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Round Bale Hay Net Benefits

By Brenda Long


Hay used to be cut, raked, and stacked by hand. This process was labor intensive but the only way farmers could feed their animals through the winter. Mechanized mowers began to make the task easier around 1930, and the baler was invented by the 1940s. Now huge round balers have cut the labor even farther, but the big bales have a few drawbacks which a round bale hay net can mitigate.

Grazing is the natural way for cattle, horses, and sheep to get their food. Goats prefer to nibble on bushes and trees but can make do with grass if that's all there is. Many animals have pasture year-round, but others may never feed outside a paddock or a stall. These animals will need hay in bale or pellet form year round.

Winter also means limited pasture, since grasses go dormant and snow may make grazing impossible. The forage that these herd animals need to stay healthy is easily supplied with hay, which can make up 100% of their diet. Breeding stock, growing youngsters, dairy cows, and horses under heavy work may need grain supplementation.

These animals actually have to have forage to be healthy. Their stomachs need the roughage and are not really designed for heavy grain consumption. That means that almost every animal owner will be feeding hay at least part of the time. This is most easily done with large bales that the animals have access twenty-four seven.

Feeding large round bales makes life easier for those who care for these animals, but there are drawbacks to this system. Cattle which are being raised for meat can have hay before them all day and night. However, the economics of raising beef dictate that the amount of hay any one animal consumes be limited to what will translate into weight gain. Horses, in particular, may get too fat on unlimited hay.

Animals allowed free access to a large bale of hay will also waste a lot of it. As they pull out great mouthfuls, they drop what they can't chew on the ground. Then they trample it into the mud, defecate on it, and lie on it. As much as eighty percent of the hay can be wasted.

Nets solve both these problems. The small openings mean that an animal must nibble rather than grab at the hay. Less is taken each time, so less is dropped, reducing waste by as much as 80%. The hay will be eaten slowly rather than gobbled, which also helps the animals stop when they are full rather than endlessly eating. When raising beef cattle, for instance, the farmer wants an animal to eat only what it can use advantageously. If animals eat a little and then stop and move around, they are behaving more naturally.

This satiety will cause the animal to take a break from eating, which is more natural than gobbling as much as it can. When grazing, animals move around and eat a little here and a little there. All together, using a net means that hay can be available at all times, but the animals will eat less and waste less. This keeps the costs down and helps prevent too much weight gain in horses.




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By Brenda Long


Hay used to be cut, raked, and stacked by hand. This process was labor intensive but the only way farmers could feed their animals through the winter. Mechanized mowers began to make the task easier around 1930, and the baler was invented by the 1940s. Now huge round balers have cut the labor even farther, but the big bales have a few drawbacks which a round bale hay net can mitigate.

Grazing is the natural way for cattle, horses, and sheep to get their food. Goats prefer to nibble on bushes and trees but can make do with grass if that's all there is. Many animals have pasture year-round, but others may never feed outside a paddock or a stall. These animals will need hay in bale or pellet form year round.

Winter also means limited pasture, since grasses go dormant and snow may make grazing impossible. The forage that these herd animals need to stay healthy is easily supplied with hay, which can make up 100% of their diet. Breeding stock, growing youngsters, dairy cows, and horses under heavy work may need grain supplementation.

These animals actually have to have forage to be healthy. Their stomachs need the roughage and are not really designed for heavy grain consumption. That means that almost every animal owner will be feeding hay at least part of the time. This is most easily done with large bales that the animals have access twenty-four seven.

Feeding large round bales makes life easier for those who care for these animals, but there are drawbacks to this system. Cattle which are being raised for meat can have hay before them all day and night. However, the economics of raising beef dictate that the amount of hay any one animal consumes be limited to what will translate into weight gain. Horses, in particular, may get too fat on unlimited hay.

Animals allowed free access to a large bale of hay will also waste a lot of it. As they pull out great mouthfuls, they drop what they can't chew on the ground. Then they trample it into the mud, defecate on it, and lie on it. As much as eighty percent of the hay can be wasted.

Nets solve both these problems. The small openings mean that an animal must nibble rather than grab at the hay. Less is taken each time, so less is dropped, reducing waste by as much as 80%. The hay will be eaten slowly rather than gobbled, which also helps the animals stop when they are full rather than endlessly eating. When raising beef cattle, for instance, the farmer wants an animal to eat only what it can use advantageously. If animals eat a little and then stop and move around, they are behaving more naturally.

This satiety will cause the animal to take a break from eating, which is more natural than gobbling as much as it can. When grazing, animals move around and eat a little here and a little there. All together, using a net means that hay can be available at all times, but the animals will eat less and waste less. This keeps the costs down and helps prevent too much weight gain in horses.




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