No ruts with the ATV versus a heavy tractor compacting pasture soils. Even in muddy conditions unrolling hay is a breeze with a 700 lb four wheeler. Go to greenpasturesfarm.net for more info on the unroller.
Great system! And may I say how you raise your cattle shows in how relaxed and calm they are❤ Love what your doing and showing the world a better way!!!!
I just started farming two years ago. The first year I used bale rings and I started to this year and after a month of it I said forget this and bought a hay unroller for my tractor and I will not be going back to rings. The cows are happier and so am I. I don’t have enough cows to clean up a bale in a day so I unroll half a bale a day. Seeing the cows spread their own poop and pee while trampling grass and clover seed is a beautiful thing. Lol. People talk about the waste with unrolling. First off, once I figure out how much I need to feed daily, I have less waste and I am able to extend my hay vs giving them all the hay they can possibly eat. My cows are in good condition too. Secondly, what’s left over is not waste as it builds up the soil and it’s no more then what they would pick out and drop outside of the ring or leave in the ring. If you have 10 cows and unroll an entire 1000 pound bale at once, yes they are going to waste a bunch and your probably going to have some dead spots for awhile in your pastures. Figure out what they should have in a day and only feed that.
@@codyandbarbarakillingswort5546 When I have unrolled enough I just lift the bale up with the 3 pt hitch. I have fairly tight bales and it almost always just tears off when I lift it. The bale just sort of floats in position and doesn’t continue to spin anymore. With that being said, one time last winter my bull decided he was going to run behind the tractor and head butt the bale and he got it spinning and almost spun it all off. Lol. While only unrolling a half a bale at a time works and will be something I keep in the “toolbox”, I will probably now just go ahead and unroll the entire bale and just run electric polybraid over it halfway and just move the wire the next day so it’s just one trip with the tractor per bale instead of two.
Greg you are the man! I am rotating my sheep now because of you! I could watch animals move to grass all day! I guess I’ll have to settle for hay being rolled out for a few months!
Genius! Love your videos. Thanks for all you do. I literally know less than zero but you’ve saved me tens of thousands of dollars by convincing me I don’t need equipment.
Thanks, Greg. I've been following you for several years. I just started here on the Tube and just subscribed this morning. I'm looking forward to some more good tips. You've got some great content. I've got a little suggestion for you that will improve your bale unrolling. We unroll lots of them up here in Montana. If you'll hook up to the bale so that you unroll it the way it was rolled up (with the stems going down in the front) they will unroll better. You hooked up to this one backwards. It works that way, but the other way works better. Thanks again. Keep up the good work.
Hi Greg … it's just me again. I've been thinking about something, and may have misled you. We ALWAYS unroll alfalfa bales in the way they were rolled up, but in the case of grass hay (like the one you're feeding), we ALWAYS unroll them opposite from the way they were rolled (as you did). Sometimes nice fluffy grass bales will lay the hay down waaaaay too thick if they're unrolled the way they were baled ... about four turns of the bale and it's already gone, and all the cattle can't even get on it. I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, but just thought I should make myself a little clearer. Thanks again for all the good info.
@@kenovercast3335 He said this was alfalfa, but it was going backwards. Like you say grass or straw bales are much better rolled off backwards and if you need to, for the last half of the bale, you can turn around and re-position and feed the other direction to finish feeding. I realize this easier done with a Hydra bed than a four-wheeler feeder, but you wouldn't wear your hay out just dragging it around.
I could see that paying for itself for small operations, maybe a few head of cattle, sheep or horses, that have been feeding squares. They could unroll bits at a time, then reel it back up and put it under cover. With squares running 4 or 5 times the cost of rounds, that could be a real $$ saver. Good luck!
If you made a spot on the trailer tongue that could hold a sledgehammer to hammer the spikes in and make the winch mounting spot so it could accommodate an electric winch then you could open your market to elderly folks or people with younger children
How do you get the bale into the field? When you buy the bale does the farmer drop it in the field for you? I'm assuming you're storing them somewhere until you need it. Does the roller carry from the storage to the field?
Just curious if you ever buy soft core bales like from a claas baler? We have unrolled some by hand and after a couple rolls they just seem to fall apart in a big clump.
I need such a gadget to move hay bales in the winter for my horses. Just drop them on a pallet, not unroll them....and pull the equipment with a Polaris. I don't have a big enough tractor to do the job
I have a hay unroller that I use on the tractor and would not use anything else. I would like to have one of these for a 4 wheeler when it gets muddy but they are kind of pricey. I plan ahead now for wet weather and as I unroll I will leave a fourth or so of a roll and will put it on a small trailer that I pull with a four wheeler and take it to the cows. I then unroll by hand. This works well on smaller groups but kind of hard on larger groups.
I don't have enough animals to need one yet, but I'm gonna get my local fabricator to build one for next winter. I'll probably show him this video. He built a smoker trailer for the local tavern for 300$. I bet he could do one of these almost as nice, and a lot cheaper than Greg could ship one to Massachusetts.
Greg can you do a video or about free choice minerals? What you have in that awesome mineral feeder on skids please? I have jersey and angus and jerseys suffer from copper toxicity in their livers- making it extremely difficult to find mineral supplements I can safely use. Also where can we purchase loose minerals with out having to sell the farm to pay for shipping costs. Thank you !
Anyone keep hay like Greg does outdoors on logs with just the netting in a 50 inch rainfall region? It has been a very wet fall and winter here, I had some bales stacked on logs like Greg, and lost a lot of hay. I didnt realize how bad a little rip in the netting can be. The guy I bought it from said he loaded his truck with pallet forks. A good neighbor put me in touch with a nice old hay farmer who has hundreds of bales left that are higher quality and 5$ cheaper. He's bringing them by four at a time and I'm keeping them under a tarp until I use them.
If the netting gets torn, the bale will really spoil quickly. The other thing on the logs, we started using bigger diameter 8-9". Also putting the logs closer together. This keeps the entire bottom of the bale off the ground.
Question about backing that unroller. I can back a trailer just fine but Ive got a small 4x5 2w trailer that I cannot back to save my life. No rhyme or reason to the direction the backend of thing goes no matter what I'm doing w the steering. Are these unrollers the same, since it's short wheel base also?
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher I have a farm but it was retired 20+ years ago and I didn’t want to restore it because I remember how the whole place was nothing but a slop-hole 9 months out of the year. Between watching you and @justafewacresfarm, I think I am going to try regenerative farming in the very near future. Is there any likelihood of making a substantial living from it?
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher Thanks Greg. Great information. I have been thinking of doing this already and this video just validates what I was thinking.
I have 35 acres so not many animals. My question is can I only unroll part of a bale and then drive off without the rest of the bale just falling apart? I would only put out part of the bake for 3 days. Thank you.
