Round Bale feeders

divillybit

Just with regards to maintenance of bale unrollers, there's just 4 bearings that need a very occasional shot of grease. That's it.

divillybit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118224604#Comment_118224604

@Havenowt , did you buy that Hustler? I see its sold already

Havenowt

A few updates so it may help other people in future.

The Shed passageway is 12ft wide,

Bale unroller is approx 6.5ft so it should work.

Old lad isn't fussed about getting one, plus he has a practically new shear grab in the shed he would want to sell first.

We using a shear grab that he was got from retiring uncle.

I'm in the middle of house build so not going to be dropping €4k+ on one just yet.

Thanks for all the help and advice, I will up date the post when we get the bale unroller.

funkey_monkey

12' is wider than anything we have - our main shed is 8'. Total disaster to reverse down. 12' is luxury.

Havenowt

8 foot, you wouldn't want to be shook after a hard night.

funkey_monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118243028#Comment_118243028

Built a few decades ago with the viewpoint of passageways are wasted space.

divillybit

In a 12 foot passageway you might have 2.5 foot of space either side of the tractor. Thats not much, and there's lots of blind spots so you'd want to be stopping and feeding both sides of the passageway, then moving forward to the next span and feeding both sides so you get both sides of the passageway fed in one pass of the tractor through the shed. Otherwise you'd just be driving over the silage if you were to feed one side of the passageway in one go and then feed the other side of the passageway in one go.... So I think if you were using a bale unroller in a 12 foot passageway the main thing would be that your bales are very very well chopped to ensure you can feed both sides.

I've seen unchopped bales on our unroller being hard to feed out as I was rotating the bale in the same direction that it was made in the baler e.g. if the bale was being rotated anticlockwise as it was being made, and trying to feed it out turning it anticlockwise on the unroller. These would have been dry silage bales. You nearly be looking at what way the mesh comes off the bale to give an idea of how the bale was made to then know what is the best way to face the tractor so it will feed out.

wetter chopped silage usually feeds out fine. It's just the dry unchopped stuff that can be bother sometimes.

Sorry for the overly long post

twin_beacon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118208151#Comment_118208151

My dad, with 2 hip replacements would disagree.

We bought a bridgeway bale unwinder around 5 years ago, wouldn't be without. It was around €6.5k if I remember correctly. Some people will complain about the price, but its attached to tractor for 6 months of the year. They are not complicated machines, just keep them greased and oil on the chain and they will last a very long time.

I would not suggest putting it on the loader of a JD 6220, as the unwinders themselves are very heavy, you would be better off on the 3 point linkage. You must have 2 double acting spool valves, one for the machine, and one for the hydraulic top link thats is also required.

They take a little time to get used to them, but once you get into the swing of it, there is no looking back. Cattle get fresh silage every day. Our big issue was with cattle caving, we had to move them in and out of bays, so we couldn't leave bales in front of the feeders at times during the year, so we had lots of forking of silage.

divillybit

Adrian from the IfarmWefarm YouTube channel had a new Huster on demo and as he said himself, if he had it for longer he would be a better judge of how to use it more effectively but the bale splitter system works well for him and he's got a big pit of silage so the Huster isn't really needed. 4 year warranty on new ones. We're all bales here so an unroller does suit our set up.

https://youtu.be/cEo9A7jru3k

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118257975#Comment_118257975

Considering one of these machines.

How do you manage to remove the net and wrap and do you need the hydraulic top link?

SuperTortoise

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119913275#Comment_119913275

I'm sure there's better ways of doing it but the procedure i use is,

strip plastic, back prongs into bale , leave bale over the unwinder but don't drop it, unroll the net, leave bale down into unwinder, feed.

You could work our bridgeway without a hydraulic top link but honestly they can be got for 150 ish euro and they are as handy as a small pot, the only time my hydraulic top link comes off the tractor is maybe once a year when i use the powerbox.

older by the day

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118225908#Comment_118225908

Jayus that looks much work than throwing in a bale with a spike let them ate it, and spike another bale and push in what's left with that. When did farming gets so complicated

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119917993#Comment_119917993

Sounds like a good approach for relatively dry bales.

For wet bales I see some take the plastic off then put in on the unwinder and cut the net off the top the feed out and grab the half net from the fed out row.

I don’t like firing out a rake of full bales and then rooting at them with the loader. I think it’s time consuming and can add to waste.

grange mac

For wetter bales I use front loader in my trusty 995 which had barely enough hp to lift them 6 inches off ground. Then I do be shouting cattle to get back from the barrier as do be clean mad for fresh bales every few days.. Must have smart cattle as they do take notice of my constant shouting during feeding time 😂😂😂

twin_beacon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119913275#Comment_119913275

the way SuperTortoise described it is exactly how we do it. You will need the hydraulic top link alright.

divillybit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119918078#Comment_119918078

I know a few fellas locally that have bought bale unroller, and they all say they are a great job. But each to their own, if pushing in a bale with the spike works for you there's nothing wrong with that.

The bale unroller has been a good buy for our farm and there's great satisfaction seeing the round bale turned into the neat row of fresh silage laid out in front of the cattle with little or no graping to be done

SuperTortoise

The more bales you are feeding the easier it is to justify the price, we were feeding 300+ by hand, we used to stack 3 or 4 bales in the passage on their ends and grape it into them!

We tried backing the bales into the barrier but cows would pull in a heap of silage and you still had to grape in half the bale.

A splitter is'nt an option for us, you need to be able to back in perpendicular to the barrier to see the advantages of using a splitter.

Just out of interest did anyone price them lately? Have my one about 4 years, think i payed 4700 for it if memory serves.

KingPanko

I have a keenan diet feeder and it is terrible at bales and as far as I know there is no diet feeders much good at bales. Is there any easy way to feed bales into troughs like in the picture below? (Picture for an example from google, it is not my farm). Would any of the bale unwinders do it or any other ideas other than knock down the walls?

SuperTortoise

Bale unwinder would do that i'd say.

funkey_monkey

@KingPanko I've seen unwinders used on front end loaders. Need a strong tractor or preferably a tele handler to work it.

Also the 3pt linkage diet feeder that grass men showed.

What height is your barriers? Do you give TMR?

minerleague

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121504244#Comment_121504244

Mchale combination straw blower/silage feeder would work, expensive though

Cavanjack

Are you mixing meal with the silage and if not why bother with the feeder?

The fact you’ve a feeder you must have big enough scale so would you not be better with a pit?

divillybit

https://www.donedeal.ie/otherfarmmachinery-for-sale/bale-feeder-x10w-forager-bale-unroller/25075215

This kind of bale unroller would suit your set up nicely, as far as I know blaney agi are the only manufacturer that has a side extension option for a bale unroller.

Have a Hustler bale unroller and i wouldn't be without it

funkey_monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121504244#Comment_121504244

https://www.facebook.com/groups/199589990522015/permalink/1716572908823708/?sale_post_id=1716572908823708

MfMan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121504244#Comment_121504244

A bale shredder/ straw blower, with a slide at the side, should be manageable in a set-up like that.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119937509#Comment_119937509

It is still some saving if you can manage away without one. I use a two prong spike and split the bales in two using it. Easy enough do it. Spile at bottom to take off plastic and net and respike 1/2 of the way up to split the bale in two.

I am lucky as I only need feed one side of central passage as the north side if the shed is open that side of shed is fed from there

Passage is 13-14 feet wide so that makes it easier. The spike I use cost 250 euro about 6-7 years ago. It's a spareX one.

Anything with moving parts will require maintenance. However I would not want to be piking bales.

divillybit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121511512#Comment_121511512

That's true, I priced a new one and they are over 8 grand for a hustler but 2nd hand ones would be good value. There's little to no maintenance on them. 4 bearings that need a shot of grease. Your bales must be very very well chopped if they can be managed with a spike. But for our poorly chopped bales the bale unroller works great. It's been a great purchase.

dohc turbo2

Long time ago when the uncle was farming he has a 3pt linkage mast and tine grab, when I took over farm in 2014 it was parked up 10years at that stage I converted it to front loader, I've 2 x3bay sheds and I've bales but in and spread out in no time, only thing I've to do is cut bales and move plastic unless the young lad is around. Don't see myself investing in the modern machine, wouldn't be enough of a gain I feel