Hay - round bale and small bale equiv?

[samamber]

I usually use normal long bales of hay for my lad, but just thinking about this bad weather we're due and considering getting a round bale to put in the field. That way, I'm hoping that it won't get as trod into the ground and will last longer than a couple of cuts will. I'm also hoping the lady who shares the field will go halves with me.

We can buy some round bales from the yard but I was wondering how many small bales would be roughly equivalent to a round bale? Anyone know? I've not used round bales before.

[KateD]

Hi Sam,

Not much help I know, but I started at my new livery yard in mid-September and bought a round bale then, and needed a new one about two weeks ago. That was filling two haynets a night - nothing to go in the field. The bale cost me £18.

[samamber]

Thanks for that Kate, that sounds good. The bales I'm looking at are £18 too. I normally pay about £3 per bale for the small bales and find that I need to give my lad about 3 cuts a night (he's a big boy) so it might work out cheaper buying a couple of round bales.

[jen1]

we make our own haylage round bales and small bales too, we have a super baler that packs about 20 bales of hay into one round bale, the normal size round bales,you would be looking at about 15,we sell our super bales at about £25 per bale

[samamber]

Thanks Jen, that makes it even better value as 15 normal size bales would cost me £45. It'll be ideal for the field and I can still get some smaller bales for the stable.

[big e]

my bales come very tightly packed in round bales and are probably 14-16 bales and cost £20 including delivery BUT unless you have a round hay feeder, alot of it gets wasted as they dig it out, wee on it and sleep on it and then don't eat it.

[lizzypeg]

id echo what big e said, unless you have a feeder ring then a lot gets wasted.
we put a round bale in with 5 ponies(3 are 14hh and 2 are 12hh) and it only lasts them half a week.

[dreamchaser]

I put a big round bale in a field of 3 native neverending eating natives and it lasts a week. It works out way cheaper than putting slices of hay out each day. Yes they do make a mess and leave some when they have trashed it. Put I rake it up and put it on the poo pile for removal.

Are the round metal hay feeders safe? I wondered if they would do damage when the herd leader is chasing the others off and they have to escape quickly???

[Diane with Sam & Jubilee]

I put a round bale out with my 3, in a ring feeder, and it lasts 4-5 days. If you keep moving the feeder round the field, you'll find it reseeds itself too.