What do you do with round bale leftover?

[robbyr]

Over the last 8 or 9 years I have tried different ways of putting out round bales for the cows. The first few years I tried to keep using the same spot. Had a few spots but the idea was to mess up as little pasture as possible. Over time those spots just built enough and were nasty so I would use FEL and mound it up in a big pile. There would be a large unsightly pile for a year or two but it would decompose to a certain extent over time. Used some in a flower bed.
Then I decided to start putting bales out in different spots every time so it wouldn稚 get as nasty. But it messes up more pasture. Just wondering what other folks do with the leftover? Always thought if I had a manure spreader I could distribute it out over pasture.

 

[bunyip]

We pile it up and use it for compost or growing spuds in, just lay it in a row, scatter seed spuds and cover, as green comes through cover it up again.
When it finished it has composted a lot faster than being left on its own to rot down and will be full of worms too.

 

[Halftrack]

I assist the neighbor with haymaking duties every summer and occasionally with tending his beef herd. He has had to contend with the round bale remains from the round feeders and has a spreader, but even using that leaves a streak in the pasture field. Found a cheap 3 pt round bale unroller this fall and he has been very satisfied with unrolling a bale every 2 days and letting them clean it up. What they don't clean up blends in with the pasture and won't be a problem next summer. 800 to 1000 lb bales required him to use the 100 hp tractor but it has the cab.

 

[BlackOps]

man if i was closer I'd take for use in my garden and possibly the vineyards too.

 

[showcattle]

I used to feed in one area, pile up the leftovers, let it compost and spread it. Past four years, I've just moved my bale rings with every feeding. I may run the disc over it if need be, and broadcast some pasture seed, and call it good. By June, you can't even tell where I've fed, and it's a lot less work. Every year I use a new area, so that it spreads out the fertilization over time.

 

[robbyr]

I had a bale unroller on back of tractor but I never could get the hang of it. They would roll once or twice then slide. Ended up using forks on loader to push them and unroll them. Did that a few times but couldn’t tell they were cleaning it up any better so quit unrolling them.

 

[Masempine]

We have a big hill on north side of pasture which basically slopes gradually away from a chicken house. Weve always put round bales oot on the hill and grass grows back in spring. Messy now but cows dont seem to mind. Were still feeding outside hay so biggest mess is the ruts going into the fenced in hay storage area.

 

[EddieWalker]

I scoop it up with my loader and make a big pile of it. Then when I'm working on my land and I come across a "dead" area where nothing is growing, I dig that area up, spread the hay/manure around, and then smooth it all out. While time consuming, the results have been amazing!!!!