The Great Round Bale Experiment

When I was buying out square bales from the farmer in town, he had mentioned that he had some round bales of the same stuff that sold for 30% less per lb than the square bales. Round bales take less manpower and equipment to bale and move, so they're much cheaper than square ones. The biggest problem with buying round bales is that I have no tractor to move them. Once the hay man pushes them off the trailer, muscle and/or ingenuity is required to move them.

I bit the bullet and ordered 5 round bales to be delivered this Saturday. I think we can fit four of them under an overhang connected to the barn. The fifth will probably be rolled onto pallets and covered with a tarp. If it's kept covered and off the ground, there is minimal waste due to weather.

A lot of people just dump a round bale in the pasture and let the animals eat what they want. However, that can lead to a lot of waste. I'm told you can peel the layers of a round bale like an onion and feed a little at a time. We'll try that.

We (I really) also made the decision to switch to a different, and cheaper type of hay: coastal bermuda. It will save us a few hundred more dollars per year, so we're going to try it and see how the cows do. It is not that coastal is a poor hay, it just doesn't have as much nutrients and protein in it. Since we'll only be saving a little bit on feed costs, we can always switch back if we feel we need to.

DW is a little unsure about round bales, but trusts me enough to give it a try. I'm willing to put up with quite a bit of inconvenience to save 30%. Homesteading is a series of successes and failures. It's always interesting to see how each experiment turns out.