Bale Hood Round Bale Feeder

Bale Hood Round Bale Feeder HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Bale Handling (5) 19-6-6 Henry Pirok, Highland, Ill., got tired of watching his cattle waste hay with his conventional round bale feeders. He solved the problem by building his own "bale hook" feeder that uses steel hooks to keep the bale up off the floor. "Cattle reach up to eat the loose hay at the bottom of the bale instead of having to pull it out from the sides. It's a lot easier to eat and there's far less waste," says Pirok. The 7-ft. sq. feeder holds one bale and is built from 1 1/2 and 2-in. sq. steel tubing. It has slanted sides all the way around, with a gate on one side. The wooden floor - about 1 ft. off the ground - is surrounded by 8-in. high boards that keep hay from sliding out. Three L-shaped steel hooks are clamped onto the feeder about half way up - two on one side and the other one on the opposite side. Each hook extends inward about 1 ft. and up 6 about in. Pirok uses a front-end loader to drop the bale into the feeder. The hooks catch the bale and keep the bottom off the floor. As cattle reach through the slanted sides they're forced to reach up to eat the bale. Eventually, the center of the bale collapses inward onto the floor. "Cattle really like eating the loose hay and eat more of it," says Pirok. "I weighed the amount of hay my cattle were eating for a month before and a month after I started using my feeder and found that they ate 5 lbs. more per day with the feeder. As soon as cattle get their belly full they walk away from the feeder. They spend only about one third as much time at the feeder as before. My feeder holds a 1,600 to 2,000-lb. bale but I built a smaller one for my son-in-law that handles 1,000-lb. bales. My feeder is small enough that 450-lb. calves can reach the middle with no problems, yet big enough to handle a full-size bale. One feeder can handle 45 to 60 head of cattle. "I use a rake to clean out trash and weeds on the floor which has removable boards that can be turned over if they get dirty. The gate allows a forklift or skid steer loader to load the feeder and also comes in handy for raking out trash. I mounted two hooks on one side of the feeder to keep the bale level so that I can easily pull the spear out on my front-end loader. I also use the loader to move the feeder. I mounted skids on another model that I use in my pasture so that I can easily move it around." Sells for $949. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Henry Pirok, 11405 Lake Road, Highland, Ill. 62249 (ph 618 644-5853).

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