Bale unrollers for filling ring feeders?

[MOG]

Now that more and more people are investing in bale unrollers I was wondering if there is a good option out there for filling feeder bunkers/ring feeders while mounted on the 3 point linkage. I don't have a telehandler and tractor would not be man enough for front loader mounted unit, especially considering terrain, so needs to be rear mounted but able to throw haylage into whatever feeders are out there. Any recommendations?

 

[davidroberts30]

why do you need to unroll a round bale into a round feeder?

 

[Dog Bowl]

What’s your main reason/driver behind wanting to unroll a round bale into a ring feeder as opposed to just dumping the whole thing in the feeder? I am all for a simple system and complicating this kind simple of thing just seems mad to me!

 

[Dman2]

For some of our younger stock
A whole bale is to much, so we try and share between 2 pens
It would be handy for us to have an unroller on the front of the Matbro

 

[le bon paysan]

What size tractor and loader do you have?
I've got a 70hp tractor and loader and its fitted with a bale unrolled.
Can be 3point linkage fitted too.

 

[MOG]

Mainly in the bunkers. I hate fing feeders and will not have anymore when the last ones have rusted out. But in the past I have lost a ewe and had several more trapped feeding whole bales in the bunkers. Also find there is FAR less waste if one bale is spread between 3 feeders each day, rather than sticking in 3 bales every 3 days. More work I know, hence wish to find a suitable tool to help. Plus unwinding a bale by hand on the spikes is not without some risk too. Eventual plan is to erect feed barrier inthe lambing shed rather than bunkers to any unroller will be used in that scenario too.

BTW I am thinking more of the Hustler type unroller than the spinning spikes on a loder type of yore.....

As an aside. Has anyone used the Hustler type for simply feeding a bles out by unrolling direct to the pasture? I see it in videos but the ground here is pretty wet and whenever I have unrolled a bale down a field I have only ever ended up with a long poached stripe and 3 years of Docks to show for it!

 

[Old Tip]

I have a simple unrolled and it works fine with dry bales but very wet ones you can’t really control how much drops off. Find def waste a lot less with the unroller and you can feed up just as quick. Will get a vid later if I get a chance

 

[sidjon]

Hustler works here very well, used 45litres of fuel to spread out 150 bales during the dry spell.

 

[Lazy Eric]

SGM engineering Bedale. N YORKSHIRE

 

[yellowbelly]

Intakes of unrolled bales (especially silage) are higher too.

When we first started making big bale silage in the 1970's the grass was cut one day and baled the next - this lead to very heavy, tight bales. In the first year one of our sheep customers was having trouble with housed ewes losing condition and dying. Lab tests could find nothing.

He bought a bale unroller and pens that were eating one bale a week suddenly were eating two bales a week - they were finding it too hard to pull out of a whole bale and would rather go and lay down and die than work at it

 

[Skintagain]

Intakes of unrolled bales (especially silage) are higher too.

When we first started making big bale silage in the 1970's the grass was cut one day and baled the next - this lead to very heavy, tight bales. In the first year one of our sheep customers was having trouble with housed ewes losing condition and dying. Lab tests could find nothing.

He bought a bale unroller and pens that were eating one bale a week suddenly were eating two bales a week - they were finding it too hard to pull out of a whole bale and would rather go and lay down and die than work at it

I have found this so I just get bales chopped by my contractor with half the knives in saves me buying an expensive unroller and messing about. Do these unrollers load themselves or do you have a secondary machine for that? Sorry for the ignorance.

 

[yellowbelly]

Do these unrollers load themselves or do you have a secondary machine for that?

We have to load ours, but we've had it donkey's years - I think some of these modern ones can load themselves.

 

[Andy84]

Anyone with the Hustler type unrollers feeding sheep what are the pros and cons compared to a ring feeder?

 

[simmy_bull]

Anyone with the Hustler type unrollers feeding sheep what are the pros and cons compared to a ring feeder?

Ah @yellowbelly ssid they’ll eat more. Is that a pro or a con?

I was manually unrolling mine off the spikes last lambing time to encourage intakes and it certainly worked.

 

[yellowbelly]

Ah @yellowbelly ssid they’ll eat more. Is that a pro or a con?

I think if it stops 'em dying you'd have to put it down as a 'pro'

 

[J428TGS]

i have a old cooks bale unroller it has quite a high side to it so on the 3pt on the back of the tractor it can feed into ring feeders no problem and thats been on a JD 2850 Case 4230 mf 3095 & 5455 all no bother done for years, I am actually wating on a demo Wessex machine so I can see if it is high enough an to go to a self loading machine

 

[Al R]

@henman

 

[P5691]

I have a hustler and can feed 120 suckers down barriers very quickly, also outside behind an electric fence works well as there is no waste.
Use it on Tele handler and 3 point linkage.
It allows me to ration what they get as I have a weigher on the handler.

 

[Old Tip]

I have one just like this mounted on the tractor loaded, as said it’s easy to unroll dry bales quite accurately but not as easy with wet ones

 

[Muck Spreader]

I have one just like this mounted on the tractor loaded, as said it’s easy to unroll dry bales quite accurately but not as easy with wet ones

We have the same (and the same problem with wet silage) which we can put on the loader or the back and use it most of the year. I see they have changed the design since we bought ours. The fist time we put it on the back and raised it up it buckled the ruddy mudguards on the tractor.