Welding wire cattle panels to round bale feeders saves a lot of hay, says Robert Schum, Saint Meinrad, Ind., who modifies conventional round bale feed racks by welding 54-in. high wire panels onto the feeder rings and slanted bars.

"I have 20 of these modified bale racks on my cow-calf operation and they work great," says Schum. "I came up with the idea because I couldn't stand seeing hay go to waste. The wire panel extends 12 to 14 in. above the top ring. Cattle can't reach over the top of the wire panels and pull hay out like they can with the original feeder."

He starts out with standard 44-in. high, 8-ft. dia. steel feeders. He then tach welds the 16-ft. long, 54-in. high galvanized wire panel to the outside of the ring. He cuts out some of the wire panel between the slanted bars to leave two openings at each end of the bale that go all the way down to the ground. The full length opening keeps calves from getting their legs caught on anything when they step into the feeder.

"The wire panel design saves at least three fourths of the hay that would otherwise be wasted," says Schum. "One reason is that there are only four openings. The fewer openings, the less waste. The cattle don't have to all eat at one time but instead can take turns. I buy Red Brand heavy duty panels with 1/4-in. thick wires. It's a waste of money to buy cheaper panels with thinner wire. It's important to have six wires at the top spaced only 2 in. apart because they give the top of the feeder a lot of strength. It takes 25 ft. and 4 in. of panels to completely encircle the feeder. I overlap the panel ends 2 in. and then weld them together.

"The middle ring is 16 1/2 in. from the ground. I think that if it was higher -- say 23 in. or so -- it would save even more hay."

Schum made a 3-pt. boom that lets him lift the rack up by the top ring and lower it over the bale without ever leaving the tractor seat. The end of the boom is equipped with a triangle-shaped attachment and channel iron "catch brackets". The boom is raised or lowered by a 32-in. hydraulic cylinder and can be adjusted to a length of 8 ft. The back end of the boom mounts on a steel bracket that's clamped onto the tractor's rollbar. The bracket allows the boom to pivot up or down.