Hay ring vs unrolling.

[japody]

We unroll ours. It allows all of the cows (50) access to the hay and they don't fight over it. The little ones also get to have a nibble. Very little waste.

 

[Soundguy]

full pasture access.. or controlled access thru a reach thru gate or?


If I unrolled hay.. my stupid cows would stand right on it and waste half of it by the time they got a mouthfull.. after going to the bathroom all over it 3 times...

 

[japody]

Full pasture access. There is little waste.

 

[Soundguy]

you must have very smart and orderly cows...

 

[japody]

Probably more hungry than smart!

 

[Soundguy]

geographically.. I'd guess much much colder.. thus more energy used for heating.. so yeah.. I'd say hunger and eating effiency may be a pretty good driving force vs where I am in florida.. though we did just barely get near freezing last night.. for a few hours.

 

[japody]

We also have some pastures with longhorn cattle. No way we could use hay rings with those horns.

 

[Soundguy]

We also have some pastures with longhorn cattle. No way we could use hay rings with those horns.

you probably could... I do.. my cows quickly learned how to turn their head sideways to get one horn in to get to the roll. in fact. if I gon't put a ring out.. my longhors will absolutely maul a roll. They will horn and spear it and turn it.. tear the netting off and everything.


lotsa damage for something without a full set of front teeth..

my larger angus are much more easier on the rolls. .. evenmore so than my horses...

ps.. you can get rings with no top bar.. just triangle dividers... keeps em from stepping on.. but an animal can pull head out and in fromthe top unobstructed.

lastly.. you can take old rings that are the 3 ring style.. and when the bottom ring rusts too much.. knock off the legs to that ring and make it a short 2 ringer.. and that still keeps them from stomping on it.

I use all 3...

 

[DavidBR]

As Others have said it is all dependent on your situation. Unrolling works good when you have lots of cattle in one pasture and lots of space so you can move where you unroll your hay around to minimize ruts and pasture damage. I feed 120 head of momma cows 6 bales every day and there is almost no waste. They are in different pastures of about 350 acres in each pasture and you always can find a clean place to feed hay. The only downside is it is very labor intensive. Tractor must be used every day and hay put out obviously, but the benefits of all cows being able to eat and keeping them out of belly deep mud around rings far outweigh the labor. For small groups of cattle I prefer hay cradles that elevate the hay off the ground to keep the hay dry as it sits out. It just all depends on your situation.

 

[kwall]

I will unroll hay when I have to conserve hay. I have only 25 mama cows, I only unroll about 1/3 a bale each day, they eat that up then go off and graze. If it seems they are not getting full then I will increase the amount the next day. If I unroll more than they can eat they will indeed lay in it but when I have plenty of hay I'll put it in rings. They eat about 125 rolls a season in the rings and about 100 when I unroll it.