Need advice on Alfalfa

[foreman Etexas]

What I got is round bales of alfalfa and was thinking of a way of feeding to cows but I dont wont to put out the whole bale.I was thinking of of busting one up in the barn and have a way to grind it up,do you think a chipper would work to put in sacks or barrells to put in feeders?Kinda wont to do what a tube grinder does but on alot smaller scale.

 

[zzvyb6]

You can run a square baler stationary and feed sections of the round bale into it. If you have the time, run a long chute out of the square baler directly into the cow feeder(s). No need for twine then: just punch it through until you get enough. I have an old hay saw (look on eBay to see what one looks like) that works real good for cutting pie slice sections out of a round bale. Then just fork it into the square baler pickup.

In my experience, my Super Tomahawk shredder plugs when I put hay through it. Feed rate would be slow, too.

You can find videos on YouTube showing direct conversion of round bales into square bales, done by unrolling them. There is commercial machinery to do this, too.

 

[AKfish]

I'm guessing you're looking to feed those bales as cheaply as possible... Not interested in another piece of equipment.

Back in the day; I'd cut the twine off the round bales and unroll 'em right on the ground - push 'em along with the tractor until I had as much as I wanted to feed and cut (or tear) the strip of alfalfa from the rest of the bale. Grab the remaining bale with the loader and head for the barn.

Later on, we had one of those electro/hydraulic unrollers that mount on the rear of a pickup truck. It had two arms that articulated open to grab a bale at each end and lift it onto the bed of the truck. The end of the arms had small spears on rollers that held the bale and allowed it to roll along the ground and unravel the hay. Faster than a tractor, but generally limited to one bale at a time. With a little finesse, you could grab a bale and with the truck pointed a bit downhill, lower it next to the cab (careful of that back window) and pick up a 2nd bale.

AKfish

 

[foreman Etexas]

Yeah thought about a unroller but the thing is just wonna feed about a 100lbs every other day and was wonting to put it in the feeders. The down side is that from the barn to the field is alittle jog and didnt know if the bals would stay together or am I going to be dropping hay from the field to the barn after I cut the strings.

 

[sixdogs]

I have seen "bale slicers" that look like a big chain saw. Some were just reciprocating saw looking things. Maybe worth a search.

 

[AKfish]

Yeah thought about a unroller but the thing is just wonna feed about a 100lbs every other day and was wonting to put it in the feeders. The down side is that from the barn to the field is alittle jog and didnt know if the bals would stay together or am I going to be dropping hay from the field to the barn after I cut the strings.

Yeah, you might spread a bit of hay - here and there.. Guess you'd have to drop down a couple of gears and keep things below "warp four" at least!

If you keep the loose end of the bale on the top - you'll lose less hay.

AKfish

 

[DJ54]

I've used both and ensilage cutter, and hammer mill to grind hay for an old mare I had. Both belt driven... Maybe an older feed grinder, PTO driven would be more suitable for you.

I sat the round bales up on end, and unroll it, then fed into the mill. Had a double sacker, and a 50 lb. feed bag held about 35-40 lb. of ground hay.

It is a dusty process using the hammer mill..!!

 

[Smallplot]

What and how many are you feeding the hay to? Here is a thought, build a pen off to the side just big enough for a hay ring and animals to get around the ring. Have a gate on two sides with one into their pen that you can open/close to restrict a feeding schedule. If you are worried about the bale weathering, make a roof over the top to keep elements off the hay. at 100 pounds every two days a round bale would last about a month.

Another idea would build an enclosed three sided covered "barn" just slightly larger than a round bale and make feeding grates animals have to reach through to feed. When they cant reach the hay have the shed's rear open up and push the bale closer with the FEL. this would allow for quick clean out between feeder bales also.

 

[foreman Etexas]

What and how many are you feeding the hay to? Here is a thought, build a pen off to the side just big enough for a hay ring and animals to get around the ring. Have a gate on two sides with one into their pen that you can open/close to restrict a feeding schedule. If you are worried about the bale weathering, make a roof over the top to keep elements off the hay. at 100 pounds every two days a round bale would last about a month.

Another idea would build an enclosed three sided covered "barn" just slightly larger than a round bale and make feeding grates animals have to reach through to feed. When they cant reach the hay have the shed's rear open up and push the bale closer with the FEL. this would allow for quick clean out between feeder bales also.

I thought about that also,was just gonna start out on the 20 cows that we just took the calfs off. The thing is trying to keep certain few from fighting the others from eating in the pen.But this is what ill probaly end up building,a friend of mine is going to let me use his unroller and see how that works out.

 

[AKfish]

the 20 cows that we just took the calfs off.

Just back from SD. Most calves are just off the cows and weaned only a week or so.

Some guys are heading straight for the sale barn with 'em!

Bringin' upwards of $1.80-$1.85 a pound for 550-650 lb calves! Hardly ever seen anything like it... Used to be TOP DOLLAR was around the $1.15 point.

AKfish