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Round Bales

4K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  PaintHorseMares 
#1 ·
My family and I are wondering how long it takes 3 to 4 horses to finish a round bale?
Thanks!
 
#2 ·
Depends on the horses :lol: How big are they? Breed? How much do they usually eat?
My tiny mare goes through a 4x5 bale a month.
 
#7 ·
We have a POA he is about 900 pounds i believe and he eats about half a bale, then we have a quarter horse who is around 1200 pounds and he eats more then half a bale less then a whole bale though, then we have a quarter horse\arabian mix and he is about 1000 pounds he eats around the same as the quarter horse.
 
#6 ·
About same here (may be little longer). I do feed square bales myself, but I helped at the farm feeding round bales.
 
#4 ·
It depends very much on the weather and time of year. For our 4 mares, in the summer when it's hot and there is a lot of pasture, a round bale (about 750+ lbs) can last up to 3 weeks. In the dead of winter when there is no grass and it's cold and wet, they'll eat it to the ground in 5-6 days.
 
#9 ·
A lot will depend on how good the hay is and how much waste you get. If you don't use a feeder, you'll have more waste. If you have a better quality hay, they will need to eat less and will not leave much waste.
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#10 ·
A lot will depend on how good the hay is and how much waste you get. If you don't use a feeder, you'll have more waste. If you have a better quality hay, they will need to eat less and will not leave much waste.
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One of the reasons I feed square bales. Even with those I have some waste. When I was boarding they unwrapped and trashed like 30% of the round bale. :? Lots, lots of waste.
 
#11 ·
If they're anything like our guys, one round bale will last about an hour haha.
Here's what happened...
Zippy unwrapped it
Max got in the middle of the unwrapped round bale and peed in it
Poppy took a nap in it
Zippy and Max both rolled in it
Zippy pawed it to death and thought it would be fun to disperse it around the 10acre field

Yeah we stick to square bales now. $75 bucks down the tubes haha well not really they had fun with it ~shrugs~
 
#14 ·
If you want to minimize waste with round bales, put the bale on a couple pallets to keep it off the ground, use a (horse) hay ring, and rake up any hay thrown out and toss it back in the ring everyday (for those horses that love to toss their hay around). Even in wet, muddy weather, we have very little waste and with 4 mares, round bales are almost a 50% cost savings over squares.
 
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