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RE: [RC] round bales-anybody feeding? - heidiI feed rounds, especially in the winter. If the weather is bad, the horses have a constant supply of hay and I dont' have to face the Kansas winds to get food to them. I have a neighbor who puts up really good quality round bales. Even in the spring, the insides of the bales were fresh and green. Round bales get a bad rap from a lot of horse people, but I think it depends on where you get them. It's essential to get good hay. Some mold pretty quickly if they aren't put up right. We free-feed much of the time, and I really don't care whether we feed round bales or square bales. We don't put them in a feeder--just put them on high ground where it isn't soggy/muddy. We got rid of all of our heavy equipment--we pick up bales from the ranchers as we feed them, either one at a time in our old feed truck or three at a time on a hay trailer. We have two methods for unloading. Method #1 involves backing up to a tree or a solid post, putting a tow strap around the bale and hooking it to a rope LOW on the post, and then driving out from under it. (One does have to either have a break-away in the rope system, or back up to the bale and shove it a few inches to loosen the rope.) Alternately, with the bales on the trailer, we back up to the bales with the feed truck and use the same noose system, but just pull the bales off with the truck. The second method, which we only use for single bales, is to just back up and then put the brakes on--the bale will come zipping right out of the truck. Be careful not to use this method straight downhill on any significant incline with a round bale, though, because it will roll all the way to the bottom, taking out purtnear anything in its path. (As the country western song says, "Don't ask me how I know..." <g>) Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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