Well,
I would love to be able to put a round bale out for a group of horses, because they
are certainly cheaper to get. But I have a 50 horse boarding facility and
most of the horses are in individual stall/runs. So if I want to feed a
round bale, I have to unwind the hay, stuff it into a wheel barrow and wheel it
around and try to feed the correct amounts – a big PIA!
We’ve
been feeding big squares – easier since a slice is roughly equal to 4
small bale slices and they break in half fairly conveniently. But I’ve
lost my convenient big square source. I don’t want to do small
squares even though they’re easier to feed because it is a huge amount of
work to unload and stack 160 ton of hay each year!
So
we are considering trying to work with big round bales because I can get them,
they are cheaper, and we have the equipment to load and the barn to store
them. But what I’d like to find a solution to is a way to cut them
up. Someone has suggested a chain saw with vegetable oil in the oil
reservoir for the chain. We tried with our 16” saw and the bar is
just too short to keep from gunking up the saw with hay. We’re
going to try to find a 36” bar and chain to see if that helps.
Does
anyone have any other suggestions? Anyone ever done this with a chain saw
or other tool? Reasonable or more work than it’s worth and maybe we
should just suck it up and take 5 times as long to feed?
Our
other thought is to buy a semi and trailer and started hauling our own
hay! But that’s a bit pricey!
