I've been madly trying to find hay in my area and repeatedly coming up blank. Either the provider is out or they don't deliver.
I'm down to four square bales for 3 horses. Meaning I need hay THIS WEEKEND.
* HALP PANICKING Y DIS ALWAYS HAPPEN.*
For one, I won't be here this weekend (YAY EVENTING) so I have to wrangle a trusty friend to assist.
For two, need delivered.
For three, can't break the bank. I work, but apparently not near enough.
There's square bale options but their cost is almost double what I found elsewhere.
Elsewhere being giant ass hay bales.
I didn't even know giant ass square bales existed, but this guy wants it gone. Selling 1000lb, 3x3x6 bales. There are flakes, approx 3x3 ft and 4 inches thick. For $55 ea. Delivers.
I tried imaging the size in comparison to reg small sq bales. Not working out.
I tried doing the math. I don't math well, but by my calculations it can make this last. A while. If I buy two.
Questions.
CAN you feed this to horses?? How? How do you break the flakes up even smaller? Have ANY of you fed giant ass square bales? How long do they last? How do you store it? What ARE these magical creatures??
Please help. Need to make a decision by tomorrow am.
At some point I will be buying round bales, but that will hae to wait for next paycheck.
Just trying to decide if I should fet 50 square at $200 or two big ass bales for 110 and it last allllmost the same amount of time. Almost.
Help help help help help
I'm trying to picture this, and all I'm getting is that it would be 8-10 of my 100-120# bales, which is a TACK ROOM FULL of hay.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm paying around $55 for two bales.
I have no useful comment but I think you just blew my mind.
I honestly can't even picture that. I've heard of round bales before, and as long as there's enough air and you have a place for storage or safe feeding... It's more for free-feeding vs. trying to break them up. Bales that size can mold quick and get hot if not stored correctly or fed quick enough... But sounds reeeeallly interesting!
ReplyDeleteI've seen those huge square bales but never fed them. Sorry mo help. But they are huge and i never understood how to feed them.
ReplyDeleteI've used them! You store them just like normal small bales, they're just giant. And the quality runs the gauntlet just like normal small bales. As for how you break them up, what I would do is pull one giant flake off and then you fold it over and "pull" to get the right sizes (the barn I had these at used to do about a third for each horse, depending).
ReplyDeleteAnd I found a picture for you!
https://scontent-a-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/s720x720/10565086_762990033759138_1681905466689467705_n.jpg?oh=0479e3e77af32cf251cfb95752c89f9b&oe=54B329C4
Wanted to clarify this, lest anyone thinks we're starving the horses... about 1/3 to 1/2 of the big bale flake was equivalent to 1 small flake. So most horses got around 2/3 of a flake each feeding.
DeleteWe used huge alfalfa square bales at school. Not possible to move yourself but they worked fine. Sort of like peeling it off of round bales and giving it, you could pull off flakes and split it or use a metal pitchfork and just pull off what you want. Totally doable if its the quality of hay you want.
ReplyDeleteUhhh.... I have NEVER seen such a thing!!! I didn't even know they existed. If the price by weight and the quality are comparable to what you've been getting I would go for it, especially if he delivers since those things look impossible to move. At least round bales roll lol. Good luck and I can't wait to hear how the ride on Steady goes!!!!
ReplyDeleteI've used them!!! Giant, and you need a forklift (or several burly men) to lift the thing, but it's o-KAY. Hard to break up into normal flake size- so we ended up weighing each portion so they were getting the right amounts. And it was messy.
ReplyDeleteStored as normal in a hayshed, but it took up the same amount of room as approx 8 square bales. But it was cheaper and worth the extra weighing work. With 3 horses it would be manageable. I was weighing hay for 16!
I've used them. For the storage we had, we preferred rounds because you can roll them out, but the squares worked fine, we also used the pitchfork method - messier to feed than small bales but doable!
ReplyDeleteI've seen them used primarily for cows or mulch, but you can certainly find high quality horse hay packed in large bales. However, at $55 a bale, I'd be a little leery of their quality. If you can go out and take a look at them first, I'd say go for it.
ReplyDeleteYes you can use these for horses! A flake should last your horse their night feed and late feed, and one flake should last them for the day from the morning. These are seriously awesome and that is a decent price. As long as they are stored inside!
ReplyDeleteone note if you do get them, for some magical unknown reason, if the strings are on the sides the flakes are easier to get off rather than when the strings are on top/bottom. Does that make sense? :P Meaning bale is on its side on the ground. Every winter I feed with these bales, so by trial and error have come across this handy little tip! :)
ReplyDelete