Hey Carl, I finally got around to checking out your channel! You're doing really good work here, I like it!! It was good to meet you in Omaha last month.
Wow, I’m honored that you took the time to watch some of our videos! Congrats on busting through 200,000 subscribers, Zach! I’ve done my best to send some people your way. You are doing an amazing job!
i dont mean to be offtopic but does any of you know a tool to get back into an Instagram account? I stupidly forgot the account password. I would appreciate any help you can offer me.
I just found your video. I am extremely impressed with your verbal presentation! Complete, lucid sentences, informative and to the point. Very well done! Your ability to present your ideas, thoughts, etc. I would rate as A+. Go to the head of the class and keep up the great presentations.
Great content! I was actually wondering about this very topic not long ago. Now I know the answers. When I was a kid I had a summer job helping the neighbor stack those small bales on the trailer and then again into the barn. Brings back memories watching your channel. Good stuff here and thanks.
I know alot of people that store big round bales outside and they are just fine too plus you can store small square outside and cover them. Thanks for the video I enjoy your videos
Great explanation of the pros and cons on the different types of hay bales. The old analogy that nothing comes easy sure holds true bales of hay. Small bales are great but they are costly if you need a lot of them.
Thanks Sharleen! Your name make me think of the song “John Deere Green” by Joe Diffie. If you’ve never heard it you should look it up. You’ll have a good laugh I bet.
Love your channel. Just went back and rewatched this video. Im glad someone finally is talking about these differences. If you want to see some unique ways of feeding and using round hay bales for cattle you should check out Greg Judy's channel. He actually unrolls the hay bales across his pasture when he feeds them to his cattle. He also designed a light weight piece of equipment that hooks to an ATV so you don't rut out your field when unrolling in winter. Unrolling the bale does several things: it spreads out the cattle so their feces and urine is spread out more unlike a bale ring where grass will never grow again around it. It also spreads out the grass seed in the bale and adds carbon ( organic matter) to the soil as the cows trample and lay on the spent hay which will improve the pasture the next spring.
Thanks Cassidy! I have heard of Greg Judy. Sadly our winters are often too harsh to be able to utilize such a machine to roll out hay. The snow is often three feet deep out in the pastures. Our hay is fed in bale rings on cement so we can continue to keep it nice and clean and so we aren’t destroying grass as you mentioned. Maybe I should try unrolling some before the weather gets too bad this year...
@@dodgebrothersfarmandranch9206 unrolling before it gets too deep with snow and early in spring might be a good compromise. Greg is out in Missouri but different weather conditions can definitely effect how we all deal with feeding, moving and tending our animals. Our harshest weather here in S.W. Louisiana sctuslly comes at the height of summer when we regularly have temperatures that reach over 100° every day for weeks and have to worry about flooding and impending hurricanes washing everything away. we mainly have to focus on keeping our animals cool and providing them with plenty of shade and loads of cool water so they don't drop dead from dehydration. Everywhere has its farming challenges which is why I am always interested in seeing how farmers in other places around the world handle their specific challenges
Nice channel. I grew up on a small cattle farm. Ran 30 head of Black Anguish cattle. We went to round bales because it got to the point we couldn’t hire help to put up hay in the summer.
Also Square bales faster as you don't have to stop , wrap and lay an egg like a round bale needs but I see the expensive Vermeer round baler has solved that . Nice video 👍🏻🇨🇦
If you can’t get corn stalks dry enough before round baling them, be sure to stick a fence post into the center of each one, so you can make “stalksicles!”
As a child in the late 50's I hung around a small dairy farm that harvested its hay by hand. They had wide wooden rakes they formed windrows with and forked it loose up onto a horse drawn wagon where someone stood and piled it. At the barn they had a two tined fork also powered by a horse they used to raise the hay into the loft. There were openings in the loft floor they used to fork hay to the cows. They weren't Amish either. Just poor. By the way I grew up drinking that milk raw. I'm pushing 70 now. Just lucky I guess.
A friend of ours recently traveled to Germany with a small group from our area. They said they saw loose hay being put up in trucks with big cages on the back. Is that common?
@@dodgebrothersfarmandranch9206 Hi, maybe small farmers do that, or it was probably shredded mais for alternative energy plants or "Biogasanlagen". In my region, Lower Saxony near Oldenburg we do have small square bales, big square bales and round bales of dry hay and Silage round bales. Our region has a lot of moisture and it is difficult to keep it mold-free. In our horse farm, we do use small square bales and round bales, we don´t have machines to do hay ourselves so we buy it.
Very nice informative video We are just now trying to get into baleing hay to feed our horses and maybe sale a little too thanks for the info! Now a subscriber
Way back 40ish years ago when I had livestock we use to have hay cubes (alfalfa) out here in the west. They were roughly 2" x 2" and maybe 3" long. Are hay cubes still used? Seems like an efficient way to grid the hay and compress it.
Thanks for watching! Glad you learned something new. If you ever have any questions don’t hesitate to ask. A lot of my videos are made in response to viewer questions!
At our farm in NW Ohio. My dad and his brothers make big and small square bales. We collect the small bales with one of our 2 self propelled new holland stack wagons.
I live in southwest Michigan and have 4 horses and we feed round bales. 4x4 or 4x5 what ever is available and low cost. We store then in the barn. I put down a pallet if it's a 4x4 I can flip it by hand. If it's a 4x5 I have to use the skid loader. I put it on to the flat side, untie it and fill up the wheelbarrow, feeding this way minimizes wast. If I know it's going to be a bad heavy snow for more than a week I will set out a full round bale in the field.
Just got back from a trip through Ireland. They use large round bales and cover with tarps. I thought they said they keep the bales damp and let the bales decompose?
"Transportation is like a game of tetris " Wow , wow ,wow , that is the best definition i have ever heard !! Around here some people use also little round bales. For dry hay or can be wrapped in the baler for silage. Weight :+- 25 á30 kg , 50á60 pounds.
@@dodgebrothersfarmandranch9206 They aren't common here neither. To hard to grab them since they have a net-wrap instead of twine like little squares. I live in Belgium.
It’s all about shipping and what the buyers and shippers want. Here in Nevada allot of dairies buy hay in California so we put up large squares easier to load and ship tied down. Rounds don’t get enough tonnage to make trucks pay we keep our bales out we don’t have to many problems we high and dry here. Ya rounds are good if your feeding your own and your fields are close plus no Knotter problems like big and small balers rounds use net wrap or less twine to plus you can also if you have meadows you can roll them up and not put anything on and leave for free feeding.
Yeah that’s a real benefit of big squares. It’s like Tetris for loading trucks. I would really like one of those small square balers that ties 18 bales into one big square bale for handling with skid steers.
@@dodgebrothersfarmandranch9206 ya we have 3 string bales use a harrow bed and squeeze to move the in blocks or a retriever on a truck to haul the blocks of 72 bales around about five tons.
A couple of buddies and I made good money bucking and stacking hay when I was a teen... say 35 years ago. Hard work for sure, but we liked it and wished we could get more. Back then it was 25c a bale; I wonder what it is now.
I believe one of the biggest problems with our country today is there are not enough kids spending sweaty hours in hayloft anymore. When I hire youngsters to help load and unload square bales I pay them by the hour instead of by the bale. That way I don’t have to try to keep track of how many bales each kid carried when we have multiple kids working on a rack or in a hayloft. Also that allows them to get compensated for their time when we are moving between fields or hauling trailers long distances.
me personally I hate round bales because of all the plastic, give me small bales made with natural twine please! i think plastic is the biggest cause of pollution, i see it everywhere from the roadside to the middle of the pacific ocean. Thanks again Carl for another informative farm vlog!
I made the investment in bale tarp, not a cheap tarp, but well worth the investment. As long as you put bales on skids, it preserves both large round and square bales .
@@dodgebrothersfarmandranch9206 I tie the tarp down with bale twine down to the skids ..make sure to tie down most if not all of the holes/holds on the tarp. Never have the tarp blow off. Takes a bit of time initially but works great.
Can u make a video about the best secure way to transport. Speed , straps... thank you. Also, the best of round bales is as a producer we save money on fuel and service. Small square bales took a lot time, fuel and labor.
We large square bale all of our straw and then ship it down to New York State where they feed it to dairy cattle. For the value of selling the straw we can buy back what ever straw we need in round bales for half the price.
Thanks for the informative video, Carl. I grew up in Northern California and never saw a round bale until I came to the Midwest. I've been back to Northern California a few times in the last 40 years (not as many times as I would have liked) and I don't recall seeing round bales on those trips back home. Is that coincidence or is there a particular reason that round bales are scarce out west?
I know a lot of the super high quality hay that is made out west on irrigated land is shipped clear out here and it is most always large square bales. They are just easier to transport. They stack really nicely.
2 string[50-60lb] square and large round are popular in western WA and OR for "local hay" (often round is plastic wrapped) which is often considered low value. Round for alfalfa in eastern WA because the dairies are setup for feeding round bales. And most of the high quality hay and alfalfa transported from eastern WA to the west side is 3 string(about 120lb) square. Straw is equal chance of being 2 or 3 string square.
We always buy a few small squares every year to use around the corral.Can't find the help to do very many anymore. Love the big squares but when I'm baling its rounds. The poor mans way to put up hay in a hurry.
I live in Southwest Arkansas and noticed someone was baling dry corn stalks into round bales. What's up with that? Surely there isn't enought nutrition in dry corn stalks and seems like they would be hard to eat.
Small bales at 50 pounds? Only ones that light I've ever seen, we're too soft to handle and wouldn't stack! 16"×18"×48", weigh 80-85 lbs for grass or up to 120-140 lbs for clover or alfalfa. Good solid bales that stack nicely. That's how we do small bales😎 FYI, I hate small bales! 3×4 it 4×4x 8, weigh from 1275 to 1600 pounds for grass and up to 2000 pounds for clover or alfalfa. Stack and haul the best!! Rounds are too time consuming here and still need to be under roof, ya, they shed water, but we get more than they can take, been there... God video!!! BTW, the weights we do, is because we can and for speed and use of storage space.
@@dodgebrothersfarmandranch9206 Massey 1842 16"×18". Did the same with the many New Holland 16×18s before it... The inline makes a nicer bale thought 😎
How long are you making your bales? Mine are exactly twice as long as they are wide. My friend has a Massey 1839 and his alfalfa bales are only about 40-45 pounds and the strings are so tight you can barely get your fingers under them to pick up a bale. We must be getting our hay way too dry.
My question is storing wheatt husk in nylone bags of 600 lbs one after other in a proper shade and cover. The whwat husk should ve recovered for cattke as it conta8ns occassinal grain.
Dodge Brothers Farm and Ranch I’m not a farmer, so I know virtually nothing about this, but I thought it was interesting. There probably are some bad downsides to it or you would’ve heard of it if it even has been put on the market. Here’s a link to an article on if from several years ago: www.northernag.net/edible-bale-wrap-developed-to-reduce-farm-waste-and-save-cows/
big square great thing don't have to stop, you don't have to use entire bale when feeding, and they don't roll down the hill might roll once or twice on a really steep but not like a round bale where it rolls and is never seen again..
Good question! Most of our small bale customers are retired hobby farmers with a couple ponies or horses. They only want a 35-40LB bale because it is easier to carry.
That’s a great question! Assuming the following weights: Big round-1500 lbs Big square (3x3)-800 lbs Small square-50 lbs And assuming $150/ton for grass and $200/ton for alfalfa, the math works out like this: Big rounds $112-150/ bale Big squares $60-80/ bale Small squares $3.75-5/ bale It depends if it’s straight grass, straight alfalfa, or a blend. Alfalfa often sells for about $50/ton higher. It also depends on quality, moisture content, mold, etc. Also, squares tend to bring a bit higher price than rounds at the hay auction because they are easier to transport.
@@dodgebrothersfarmandranch9206 -Thanks for the reply. I'm just a town guy that was never on a farm and never thought about those things. Now I'm curious about the total costs involved in haying. Different sizes means different types and numbers of equipment needed, not just for baling but also for distributing the hay.
Well, we are doing it about as cheaply as you can. Here is my best guess at the value of the hay equipment we own: IH 1066 mowing tractor - $7,000 Oliver 1550 loader tractor - 3,700 John Deere 920 MoCo - $4,500 Kuhn SR110 speed rake - $4,500 John Deere 336 baler- $3,200 1995 Ford F-350 dually - $4,000 Case 1838 skid steer - $6,000 We hire custom operators to make round bales for $12-15 per bale. We rent a flatbed trailer that can haul 11 round bales at once for $1 per loaded mile. The custom rate for making big squares is around $9-10 per bale. There is also about $80 per acre in fertilizer cost. Don’t forget land rent and fuel. It’s not cheap.
We did have 8 but we lost one during calving season. Her calf was so deformed that they couldn’t even do a c-section. We had to take her to the butcher.
@@dodgebrothersfarmandranch9206 they won't survive a roll from the trailer, since they are not wrapped, just got some plastic twine around them. They are delivered by a farmer with a small old farm tractor and stored in the hayloft of the barn :) So no, we don't handle them by hand. But they can be pulled apart very easily, so there's no real advantage of buying smaller stuff for us :)
small square bales are easy to handle, hell when i was (briefly) into archery i got a small square bale to shoot into we ended up using it as fire starter fuel
I usually shoot at round bales when I’m practicing with my bow. Which is rare... My wife and I are in a couples archery league and the running joke is that it’s against the rules to practice outside of competition.
@@dodgebrothersfarmandranch9206 The Roto-Baler could produce bale sizes from 14” to 22” in diameter, and, depending on the size, could weigh from 40 to 100 pounds. that is from the wiki my hay bales are about 16-18 inches in diameter and worry about 50-55 pounds it all depends on condition if I'm going to make it bigger or smaller lighter or heavier ???
I’m gonna tell somebody you hay hauling pirate. It’ll be punishment enough if those round bales go flying off your trailer and you have to go corral them. One other thing the portability between 2 tie and 3 tie square bales is worth mentioning.
put the round bales on pallets! it saves a lot of hay!!! we put ours on 2 pallets high / almost no bottom rot! sure, its a little more work ... but we went thru A LOT of hassle to make the bale, why waste the hay ?!
You don't have to get off the loader. Our skid steer straddles the pallets. We are at 250 rounds on pallets. Rounds feed better outside for us. We still feed squares but prefer to do so inside. With our feeders we have much less waste with rounds. We use 4x4,4x5 and5x5 rounds. We feed sheep. I will feed squares outside if I have high numbers to use it.4 years ago we fed all large squares. Rounds are easier to find. Usually cheaper. We are getting them delivered for around 108 aton.
Round bales or not good for horses small square bales are the best way know how much and to who we have cover for the hay this is what we do I say no to round and no to big square
Mark Stegeman rounds work just fine for horses! Put a slow feed hay net and a feeder ring designed for horses and it works great! Place it under a cover or hay hut and it’s even better! If I had the machinery I would be feeding the large squares. Rounds are not available where I live or free choice grass would be what I would feed! Large squares can be flakes just like small squares and fed in hay nets! For less waste!
Biggest drawback of a small square and large square baler is. Its like your mother in law one moment she is nice and everything is perfect and the next day she is just a btch and everything is just not working
I have had my fair share of knotter issues. We had an old 24T that I fought one side for the longest time. The right side made a perfect knot and the left side only half tied. It looked ok until you picked the bale up and then it would break. Turned out the tucker finger was just slightly out of adjustment. It was letting the one string go before the billhook could get ahold of it.
