought I will unroll hay to conserve. Even if you watch one cow at a hayring you will see her eat for approximately 45mins then leave after she eats enough to get full.

 

[kwall]

I agree with you 100%.

 

[japody]

Just had the last of my hay delivered yesterday. 182 rolls. That's a lot of unrolling!

 

[Jerry/MT]

The problems I have with rings is the cows and calves drag hay out and waste it and if you don't move the rings regualrly there is a big mess of trampled, wasted hay. Calves seem to waste the most hay so you don't want to over feed them. Our cows are pretty good at cleaning it all up when unrolled.

 

[kwall]

Just had the last of my hay delivered yesterday. 182 rolls. That's a lot of unrolling!

yep but if you want to conserve hay you would probably wouldn't have to unroll but about 150. As I said before I unroll when I'm short of hay. got plenty of rain this past year so I have got plenty of hay to feed so I'm using the rings

 

[D7E]

Just had the last of my hay delivered yesterday. 182 rolls. That's a lot of unrolling!

I just think back to the 1980's when we fed 360 cattle and 1600 sheep indoors with small square bales plus straw in small squares

 

[DavidBR]

Here is a photo of one pasture of the cows after being fed and unrolling 3 bales for them.







We unroll 42 rolls a week to feed and usually unroll 800-1,000 rolls a season.

 

[japody]

Here is a photo of one pasture of the cows after being fed and unrolling 3 bales for them.

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We unroll 42 rolls a week to feed and usually unroll 800-1,000 rolls a season.

Yup, that's pretty much how mine look.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Here is a photo of one pasture of the cows after being fed and unrolling 3 bales for them.

View attachment 350729

View attachment 350730

We unroll 42 rolls a week to feed and usually unroll 800-1,000 rolls a season.

Gosh I expected your pastures to still be green and productive in Mississippi! Your patures look like ours except we have snow on them! Thanks for the pictures.

 

[Grateful11]

I've only heard of unrolling when the cattle are in stanchions. Have a row on each side and unroll the bale between the two. Its easier then giving flakes of hay to each cow. Unrolling it outside would just be a waste. They will poop and lay on it. Rings are the most common up around here.

My wife and son unroll almost all of their round bales into stanchion feeders, about 60' of double-sided feeders between 2 feeders, 2 bales a day right now, that were used when the farm was a dairy. They waste very little hay. We've seen std. rings in pastures with what appears to be large amounts of wasted hay and slop around the rings. If one is feeding with rings I would go with the newer cone type ring feeders as the bottom catches most of what they drop and they can eat it later. They do have one 24' feeder on wheels with stanchions for feeding 5 to 6 bales at a time and right now is being used in the birthing area for soon to be mothers with about 2 bales in it.