round bales vs. square bales

[slowzuki]

There should be references around for this stuff but:
1. Square bales without an automated handling system are labour intensive. Probably 5 to 1 vs round bales.

2. Square balers loose less leaves typically than round balers. Round baled hay has to be drier to prevent spoilage and you get more leave shatter during raking and baling. During storage, squares in most areas can't be stored outside so they have less spoilage loss. In our area, the loss in a round bale is up to 30% during outdoor storage.

3. Here we have a humid climate, I think something like 18% is max for squares, 14% for rounds? Can't remember exactly. You can do acid application to bale high moisture squares or you can wrap high moisture rounds and make baleage.

4. Square - in cool dry area, out of direct sunlight. Should not be against ground as the hay wicks moisture.
Round - store well inside, riskier as rounds more prone to heating since they aren't handled by hand to identify wet bales. Many store outside. In damp climates there is a lot of spoilage, you can't stack them uncovered here. They need to be single single file on their sides, not ends, butted together to shed rain.
5. Depends on the quality of hay.
6. Sheds, bale tarps etc
7. Feeders reduce loses by a lot, cattle will soil much of the hay when not used. Horses as well. Sheep waste a lot of round bales too without feeders. My sisters will climb on top of a bale and eat while urinating on the hay. They won't eat the hay that is soiled.
8. In general? Keep hay dry and out of sun, bale at correct moisture, use feeders, have a dry or built up area where your feeder is to prevent it from becoming a sinkhole.
9. Don't know, our animals have 2 daily feedings, some locals feed once a day. This is winter when the pastures aren't providing the feed.
10. Depends how you are set up. In a dairy barn, with aisles, a bale unroller makes round bales a snap. In a barn setup for squares they are a nightmare. For a few animals, squares are very handy with minimal waste and spoilage, now tractor required to move bales. We tried rounds for a few years, we're all done with them, the savings in labour at haying time is paid back in hassle of feeding and dry storage since our sheds are low and barn is built with a loft.

 

[Rara Avis]

Hello, im a student in West Virginia and im taking an agricultural class, and need some help, we are doing a paper on round bales v.s. square bales and i cant find the answers on other sites can you help me answer some questions?

1. Labor costs
2. losses of dry matter, energy and protien
3.percent moisture they should be baled at
4. how should they be stored
5. how well do cattle do when fed large round bales free choice
6. how can you cover them
7. do you need a round bale feeder? why or why not? how do losses compare for ring or nonring feeding?
8. how can i reduce losses
9. how often should cows be fed
10. how is feeding round bales compared to square bales?

if you can help with any of these questions I would be very glad. Thanks

-Jamie

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[leonz]

Hello, im a student in West Virginia and im taking an agricultural class, and need some help, we are doing a paper on round bales v.s. square bales and i cant find the answers on other sites can you help me answer some questions?

1. Labor costs
2. losses of dry matter, energy and protien
3.percent moisture they should be baled at
4. how should they be stored
5. how well do cattle do when fed large round bales free choice
6. how can you cover them
7. do you need a round bale feeder? why or why not? how do losses compare for ring or nonring feeding?
8. how can i reduce losses
9. how often should cows be fed
10. how is feeding round bales compared to square bales?

if you can help with any of these questions I would be very glad. Thanks

-Jamie

What you should do is narrow your search and compare the round mini bales versus the standard rectangular hay bale.

1. the labor cost issue cannot really be broken down unless you have the
total amout of labor required to-

a. maintain the hay crop with weed killers , fertilizer, insect control, forage
testing.

b. at harvest its the decision on how many crops may be taken during the
season which is dependent on the crop itself and how the crop is
responding to the weather with regard to drought or excess rain
affecting the crop and flooding/drowning the roots.


c. the time required to- cut, windrow, and bale the crop and transport it to
storage and store it, adding more time when the crop is rained on and
has to be tedded to dry it.

d. I dont remember what the recommended moisture percentage is for
baling "dry" haylage.

2. every time hay is left too long for baling it loses food value; T.D.N. for
any ruminant animal.

3. hay should be stored under cover if the hay is not wrapped or tarped
with good tarps and tarp anchors. white bale wrap reduces the in bale
temperature and reduces damage from mice and rats.

4. the use of feeders reduces the trampling of good hay and the loss from
being trampled by the animals.

5. wrapping hay saves the nutritional value and reduces spoilage to a
minimum and it eliminates the need to break open bale with a chain saw
if left out.

6. feeding schedules depend on the breed of the ruminant, number of
milkings per day, animal numbers-meaning head count.



The mini baler has earned its place in the hay field for small growers as hay can be harvested quickly, baled and wrapped with a very small tractor in europe they use two wheel tractors to make hay on hill side farms that are very steep.

The round bale large or small should be stored on its end to eliminate sagging of the bale while under storage.

The small round baler can save hay in my opinion as you will have less go to waste from trampling if a round feeder is not used or if a round feeder is used the amount of feed used and reduce any waste to the minimum.

Any straw used for bedding will stay in good condition as well with no wet straw for feeding or bedding.

Granted there will be more bales but they are mini marshmallows and can be light when baled to reduce back strain or use a loader bucket to carry them
to a wagon or to the end of a field. and stored there.

my thoughts anyway

 

[Duffster]

What you should do is narrow your search and compare the round mini bales versus the standard rectangular hay bale.

1. the labor cost issue cannot really be broken down unless you have the
total amout of labor required to-

a. maintain the hay crop with weed killers , fertilizer, insect control, forage
testing.

b. at harvest its the decision on how many crops may be taken during the
season which is dependent on the crop itself and how the crop is
responding to the weather with regard to drought or excess rain
affecting the crop and flooding/drowning the roots.


c. the time required to- cut, windrow, and bale the crop and transport it to
storage and store it, adding more time when the crop is rained on and
has to be tedded to dry it.

d. I dont remember what the recommended moisture percentage is for
baling "dry" haylage.

2. every time hay is left too long for baling it loses food value; T.D.N. for
any ruminant animal.

3. hay should be stored under cover if the hay is not wrapped or tarped
with good tarps and tarp anchors. white bale wrap reduces the in bale
temperature and reduces damage from mice and rats.

4. the use of feeders reduces the trampling of good hay and the loss from
being trampled by the animals.

5. wrapping hay saves the nutritional value and reduces spoilage to a
minimum and it eliminates the need to break open bale with a chain saw
if left out.

6. feeding schedules depend on the breed of the ruminant, number of
milkings per day, animal numbers-meaning head count.



The mini baler has earned its place in the hay field for small growers as hay can be harvested quickly, baled and wrapped with a very small tractor in europe they use two wheel tractors to make hay on hill side farms that are very steep.

The round bale large or small should be stored on its end to eliminate sagging of the bale while under storage.

The small round baler can save hay in my opinion as you will have less go to waste from trampling if a round feeder is not used or if a round feeder is used the amount of feed used and reduce any waste to the minimum.

Any straw used for bedding will stay in good condition as well with no wet straw for feeding or bedding.

Granted there will be more bales but they are mini marshmallows and can be light when baled to reduce back strain or use a loader bucket to carry them
to a wagon or to the end of a field. and stored there.

my thoughts anyway

Wouldn't most of these variables be the same no matter the type of bale used to make it?

 

[Dedaisy]

I've moved from small square bales to both round bales and large square bales for my horses (8 - 5 draft and 3 lights) about 4 years ago. I getting old and I can manage these bales easier using my tractors and minimum physical effort. I also moved to two large covered hay feeders on skids and letting the horse free range on about 14 acres. Each feeder is moved after bale consumption about fifty feet and the previous area is chain harrow to breakup any waste and manure. Every thing is done with tractors and no additional help. Because of the cost of these bales, horses can eat all that they want. I do use 200 small sq. bales a year for emergency and isolation situations. Large Sq. bales are easier to storage (3 to 4 ) high but must be kept dry. Round bales breath better but it does depend on hard or soft core. Unfortunately, storage usually needs to change - hard to uses hay lofts.. I've moved to pony walled storage buildings for hay. But the main driving force is the cost. It can be 20 to 50% cheaper this way. Also finding Round or Large sq. bales that have been processed right is a big concern. By the way, my horses are primarily rescue horses..

 

[Dedaisy]

any thoughts on using balers with preservative spray (Large sq. balers)? Moisture monitors..etc..

 

[Duffster]

any thoughts on using balers with preservative spray (Large sq. balers)? Moisture monitors..etc..

We use preserve on large squares. No moisture monitor but the pressure sensors more or less tell you the same thing.

We couldn't make hay without acid. But at a point plastic becomes cheaper.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

There should be references around for this stuff but:

7. Feeders reduce loses by a lot, cattle will soil much of the hay when not used. Horses as well. Sheep waste a lot of round bales too without feeders. My sisters will climb on top of a bale and eat while urinating on the hay. They won't eat the hay that is soiled.
.

So are your sisters bohemian vegetarians?:laughing:
Rick

 

[leonz]

Wouldn't most of these variables be the same no matter the type of bale used to make it?

Not really because you are looking two to four seasons down the road for T.D.N. for the ruminants and the values are never the same because of inflation.

Hay made into mini-bales reduces spoilage and controls the volume with no
variations. the bale is wrapped and sealed and then flipped on its end to store it.

You can make a lot of dryed, very dense, round mini bales and wrap them with plastic and use preservative and they become a silo that is dry and does not leak or allow moisture damage.

you could set up a feedrr to use one mini bale per animal and you have the advantage of knowing how many bales you have fed out and one bale bper animal allows you know immediatly how much feed you are using every day.

The light wieght of the mini balers allows you harvest hay that was cut and late from rain and dryed on the hay that is still growing with small tractors to avoid problems with tractors that are to heavy.

The use of a mini bailer allows the baling of hay on wet ground with lighter sub compact tractors and haying equipment cutting small sections of hay and baling it quickly as you are working an drying hay in a very dense area of work and you will not lose any of the hay either.

it will take you a bit longer but you will be able to get the hay off the wet ground and not lose it and also have the advantage of using a sub compact tractor and avoiding issues dealing with wet ground as the pounds per square inch of the smaller machine and a sub compact with 4 wheel drive will win the job and save T.D. N., AND you avoid using a chain saw to get to good feed if there is any left in the big round or square bale if it is frozen.




dont forget a cylinder has more volume area than a rectangular cube.

 

[slowzuki]

I can drive across wetter ground with my 100 hp 4wd than my 50 hp compact. The small front tires on compacts cut through wet sod like crazy. I can't see how mini round bales help in any way except marketing mini straw bales to city folk.

How do you handle them? Small squares have all kinds of handling options.