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North Central Missouri | Ben bring up a huge point that some often leave out and my be why your father is so inclined to unroll the hay. I've seen the difference. My grandfather (mom's side) was always the kind to use hay rings, while my father was always big on unrolling the hay to spread out the nutrients. While you can go in and use a loader and spreader to disperse the piles latter on it's really inefficient and you won't get all of it, a lot of it will remain right where you fed it and down the hill in a very concentrated spot. We have 2 forty's right next to each other, received the same commercial fertilizer for many years and both harvest one cutting of hay then used as pasture for fall. One forty we unroll hay over the winter the other one we typically have them shut out of so no hay unrolled. began doing things in this manner about 4 years ago. There is no comparison to the amount of hay harvested off of the pasture where the hay is unrolled each day. It out yeilded the other forty by nearly a ton to the acre.
We really try not to over feed the hay and that reduces waste a lot. We only feed approximately what they will clean up for one day. Unrolling hay for multiple days has shown to be a waste. Like ben said there is no crime in only unrolling part of a bale.
If I was feeding two groups in your situation with your father want to unroll hay and you wanting to feed in rings, do an experiment of your own, but keep in mind it may take a couple years to see how it all plays out.
My 2cents for what it's worth. | |
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Hay rings or roll out bale
