Round Bales..

I may move, and where I may go, the hay is almost all round bales.. For $100 you can get round bales of hay ranging from 900-1300 pounds, and for $12 you can get a 60 pound bale, everything is grass/alfalfa mix. But, the thing is.. I have one horse. Although I would probably have like a couple boarders (up to 5, but obviously not at first), they would be kept in stalls overnight most likely, but dry-lot turnout during day .. I would really like to be able to have round bales, because they cost way less, but I don't want the bale to mold .. What if the bale is kept under cover in a shelter while the horses munch on it? And, it would only be during the day when they have dry-lot turnout, they would have square bales during the night, I guess. Would it still mold, even if under a shelter, with about 4 horses on it for 8 hours or so a day? I am kind of confused here, what is the difference of being stored in a open hay barn and being eaten by horses while in an open shelter? There is not a shelter on the property we are most interested in, but, we would build one, and, there would only be one wall to block the big storm winds but to allow many horses to feel comfortable in it while eating hay. Opinions?

We feed round bales in the winter and my 3 horses will go through a large roll in a week and a half to two weeks...As far as storing and maintaining the roll. The only way it really molds is from rains and moisture, if kept dry it will maintain itself a lot longer. If you have it under a shelter where it's not getting wet and is protected from the elements it should hold up longer than it would otherwise. The only thing I would worry about would be if the horses start to go pee and poo near it and it soaks into the bottom, you wouldn't want them to eat that...

I have used round bales for years. I normally set them on end cut the netting and peal off what I wish to feed. Works well can keep an eye on what the hay is like control how much the horses get. Saves a lot of money too. Then I also have small bales for when the horses are in at night.

I refuse to use round bales no matter what. For whatever reason no matter how much money I chuck out we always have issues with getting moldy bales so I just said forget it. Last year I bought round bales from sixteen different people and they all had a good deal of mold. I now, only feed square bales. Granted I spend twice the amount of money I really don't care. I'm extremely particular about my hay and I just don't feel like dealing with what might be in a round bale. Apparently ppl in va can't bale a round bale worth a hoot.

I only feed square bales now sorry for the typo

900+ lbs of clean dry mixed grass hay for $30. Couldn't pass that up.

I just started feeding round bales this year. $55 for 900-1000 lbs, no mold that I've noticed, decent quality hay, my 2 go through a bale in about 2-3 weeks..

I probably won't feed during the summer unless I can cover it, but I'd still be concerned about the humidity causing mold.

*cough*

I pay $20 for a 1000 lb grass/alfalfa mixed bale...

Alfalfa squares, last time I bought/fed them cost me $2 a 100 lbs bale.

I have five horses on rounds (three full sized and two ponies) and the rounds last me about a week. When it is super cold out the bales go faster...

Oh and if we had a bigger tractor (use an old International M) we would be feeding the bigger bales my BIL makes. (averaging just shy of 2000 lbs). He specially makes us "baby bales" as he calls them. Finding bales around here that weigh less than 1500 lbs + (and are good quality) is not easy.

We can't be friends anymore. Not fair...mine are around $70 a bale of coastal.