Using A Round Bale Hay Net
Hay used to be cut, raked, and stacked by hand. This process was labor intensive but the only way farmers could feed their animals through the winter. Mechanized mowers began to make the task easier around 1930, and the baler was invented by the 1940s. Now huge round balers have cut the labor even farther, but the big bales have a few drawbacks which a round bale hay net can mitigate.
Cattle, horses, and sheep are grazers, so grass is their natural food. Goats, who prefer to browse on bushes and trees, will do fine on grass if they must. Today many of these animals are raised in confinement, where pasture is limited. Hay supplies the roughage that animals in stalls or paddocks need on a daily basis.
Winter also means limited pasture, since grasses go dormant and snow may make grazing impossible. The forage that these herd animals need to stay healthy is easily supplied with hay, which can make up 100% of their diet. Breeding stock, growing youngsters, dairy cows, and horses under heavy work may need grain supplementation.
These animals actually have to have forage to be healthy. Their stomachs need the roughage and are not really designed for heavy grain consumption. That means that almost every animal owner will be feeding hay at least part of the time. This is most easily done with large bales that the animals have access twenty-four seven.
Feeding large round bales makes life easier for those who care for these animals, but there are drawbacks to this system. Cattle which are being raised for meat can have hay before them all day and night. However, the economics of raising beef dictate that the amount of hay any one animal consumes be limited to what will translate into weight gain. Horses, in particular, may get too fat on unlimited hay.
Animals allowed free access to a large bale of hay will also waste a lot of it. As they pull out great mouthfuls, they drop what they can't chew on the ground. Then they trample it into the mud, defecate on it, and lie on it. As much as eighty percent of the hay can be wasted.
Putting a hay net around the bale solves both the problems of waste and over-eating. Having to pull the hay out through the small openings in the mesh means that an animal gets one mouthful at a time, not big clumps. There will be less dropped on the ground and wasted. The consumption is slowed, as well, since it takes more time and effort to get the hay out. The animal will eat less before getting satisfied.
This satiety will cause the animal to take a break from eating, which is more natural than gobbling as much as it can. When grazing, animals move around and eat a little here and a little there. All together, using a net means that hay can be available at all times, but the animals will eat less and waste less. This keeps the costs down and helps prevent too much weight gain in horses.
Cattle, horses, and sheep are grazers, so grass is their natural food. Goats, who prefer to browse on bushes and trees, will do fine on grass if they must. Today many of these animals are raised in confinement, where pasture is limited. Hay supplies the roughage that animals in stalls or paddocks need on a daily basis.
Winter also means limited pasture, since grasses go dormant and snow may make grazing impossible. The forage that these herd animals need to stay healthy is easily supplied with hay, which can make up 100% of their diet. Breeding stock, growing youngsters, dairy cows, and horses under heavy work may need grain supplementation.
These animals actually have to have forage to be healthy. Their stomachs need the roughage and are not really designed for heavy grain consumption. That means that almost every animal owner will be feeding hay at least part of the time. This is most easily done with large bales that the animals have access twenty-four seven.
Feeding large round bales makes life easier for those who care for these animals, but there are drawbacks to this system. Cattle which are being raised for meat can have hay before them all day and night. However, the economics of raising beef dictate that the amount of hay any one animal consumes be limited to what will translate into weight gain. Horses, in particular, may get too fat on unlimited hay.
Animals allowed free access to a large bale of hay will also waste a lot of it. As they pull out great mouthfuls, they drop what they can't chew on the ground. Then they trample it into the mud, defecate on it, and lie on it. As much as eighty percent of the hay can be wasted.
Putting a hay net around the bale solves both the problems of waste and over-eating. Having to pull the hay out through the small openings in the mesh means that an animal gets one mouthful at a time, not big clumps. There will be less dropped on the ground and wasted. The consumption is slowed, as well, since it takes more time and effort to get the hay out. The animal will eat less before getting satisfied.
This satiety will cause the animal to take a break from eating, which is more natural than gobbling as much as it can. When grazing, animals move around and eat a little here and a little there. All together, using a net means that hay can be available at all times, but the animals will eat less and waste less. This keeps the costs down and helps prevent too much weight gain in horses.
About the Author:
If you need a round bale hay net you can depend on, come to Hay Nets. To check out all the good things we have for you, visit us on the Web today at http://www.haynets.biz.
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