It’s funny here in west texas 90% all we do is round bales. 2 strings squares are usually alfalfa which we flake off for horses. I put free range beardless wheat round bales in a feeder and also feed a grain ration mix feed. Usually take a 3 weight to around 7-8 in 5 months.
Look like you are feeding them good they are some beautiful Healthy animals. Those cows are happy for that fresh rain. Once the cows see that hay they will become more happier. Great Work! Thanks for sharing
I had an uncle that stood where you stood to start his tractor. Somehow it was left in gear and when started it pin him against a wall severely injuring him. Be safe my friend. I enjoy your well done videos. Thanks
Great job new to your channel thanks for the information we have a small Homestead in Louisiana nice to see how y’all work your place take care my friend
I always liked feeding square bales but I switched to round because they were easier to handle with a tractor and cheaper to purchase, plus I did not have to keep them in a dry barn. It just made sense here in Texas to feed round bales even though they do waste some. We put rings around the bales of course to help save the bale from being walked on and ruined by the cows and calves.
the horse has best of all cuz he goes where he want and eats as much he wants lol great video and love seeing the animals hugssssss from Ontario Canada
Tyler, I can't tell you how much I enjoy your videos. It's nice to have a friend all the way on the other side of a nation and to see a hard working young man. I would love to say you are my son! Thanks for another informative video for a non farmer!
Great video. Nice narration. The bales that sell are the ones you make. Here almost everyone makes big squares hoping for the export market. I'm the odd one out with my round bales but they work for me. Small squares are hard to find. Miss the little ones and the way you feel at the end of a day tossing them around. lol
Hey Tyler, great camera work again !!!!! That “old” Ford should be feeling really good with all new parts !!! She should start up right away every time now!! Thanks again, enjoy your weekend!!
That looks like some really good quality hay, I had bought a load of wheat grass hay last year and my cows wolfed it down in no time, I was really surprised. Its really fun seeing all the different ways of feeding people have across youtube, yet we all have the same end goal and we get there. Good Video Tyler, keep on keepin on!
That is a really good observation, we all have the same goals but different ways to get there! I just keep going back to the fact that the rest of the world makes round bales, there’s got to be a reason for that! Thanks Brenton
9,000 lbs hay per year per cow plus pasture/fodder. 225 bales if one bale is 40lb. We don't want anyone to starve and we don't want to be buying hay when we run out in beginning of March. So one cow gets 250 bales a year. 100 square bales per acre per cutting. Get 2.5 cuts per season. 350 square bales per acre per year. Four acres will yield 1,400 bales each year. That will support 6 cows and guarantee you have a remnant. 100 head will need 23,333 bales plus feed/pasture. So you'll need to hay 65 acres three times a year one of those times being a quick crop with a lower yield.
Round bales are king here in Missouri, however most folks I know still bale some of the two twine 80 pound square bales just in case they have a sick cow or bottle calf they're trying to wean. It is interesting to see the regional differences in "packaging" for lack of a better term. Round bales are easier to move and feed, not to mention it would cut down on one of your favorite jobs. . .cleaning out the barn!
Good video as always Tyler. Maybe if you want get some sort of grain ration for your calves. 5 to 7 lbs a day. They will grow like weeds. Nice hay you made Tyler. Take care
another good video! they have you trained well! they give you the look and you say ok here is your hay. lol i use 15-17% protein in the winter with free choice straw dry hay to eat. two 1000 lb bale at 15% moisture last 3 days with 10 cow/calves, 2 steers and a big bull. big black cows in cold climate take a lot of hay. lol
I use round rolls. I used to use hay rings but found there was too much wasted hay, and the cows couldn't all get to feed. Now I roll it out and the cows clean it up much better and they all can feed. I make my rolls big because I haven't been selling hay, just feeding my own animals. Now I'm getting older I am thinking of selling my cows and just doing hay for sale. If I do, I'll need to do surface wrap instead of twine because that is what people here want. THX for your video.
@@Framlife351 When I started, I just drove a rod through the center of the roll and used chains with hooks to pull the roll with my tractor. Now I have a roll attachment on my tractor. It works much better. I got it at Everything Attachments, no tax and free shipping.
Hank,the giant puppy dog 4 mayor of the calf corral, U go Hank! For efficiency the large alfalfa growers have probably switched 2 large square bales. U might need 2 do the same as Ben Veeser, bale small square bales 4 sale & round bales 4 your cattle, just a thought. U need 2 cut those nasty berry vines from the calve manger in your spare time. LOL Good video & explanation Tyler. 👍👍👍👏.
We got a Hank fan over here! The biggest draw for me to go to round bales is the fact that I could be totally self sufficient in regards to getting the hay out of the field and in the barn. So in other words, if I have to bale some small squares I may as well do it all in small squares. I still don’t know what to do!
@@farmertylerranch4399 Unless U have a lot of customers that demand round bales, U have all the equipment to continue the same method without going into debt for larger tractor with front end loader & a net wrap round baler..
@@ardurbin2 typical round bales are 4 x 4 (4' wide x 4' diameter), 4x5, 4x6, 5x5, 5x6. A 4x4 of the hay he is producing is probably 800-900 lbs (so, 8-9 of his square bales) . For a small operation w/small existing equipment, a 4x4 round baler would be more budget friendly and handling/stacking them would also be more suitable to his operation.....IMO. He's definitely going to lose storage capability vs square bales, but it's all one big calculation he will have to do to determine if the differences in waste and other losses, plus handling time and costs make it a worthwhile option. That said, the whole rest of the country is pretty much on round bales.....so it's safe to say a LOT of people have determined it's worth it. Everybody's case is different, though. A co-worker of mine produces high quality hay for horses, and round bales are out of the question for that market. Go square or go out of business.
We brought all our beef animals inside end of November here in the UK The weather has been so wet,, we used to feed ours on little bales of hay,,, now its big round bales,, faster,, cheaper,, less labour too... Great video,,, 👌👌
Haven't heard the word Manger since I was at school in Christian Doctrine or around Christmas time. I have not heard it used in a practical way as you do where you feed your cattle. You mention Manger the time you were fixing it as it needed repair. We call where we feed hay etc simply Hay feeders or grain feeders, interesting how different names are used. As we don't have sever cold and snow during winter we don't need the feeding set up as you need as our cattle winter out in our paddocks/ pastures. We feed hay as you do to our weaners while weaning then once weaned they go out into the paddock. We live down under so our seasons are the exact opposite to yours. All the best I enjoy you channel.
That's great the way you got it set up for them to eat. The calves will be the cows size before you know it, cause you feed them a lot. Nice Work, keep it going.
Hola from Mexico. I raise grass feed cattle. The only time I feed hay is when I first buy a cow and quarantine for a couple of weeks before adding to the herd.
Have you ever looked into just doing a feedlot for the steers with a silo or even an ag bag and just feed haylage or silage? And selling beef by the quarter half or wholes?
Hey Tyler another poignant topic and video. I have to say I wrestle with these exact issues throughout the year. Being mostly behind the power curve with my pastures, fighting weeds and berry bushes and keeping the ag water running etc, leads me to the choice of buying a significant amount of hay or reducing the size of my herd. Its always been a guess on what is to much / to little. My learning curve tends to be a bit vertical trying to balance all the issues you talked about and of course trying to make this operation sustainable. Your topics always give me food for thought. Thanks and I look forward to your next pearl.
@@farmertylerranch4399 tree cutting company. They charge $2 a yard south of Omaha . some times i can get it for free if they are cutting in the area.hope it helps . IT nice not to slip around trying to work cows.
G'day from Oz, would love that rain down here, were in drought here, i feed my cattle hay and silage and buy in water, any way like you video and just found your channel, good work :)
ai havent seen square bales ina long long tyme, then they was 80lbs. each, least ya got rain an not snow an freezin cold like ai got, thank ya fer the video jist subbed
How do you keep your hay from molding? I’m beginning my research for when I purchase my first bottle baby, I’ll be using her for hobby. She won’t be beef or milked. Just pure pleasure of owning a cow. Any and all advise welcomed
Its funny how we don't really have the round bales out this way....I often felt it was because the average size of ranches might be considered smaller. In Wyoming, they can have a 1 cow to 30 acres rule, where ours is closer to 1 cow to 2 acres. I realize you are irrigated, so....5 head to 1 acre? Oh......and thank the Lord we finally got rain! :D
Yeah in CA no two twine and no rounds... then you get out and that’s all you’re going to see! On irrigated ground I can do 1.5 pairs per acre. Looks like we’re really in for it this weekend!
Interesting to see how someone else feeds calves I live in a different part of the country and we use round bales and I try to feed them across the fence so I can regulate how much they eat and less waste. I see you have a lot to cover for rain and such I would like to do the same but we are usually dry so hasn’t been real necessarily. But it’s a goal.
Just too many factors to this question. You start with body condition going into winter, when they gonna calveout, how far they travel to feed and water. Then quality of feed, grain, straw. Weight of cows. These all have to be taken into consideration along with temperatures. Did this at feedlots I worked at and also my own cow herd. It figures to approximately 60 lbs for cows per day. Feeders at 35 lbs per day. Have fun 👍. Shure do miss those cows of mine.
I must say that I am totally enjoy your channel. Even though I have lived in WIS my whole life I have never been on a farm or ranch. I have never experienced having a bunch of large animals to care for & feed. I have never walked through all that mud & have never had straw & dirt & all that yucky stuff on my clothing. I have never had or ever will have plenty of money. My parents had an average size house & we pretty much lived pay check to pay check. So I lived a boring average life & still do in an average size city. But your life is always busy working on the ranch. When do you get to spend time with your family??
Dear Tyler, I'm Oka, from Indonesia. I absolutely enjoyed in watching your video, but, I have wondered about one thing in making of the hay proces. Sure, I need you to answer these questions, Are those grasses Fermented at the first time in their processing or not?. And how long days (months) those hay can be kept? Thank you for the answer.
Tread lightly before moving to round bales. The waste is incredible. We've yet to find a good feeding system to reduce waste. In fact, I showed up on your videos today as I was looking for ideas on building fence line mangers such as yours. It would require more work at hay season as squares are more labor intensive than the rounds and storage needs change also. However, the very minimal waste you experience is big $$$
Thanks for sharing your stories. We all have different reasons on how we do our farm chores. At the moment I do not have a barn so my hay supply is a combination of rounds and squares,. The hay I use is produced on my farm. My squares are trapped and the rounds are bailed with a bio degradable wrap which protects them from the elements.. I use round bail feeders that accommodate the round bails.. My square bails are fertilized, so I’ll add a couple of squares to the rounds so the cows completely finish off the whole thing. Your New Holland shouldn’t have any issues with the round bails.. New Holland utilizes the skid steer disconnect that makes adding attachments much easier.. managing a farm and a full time job is challenging. Once again thanks for sharing. God Bless
Your feed plan for the cows & calves sounds pretty good. If you pursue the round bale thing, a few things to remember is: be sure to keep the bale feeders moved around the feedlot, get a good bale spear or set of forks for the 3 point or upgrade to a loader with forks. I'm sure you'll research it well before going to round bales. I bale up the smaller 2 string square bales. They tend to weigh between 50 to 70 pounds depending on the material being baled up. Keep dry & stay safe.
Easy hualing it's the best bale for hay squeezes and trucks I'm up in northern California mountains and the only bales are small three twine and 3x4 big squares for dairy I did some round bales but they don't sell great because its different so it's mainly for feeding for feeding my own cattle they are alot easier to feed
I think the main thing about round bales for you is that you need machinery to handle it , at the moment you can manhandle those bales that you feed out, also it’s hard to keep records of how much each cow eats with round bales it’s always there to munch on
I use to only get squares for my horses but they are harder and harder to find, for a decent price. Im now using 4x5 rounds, some times 4x4 they are about 700 to 800 lb's the 4x4 are a little lighter I pay usually 45 to 50 per bale. I really like the rounds. for one we can leave them out, I tarp mine but they are fine just left out if they're wrapped tight . and they are easy to move with 2 people or a tractor or a car lol. I just pull one out and pick off what they need for the feeding. One round last about 3 weeks to a month per horse depending on the horse. I estimate one per horse per 3 weeks and add one extra. We live in northern BC Canada so when its cold they eat more. If your climate is warmer or if you blanket them they eat less.
What kinda of electric fence your running in bc ? .I have 2 calfs coming and I'm using an old horse pasture. Older style electric fence . Little worried lol
@@tidelybumsquish I would defiantly beef it up and run 4 or 5 lines of high tinsel. Horses are easy to keep in Pony's and mini's are more difficult and cows (calf's) even more so. I also have a winter area, when the snow gets deep enough to cover the bottom 2 lines, they come in. The winter area has 5' tall woven wire 2"x4" squares with an electric line running about 4" above that with post's every 8' with 2x4's top and bottom (to staple the wire to). Winter area is about 100' square for a horse a mini and a goat. I do let my horse out into the field when I'm home, only the top 2 wires are on at this point because of the snow, my horse at the withers is 5' so she isn't going to duck under a 3' high line ;)
I also know a guy with a bob cat, He comes and cleans out my winter area around mid Feb and some times March. It takes a long time for the field to dry out, after the snow melts, so I like to get the winter area clean and dry. My winter ground is filled with mixed rock 2' and smaller / down to course sand. about as firm as an old driveway, if that makes sense.
Id never seen three string bales til you baled. Around here its all rounds small squares are rare. Ita like ypu said what the market demands. The only advantagr i see besides tye extra labor is you wouldnt have to pur put hay as often. Thanks for sharing. So hanks basically your babysitter lol
Hi, Tyler I have a question on hoof management. With so many cattle how do you take care of their hoofs? Do you wait for symptoms or monthly inspection or some other way?
Well Doug to tell you the truth their hooves really don’t require any care with rare exceptions. I think that is something breeders have been selecting for because it’s really a non issue!
@@farmertylerranch4399 Hi Tyler. Do you find you have to deal with a lot of foot rot because of all the moisture? it seems like your area doesn't absorb the rain as fast as Alberta where I'm from.
@@farmertylerranch4399 round bales, yet it is for a very selfish reason, I no longer had to buck hay bales. Yet, the round bales did a few things for us. First, it did away with the manual bale handling. Second, it allowed for weekend trips a little easier, no one had to be setup to feed the cattle, an extra bale or two could be put out and the weekend trip could be had. The lack of the manual handling made it much easier for my grandfather. It allowed him to keep cattle longer in his life than if he would of been having to manually move the bales. The down side, when you were going to feed just a couple of cows, you had to break apart the bale. In addition, there is a little more waste than feeding square bales. The round bales we made were ~1,200-1,500lbs bales. Now days the balers have gotten nicer and you can get them in different sizes allowing you to find one that would make bales appropriate for the size you want. In addition you can get them from 60 lbs round bale up the the old hug 1,500+ lbs size bales. Anyway, the biggest advantage for us, was the elimination of the manual handling and allowing the tractor to do the work.
Intermountain West, seems to be running at 60% in favor of 4X4. Rolled bales account for most of the rest. Two twine are still around, but seem to be a specialty. Pretty much all alfalfa. The hay cycle is like watching a system breathe. It has a rhythm, it’s predictable and certain. Saw a number of semi trucks hauling big emerald green bales across southwest Wyoming today, wonder where they were going and at what price. Meh
Have you ever calculated your total input costs for one typical cow? Hay isn't cheap, neither is grain or vet bills and everything else. After a sale maybe $100 in profit?
