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feed ring wastage.

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In my opinion a 7' diameter ring is just not big enough for hay or haylage from a modern baler.We were all using 7' ring feeders 30+ years ago and todays bales must be at least 50% bigger , maybe double.
Didn’t no they made cow ring feeders that small mine are bigger than that

I
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
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In my opinion a 7' diameter ring is just not big enough for hay or haylage from a modern baler.We were all using 7' ring feeders 30+ years ago and todays bales must be at least 50% bigger , maybe double.
4’ 6” wrapped bales usually are?
I’ve baled 7ft straws and hays before but they are impossible to wrap unless you wrap them by hand!
 

Jason Brora

New Member
Have tried various ways to reduce waste, when feeding bales to cattle, and particularly sheep with mixed results.
Some points have already been mentioned, but certainly a smaller bale, and chopped for cattle helps, also leaving the net on, (obviously removing when finished..) waste is minimal with silage and hay, but is some straw loss, main problem here is the pathetic build quality, of so called 'heavy duty' feeders, sick of repairing them, so considering a trailer feeder, (view John L Watson Welding) also some good U S made feeders, with a cone suspended by chains inside, taller and much stronger, and look very efficient. As for sheep, they drive me nuts, tried making even smaller bales, in larger rings with diagonal bars, and net tied round half way up, a little better but not terribly successful. Trying to reduce waste, spoilage/contamination and maintain intakes important so I'm going to use my bedder/feeder and just fill more regularly, may seem to take longer, but if sheep perform better, that has to be a good thing, a lot of time can be spent cleaning feeders off several times through the feeding period, and reminants at the end of it... apologies for the epic post, my 1st post on a forum (previous was from the Mrs..)
 

Danllan

Member
Location
Sir Gar / Carms
Should also bear in mind that there's a fine line between reducing wastage and limiting intakes.

Too true, but it really is a bl**dy fine balance, especially before you've sorted out the doers from the rest!

4’ 6” wrapped bales usually are?
I’ve baled 7ft straws and hays before but they are impossible to wrap unless you wrap them by hand!

That sounds like the sort of sadistic enterprise my late father would have thought up! :eek:
 

Beames

Member
Location
South wales
I’m having trouble this year with the cows pulling the silage out of the feeders and then lying around them getting covered in muck. They’ve got straw in the shed to sit on but insist on lying by the feeders. Thinking about chopping all the bales next year as I’m fed up of seeing the wastage and cows covered in muck.
 

Forever Fendt

Member
Location
Derbyshire
I use these with zero waste 8ft long x about 5ft drop a chopped bale in the middle on its end and its a tight fit as they start eating it the bale falls away to each end the base is about 27" Screen Shot 2019-01-22 at 21.23.59.png high
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
7ft is there a baler that does them that big?
Welger rp520 I used years ago, it would do 6ft straws all day long and tie the net everytime, going to 7ft you had to stop sharply or it wouldn’t net it properly. Hell of a baler, 30kph behind 25ft combine (y)
 

tr250

Member
Location
Northants
Welger rp520 I used years ago, it would do 6ft straws all day long and tie the net everytime, going to 7ft you had to stop sharply or it wouldn’t net it properly. Hell of a baler, 30kph behind 25ft combine (y)
Yes we had a 520 bloody good baler they went up to 2m which is 6"6 that's why I asked as I've never seen another baler that could go bigger
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
Yes we had a 520 bloody good baler they went up to 2m which is 6"6 that's why I asked as I've never seen another baler that could go bigger
It was bloody tight and the net often didn’t go around it if you went full diameter, I thought it was 7’ but could’ve been 2m ? It was 11 years ago but I remember doing thousands of 6’ straw..
 
I tried chopped bales, there was much more wastage, not doing that again.

Making them clear it up properly before adding another bale has helped this year.
I’ve found chopping bales is better when it’s hayledge nearly hay type stuff

Chopped some second cut wettish bales in september and There a pain in the arse to get the net off
 

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Webinar: Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer 2024 -26th Sept

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On Thursday 26th September, we’re holding a webinar for farmers to go through the guidance, actions and detail for the expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer. This was planned for end of May, but had to be delayed due to the general election. We apologise about that.

Farming and Countryside Programme Director, Janet Hughes will be joined by policy leads working on SFI, and colleagues from the Rural Payment Agency and Catchment Sensitive Farming.

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