round bale question

[Anonymous-0]

I make small square bales, I have never made or used round bales. I know of a guy who has a farm, had some other guy round bale the fields for a few years. In 2006 the guy round baled the fields, left the hay on the field. Now last season 07 he never baled the hay. The bales are still sitting out there, rained on, snowed on, frozen to the ground, in summer humidity ect. I know the farm owner cant stand the bales being out there. I can most likley get them for free. Use my loader and trailer, no problem. But do you think that this hay will be any good, for beef cows of course. Maybe I can unwrap a bale and see how it is????? J

 

[keh]

Should be a lot of loss on the outside, but an inner core of good hay. Of course, the food value will be lower and you need to supplement with other high protein feed. Cows on the snow will appreciate it.

KEH

 

[2t2@IA]

I agree with KEH. When I had beef cattle, I had no inside storage for round bales. When I had left over bales, I would feed them the next year and the cows liked them just fine. Lower feed value, but I thought better than cornstalks, which I used, too. Cows liked hay best, cornstalks next, and soybean straw last.

 

[John H in Md]

Beef cows will pick thru it and eat the best. It will fill them up but you will need to get some protein into them. We always keep a lick tank in the field for free choice protein. Cheap hay can get kind of costly when you have to buy supplement.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Thanks guys. Not trying to be cheap here. Just thought I could sell some of my 1st and 2nd cut square stock, And get the rounds for the cows. My cows only get hay, grass and no grain. Salt with eddi, what ever that is and a red salt block , trace mineral lick. When they calf then they get some grain. But out side they only get hay,grass summer, hay all winter. Buy the way Im raising Herfords. Thanks jay

 

[IaGary]

There will be a little more spoilage than one year old hay but not much more.

Most hay holds its nutrients for 2 to 3 years.

I have fed 2 year old alfalfa grass mix bales many many times and have never given any supplements to my cattle just salt.

They all raise good calves and the only cows that I have lost are 17 plus years old that should have been sold but I thought I could get another calf out of them.

This is asuming that the hay was in good condition when it was baled.

2 year old hay is no problem to me.

Gary

 

[ny bill]

agree with ia gary, year old hay should still be good. from experience, if the hay was bromegrass, the quality may be not so good. the stems are hollow and work like straws so the water makes its way into the bale a lot faster than with other grasses.

 

[Anonymous-0]

This is mixed grass, timothy, orchard clover, some weeds most likley and reed canary grass. Hate the canary, Here in NY sometimes its so wet we cant cut until mid July or later, when were done it looks like straw its so coarse. Makes excellent bedding thought, and the bedding chopper chops it right up great.lol jinNY

 

[joe etx]

put one out and let cows sort it out.i start out every year with last years left over hay and then start with newer hay as winter comes on.if you get into it it works good,and less time in the cold.---- but i live in TX. after last years drought was not much carry over,so cows are eating every thing i but out this year and no mounds of left overs

 

[730 virgil]

i feed some round hay bales from 2005 in 2007 cows would pick thru it. they seemed to use little more of the lick barrels than normal but i couldn't tell any difference in the calves.
these bales were net wrapped not string. i think net wrapped shed water a little better.
i put net wrap straw bale in shed and barn this morning it was froze top 2 or 3 inches inside was dry.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Joe thats to bad. My friend sold 4000 small squares this fall, said there was a bad drought down south. Up here in NY guys think you are gonna have to unload a lot of beef because theres no hay or little hay. Then they think prices for beef will sky rocket! dunno Were getting 55 cents a lbs for 500-700 lbs beef heifers up here right now.

 

[Dairy Farmer in WI]

most likely the outside isn't real grat but most times the inside is still alright for the cows to eat. if ya got beef them things will eat anything anyway.
DF in WI

 

[RodinNS]

UNless they've been standing on end, they'll be fine. There will be about 3-4" of 'bark' on the outside. The inside will be as good as the day it was baled... so figure on a 30% dry matter loss for the outside crap and go with them. Beefers will eat them fine now if they'd eat them at all the day they were made.

Rod

 

[hayray]

That Canary on second cut sure is like lettuce, they love it. I know what ya mean, makes good straw, have baled it in October many times just for that. Check out a few of those bales first to make sure the guy baled them dry, no way of knowing if the insides are all mold or not. I am feeding 2 year old hay now that I am buying real cheap cause selling all my good hay. There is a easy 30 % spoilage.

 

[Texasmark]

I asked the same question about old hay and the ag dept said 2 year hay is as good as season hay in terms of nutrients.

Let the cows decide if they want it; you'd be surprised. Some of the raunchiest hay I have ever seen, years old,and used for erosion control, disappeared as soon as the cows had access to it...ate it like candy.

Give them a bag of two of supplements (20% cattle/breeder cubes) with it if you are worried about nourishment.

Mark

 

[rrlund]

Plain and simple,they will dry up and blow away in the wind before they will go bad.