Round Bales vs Square and % loss

[akbullfighter]

If you had a choice to feed either round bales or small squares to your bulls, what would you feed? Lets say that time was not an issue. Also, what percentage of loss do you think you have when you feed big rounds?

[Leftlane]

I save enough money buying round bales vs small squares to cover the extra waste, but it isn't very high anyway.
Waste can also be cut buy improving storage, but that has not made it to the top of my list.

[T S]

i would much rather feed square bales , it seems to me that there is always a bull or two that will stand and eat till the round bale is gone and the next day they look like they have swallowed a round bale

[T S]

also i have discovered if you unroll the round bale you will not have hardly any waste at all , when i unroll them , you cant even tell where it was ever at

[Quarter "K"]

Can anybody tell me (Volume wise) how many square bales are in a large round bale?

[SoTxJim]

1700 lb. Round bale = around 24.5 small bales @ 70 lb's each. At 20 bucks a roll I make darn sure my Baler makes large rolls...lol:yikes:

[JbarV]

I unroll 5x6 round bales, usually my cows clean it up pretty good and wasted hay is minimal. If I get in a hurry and put out a bale without unrolling it, they tend to scatter it all over the pasture and it ends up being wasted.

[sonlight]

:Dwe feed squre bales to our bulls when it is season, it is better for us to monitor how much they get and round bales they unrool them for us, even in a hay ring, but during off season we put out round bales. we have one that is a esy keeper and likes hay better than feed.

[HGS]

Joel, STJ bales up his own hay or insists that they are extra large bales..... You are lucky to find a 1000 to 1200 pound round bales. So the number of square bales becomes deceptive. Since round bales are sold the price per bale you better really try to find out the weight of the bales. Sometimes those little 4X4s dont weigh 800 pounds. If you are paying by the bale to have them hauled, this can add up money wise... We have a hay spear on the back of our PU. If I am feeding hay everyday I just go along pushing off piles of hay for the number of head I am feeding. Very little hay loss... Depending how long the hay has been baled, how it is stored and the amount of rain fall that it gets is also an important factor.... I've got some hay baled last year that probably has about 60 inches of rain on it. I dont know what I will find when I break those bales open. Hope this helps, just me. HS

[j007]

I am putting up square bales can stack it to the roof in the barn so dont take up any room outside-dont need a tractor to move it and same deal I can handle it by myself.Easy to load the hay rack over the feed trough anything falls through ends up in the trough for most part very little waste. Of course we have winter grazing too so dont have to have alot of hay most years just supplement the grazing with it.