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  Discussion on Shapes and Sizes of Hay Bales
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Member:
mitma

Posted on Sunday, Mar 18, 2007 - 11:49 pm:

Dear HA friends,
I need advice about HAY size and shapes... specifically, the issue of LARGE ROUND BALES vs. LARGE SQUARE BALES vs. CONVENTIONAL SMALL RECTANGULAR BALES!!! Since I just returned to the horse world after a twenty year absence, I'm a bit behind on these issues. I did a search on our HA site and I've read all of the old posts, many dated prior to 2004, concerning the issues of botulism in large round bales, catastrophic dangers/injuries from round bale feeders, respiratory ailments from horses "not coming up/out for air" when foraging, etc... However, when you're trying to provide unlimited forage for SIX horses in an economical and efficient manner (you guys may remember that I have been "adopting" "unwanted", i.e., ex-PMU, horses for the past few months and now I have my own HERD...) is it possible that LARGE BALES have a role??? Also, does anyone know anything about LARGE SQUARE BALE feeders??? THANKS!!!
Martha
P.S., Dr. O... BTW, I tried to read the specific section on horse forages under nutrition and I could not access it... is that portion of the site having problems???
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Mar 19, 2007 - 6:23 am:

Hello Martha,
I just went to the article and it comes up normally. Try emptying your cache (temporary Internet files) out in your browser it could be it cached a corrupted page.

You will find most your questions answered there except those about large square bails, I have no experience with them. Could you describe them?

No matter how the hay is stored the same principles of judging suitability of hay still applies and this is explained in the article. But before you judge it's suitability for horses do you have a way of conveniently handling the heavier bales?
DrO
Member:
canter

Posted on Monday, Mar 19, 2007 - 8:05 am:

Hi Martha,
You may have read a post of mine from several years back expressing the same concerns about the large round bales. When I moved my mare to a new boarding situation a few years ago I noticed that the round bales were fed in the winter. The quality was OK, but not great and I was worried about botulism and the not coming up for air issues as well. Also, I wanted to make sure my horse was getting quality hay. My mare has now been at this farm for 3 winters and I can say that the issue no longer concerns me. The round bales are fed to provide "scratch factor" and something to munch on when there's no grazing. They are supplemented with high quality flakes of hay from normal bales several times during the day. As we approach spring, the round bales will be discontinued. My mare has thrived on this regimen, as has all the other horses at this barn. There are several older horses at this barn (3 that are around 30 years old) and none of the horses have had any breathing issues or otherwise. This barn moves the bales into the pastures as needed and the owner carefully watches everyone's weight. In one pasture, where there are 3 easy keepers, they don't put in the round bales at all.

I guess if I was paying for the hay myself, my one concern would be the amount of waste - there seems to be a lot that gets sleeped in and pooped on - but the barn owners are more concerned about keeping the horses happy and well than that particular issue.
Member:
hwood

Posted on Monday, Mar 19, 2007 - 8:42 am:

Fran, I still haven't overcome my fears of feeding round bales, though I am comforted by your experience. At our farm here, I am constantly pulling miles of synthetic twine from round bales that were fed out to cattle for years. The folks I see feeding round bales here, don't through good quality hay out with the round bales, so I think your barn managers are doing it right. I've been at a neighboring farm when round bales were delivered there . . . and the entire outside layer of the bale was slimy and black with yellow mold-balls growing on it . . . and the man who delivered it said that the horses would peel off the outside layer and only eat the good stuff in the middle . . . and so far . . . I don't think the barn owner has suffered any problems from feeding out those bales. Yes, the cost is MUCH less than the cost of regular square bales, and that is why most folks here choose to feed the round ones. Also, it cuts down their work load considerably.
Still, I prefer breaking apart the square bales and meeting out the hay to the individual horses or sets of horses . . . and I hope I will notice any foreign matter within the bales. Sometimes I figure that I must be really foolish to make the extra work for myself . . . and maybe, someday, I'll start considering the round bales . . . although it sounds as if it's optimal to feed them out in conjunction with good square bales. I also grain my guys to make sure they are getting what they need as the prairie grass hay in this area is low protein.
I will be interested to read and learn more on this topic. I am skeptical of round bale feeding to horses . . . but part of me wants to be convinced that it is better than feeding out square bales.
Member:
imogen

Posted on Monday, Mar 19, 2007 - 9:10 am:

I use both - small square traditional hay bales and plastic-wrapped round haylage bales - in a round feeder. Small square bales are easier to open and shift yourself. Round bales obviously you need a tractor. I think it just depends what is convenient. You need at least 4 horses to use round bales or they will go off before they are eaten. You have 6, but do you have a tractor and do you have suitable storage?

Small bales are a pain in the a*** to save correctly and to stack when you bring them in but they fit into smaller spaces. Always leave 2 inches air space between a small bale stack and any wall (our old buildings are stone...) or they will go off and put them on pallets to keep them off the floor or use a loft if you have one.

So if you have a tractor and suitable storage then I'd probably go for round bales. If you don't know how many horses you will be looking after next winter, and there is any issue with the storage space then I'd go for small bales.

Big square "4 x 4" bales need a special trailer usually to feed from (won't go in a round feeder) and usually require a loader or a large tractor to shift. They are becoming increasingly popular here but more for straw than for hay. I have never seen big square bales wrapped.

Best wishes

Imogen
Member:
mrose

Posted on Monday, Mar 19, 2007 - 9:30 am:

I much prefer the small bales. I can move them around by myself, and I am concerned about mold and other problems with the big bales. If you find a dead animal in a large bale, how much of it do you have to toss? With the small bales I can toss the whole bale and have only lost 60 to 110lbs. of hay.

The large rectangular bales, weighing about 1 ton each are becoming increasingly popular here, but they are mostly shipped out for cow feed. Like the 4'x 4' bales mentioned you have to have a tractor with a loader or a fork on it to move them around.
Member:
cheryl

Posted on Monday, Mar 19, 2007 - 9:39 am:

Just about all the hay in our area is put up in round bales. I buy ones that have been under cover - no outside damage - and we store them covered. I don't put out a bale - the horses get weighed amounts of hay at each feeding - I just put a bale on the side and use a pitch fork to peal off layers - which means I see anything that's in the hay - The hay so far has been consistently good and the horses are doing fine. My 29 yo TB eats off the open bale and we haven't had any breathing problems with her. I wish we could get the large squares - would be much easier to store and feed. I've found that feeding the rounds is much less work than feeding the small squares.
Cheryl
Member:
canter

Posted on Monday, Mar 19, 2007 - 10:19 am:

I hear you, Holly...the round bales really concerned me when I was considering this barn and I almost chose not to move my horse there because of them. I did forget to mention that all horses receive grain as well, in varying amounts depending on condition & work load. What swayed my opinion was those older horses. Of those 3, 2 are still in light work and when I went to check out the place, all three were in absolutely beautiful condition and kicking up their heels like much younger horses. Of the 3, 2 were hard working & successful show horses earlier in their lives. I figured if these, and the other horses living on the properly were maintained so well, the owners must be doing something right.

I think the key here - like with all things regarding horses - is keeping a close eye on things.
Member:
paardex

Posted on Monday, Mar 19, 2007 - 10:20 am:

I bought the large rectangular bales and stored them in a hayshed. Opened one at a time and took the hay in portions to the horses[much easier with the rectangular type then with the round ones]A lot of work and on a windy day hay all over the place but if no small bales were available good quality and cheap.
Jos
Member:
ajudson1

Posted on Monday, Mar 19, 2007 - 11:48 am:

Late last summer I got a call from a friend of a friend asking me if I wanted a couple of round bales. They wanted to get them off the field and were going by my house. It was very dry here so I knew they hadn't been rained out so I agreed to take 2. They rolled one into my feeding area and we put the other outside the fence where I could roll it in when the first was gone.

I covered the spare with a tarp and it then finally rained followed by extreme heat again. I rolled it into the feeding area about a week later and started peeling layers thinking just the top was moldy. It was junk all the way through almost like it had turned into sileage!

I spent hours loading it up a forkful at a time (Do you have any idea how MUCH HAY is in those things?!?!) to get rid of it so my horses could be back in the area which is where their water tank is. It in a huge pile in our woods and probably provided food and shelter for wildlife over the winter.

So not a very positive experience for me, I'll stick to my regular bales as long as possible.
Member:
sonoita

Posted on Monday, Mar 19, 2007 - 1:21 pm:

Well I prefer small square so I can store easy. But I have used the big squares also. I used my truck to move them around, flip or just to move around.. They are harder to put in a storage place but I did that too. I backed in and tied a rope on to the bale and the other end to a sturdy pole and just DrOve off. You will need a long bed. I have also used a wench. I put the whole bale in the pasture and kept it tied and the horses ate it like that. Never had any mold. But it was dry here at the time occasionly lite rain.
Happy Trails
Member:
mitma

Posted on Monday, Mar 19, 2007 - 4:41 pm:

You guys have given me so many things to consider and I really appreciate everyone's experiences and comments. Here's what I decided to do for now; I just ordered an O'Neill horse-safe large round bale feeder that is plastic without any sharp edges or bars or anything that I think will cause injury to the horses and then I'm going to try some of those large round bales of hay; I have just spoken to a broker who's bringing in a tractor trailer load of a timothy/orchard grass mix this week and the bales are supposed to be excellent quality, about 1000 lbs each, and have always been stored out of the elements, etc... This guy appears to be a reputable dealer, who, BTW, doesn't usually like to work with round bales because of liability issues and customer satisfaction, etc..., but he has another customer who uses large round bales exclusively, so he gets them for her and I can have the excess that she doesn't want, probably about 6-10 bales. This hay is coming out of ???New York and he says that it is FESCUE FREE. Meanwhile, I'm working on storage issues, but I think I've arranged enough space and I'm looking into one of those probe-like attachments for the tractor so we can handle/move the bales. Also, I am going to try one bale of another type of large bale hay, the novel LARGE SQUARE, which is really a large rectangle... (Dr. O, this bale is approximately 4' x 4' x ?8', though apparently there are others available that are smaller, say 3' x 3' x 6' and local people have stated that they are more popular in PA..) This bale is an ?orchard grass/clover mix, which is also supposed to be fescue free. I'm getting this from a different individual who has actually produced these bales (grown in the Shenandoah Valley area) and says he feeds this to all of his own horses, including broodmares. He also says that you can put a large square bale into a round bale feeder without much difficulty, but for an interesting site that sells large square bale feeders go to www.hirtech.com/Farmco/Index.htm and look at Model 610H. I spoke to a dealer locally who says they sell for almost $2000... YIKES!!! Meanwhile, the manufacturer of the large round bale feeder that I just purchased plans to produce a square bale feeder in the next year... I'll see how I like the round one first! And, finally, I'm NOT giving up the traditional smaller rectangular bales, but I plan to focus on getting things like alfalfa that way, so I can feed it more selectively, i.e, to the broodmares... Please continue to let me know about any further experiences and I will give you all some feedback after I perform this little experiment! Thanks!
Martha
Member:
mitma

Posted on Monday, Mar 19, 2007 - 4:50 pm:

Oh and Dr. O, I did successfully access the "Forage" section of HA nutrition and have printed your article... last night I was online at work, so it must have been the computer there that was the problem, because my home computer had no problems today. I realize that my thread would have probably been more appropriate in that section of nutrition, but, oh well... Thanks!
Martha
Member:
lzieman

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 20, 2007 - 9:40 pm:

Martha,

Just for future reference, the man is correct about the big rectangular bales fitting in a round bale feeder. That's what we've been doing all winter, and will probably continue to do. To help cut down on waste, twice a day I clean up poop around the feeder, and pick up the hay that I can tell has just recently been thrown out and put it back in. The hay we have is really good stuff, and the horses love it. It's easy to store, but obviously a tractor with a fork attachment is essential.
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