Round Bale unroller

obi604

Hi

What do ye make of these round bale unrollers?
From a casual search it’s seems ‘Hustler’ and ‘Nugent’ seem to be popular.

Would be used on a tractor with no front loader.

Reggie.

obi604 wrote: »

Hi

What do ye make of these round bale unrollers?
From a casual search it’s seems ‘Hustler’ and ‘Nugent’ seem to be popular.

Would be used on a tractor with no front loader.

Dont know much about them but a dealer in longford seem to be selling plenty of them

Omallep2

obi604 wrote: »

Hi

What do ye make of these round bale unrollers?
From a casual search it’s seems ‘Hustler’ and ‘Nugent’ seem to be popular.

Would be used on a tractor with no front loader.

I have a Mchale splitter on the back and its a great job. Neighbour had an unroller and moved to Mchale splitter and wouldn't go back. Splitter more forgiven for different DM content of bales also

obi604

Omallep2 wrote: »

I have a Mchale splitter on the back and its a great job. Neighbour had an unroller and moved to Mchale splitter and wouldn't go back. Splitter more forgiven for different DM content of bales also

Thanks. They seem to be more labour intensive. More forking etc.

Also don’t have the option to reverse in perpendicular to the feeding area. Can just go parallel.

richie123

obi604 wrote: »

Thanks. They seem to be more labour intensive. More forking etc.

Also don’t have the option to reverse in perpendicular to the feeding area. Can just go parallel.

I'm not gone on them ..just put the bales in front of cattle with loader and be done with it.

obi604

richie123 wrote: »

I'm not gone on them ..just put the bales in front of cattle with loader and be done with it.

We don’t have a loader.

See what the father does is put the bale in the middle of a 4 bay shed (not back to back). Then pulling and dragging the silage with the fork up and down between the bays.

Was thinking of a way to make it easier. In saying this, he doesn’t make it easy on himself either. I.e. throw one bale in front of each bay and a lot less pulling and dragging. But of course won’t do this........He is old school and silage would not be fresh etc etc etc

Jb1989

obi604 wrote: »

We don’t have a loader.

See what the father does is put the bale in the middle of a 4 bay shed (not back to back). Then pulling and dragging the silage with the fork up and down.

Was thinking of a way to make it easier. He Diane make it easy on himself either. I.e. throw one bale in front of each bay and a lot less pulling and dragging. But of course won’t do this. He is old school and would not be fresh etc etc etc

Put a bale at each bay

obi604

Jb1989 wrote: »

Put a bale at each bay

I had edited my post saying this, and then you posted

Jb1989

obi604 wrote: »

I had edited my post saying this, and then you posted

Yea, I knew he'd be the old school way, would he even believe in an unwinder or splitter either?

obi604

Jb1989 wrote: »

Yea, I knew he'd be the old school way, would he even believe in an unwinder or splitter either?

He might. As could do one bale at a time etc.

divillybit

We have a hustler bale unroller, and for sheds where you can't back up perpendicular to the barrier it's a good job. We had a bale splitter too for years but there was still alot of graping involved. Twas bought second hand, if you see a used one on done deal like the Blaney one in the link below its worth considering. The front loader is handy to have for loading the bale onto the unroller as it can lift the bale higher but its designed to be loaded with the headstock of the unroller. Hydraulic top link is necessary to help tilt the bale for more height as the mesh on the bale can catch the spikes on the unroller. Hard to justify buying it new but used ones sell quickly. There's very little to go wrong with them.

https://www.donedeal.ie/feedingequipment-for-sale/blaney-bale-feeder-unroller/26292386?campaign=14

richie123

obi604 wrote: »

We don’t have a loader.

See what the father does is put the bale in the middle of a 4 bay shed (not back to back). Then pulling and dragging the silage with the fork up and down between the bays.

Was thinking of a way to make it easier. In saying this, he doesn’t make it easy on himself either. I.e. throw one bale in front of each bay and a lot less pulling and dragging. But of course won’t do this........He is old school and silage would not be fresh etc etc etc

I see ...I'm guessing buying a loader is out of question ? 4, 5 grand would buy a decent front loader and you'd have it for lots of other jobs.
Bale unroller would only do one job.

funkey_monkey

If you get a loader you'll get much more use from it, plus you can loosen the bale with the ladder and graiping the silage will be so much easier.

Fine Day

I have a tractor and loader with soft hands. I find it works very well. I drop the bale between pens. Once plastic is off I can break the bale up with the soft hands between the 2 bays. It reduces a good bit of the fork work.
I hate having too many machines around the place. Buying it in the first place then maintenance repairs after that. The softhands is used in the summer to draw/stack bales.
I don't mind doing abit of forking as It allows me to observe the animals and also allows the animal to get use to me.

obi604

richie123 wrote: »

I see ...I'm guessing buying a loader is out of question ? 4, 5 grand would buy a decent front loader and you'd have it for lots of other jobs.
Bale unroller would only do one job.

No. He has managed 50 years without a loader. He wont get one now

divillybit

Some old fellas don't like to spend a few bob to make life a bit easier on themselves. Spending a few pound on a bale unroller or front loader is money well spent. It's cheaper that a hip or knee replacement. My old man thought I was daft buying a bale unroller, he thinks it's a great job now. He's had the two hips done. Of all the tractor implements on the farm, the front loader and bale unroller are used the most. The main point is that if you have the money to spend on a machine to take the work out of a labour intensive task like feeding round bales in narrow passage ways its well worth buying an implement to help ye.

49801

Loader is single most useful implement on a farm. Money much better spent on loader and grab than a bale unroller which can only be used for that single job.

That said the unroller would indeed make a tidier and slightly quicker job than a loader and grab for what you’re talking about. But in terms of cost benefit loader hands down!!!

richie123

obi604 wrote: »

No. He has managed 50 years without a loader. He wont get one now

Have u looked at the bridgeway unroller ? Way simpler and cheaper machine altogether

obi604

richie123 wrote: »

Have u looked at the bridgeway unroller ? Way simpler and cheaper machine altogether

Is that the bridgeway diamond feeder?

What’s makes it simpler and cheaper - the bridgeway diamond looks very similar to the hustler.

SuperTortoise

I bought a bridgeway unroller( Diamond)here about 2 years ago, would'nt go back, i can only drive in parallel to the feed passage so a splitter is out, we used to put one bale in front of every pin and grape it in but that takes it's toll.

One of the best purchases i've made on the farm, i can feed a shed full of cattle in 10 mins, silage is fresh, the spikes are handy for moving pallets etc.

It goes on the back of the tractor in October and is used every day for a full 7 months, i'd bet there is no other implement on a farm that gets that much use.

How many bales would you be feeding over an average winter?

richie123

obi604 wrote: »

Is that the bridgeway diamond feeder?

What’s makes it simpler and cheaper - the bridgeway diamond looks very similar to the hustler.

No bridgeway rotospike.have a look through Google search

richie123

obi604 wrote: »

Is that the bridgeway diamond feeder?

What’s makes it simpler and cheaper - the bridgeway diamond looks very similar to the hustler.

No bridgeway rotospike.have a look through Google search

divillybit

a rotospike would be OK for use on a front loader unrolling into a diet feeder, they wouldn't be much addition in a passage way as the silage would still need to be pushed into the barrier

Panch18

obi604 wrote: »

We don’t have a loader.

See what the father does is put the bale in the middle of a 4 bay shed (not back to back). Then pulling and dragging the silage with the fork up and down between the bays.

Was thinking of a way to make it easier. In saying this, he doesn’t make it easy on himself either. I.e. throw one bale in front of each bay and a lot less pulling and dragging. But of course won’t do this........He is old school and silage would not be fresh etc etc etc

That’s messing of the highest order

Put in 4 bales, 1 at each bay and the forking will be minimal

That forking is fair bad for the back, will proper **** it up. He’ll see sense if that happens

Panch18

Why do lads want to break up or fork out bales so much??

I don’t understand it. We feed a lot of bales every year and ever bale goes in whole and stays hole. 1 bale per span and just pull the top of the bale down to the sides

Next day push it in with the loader

I just don’t see the point of splitters and unwinders

richie123

divillybit wrote: »

a rotospike would be OK for use on a front loader unrolling into a diet feeder, they wouldn't be much addition in a passage way as the silage would still need to be pushed into the barrier

When it's unrolled it's a lot handier to fork,
The front loader is the best option no matter wat way u look at it

obi604

Panch18 wrote: »

Why do lads want to break up or fork out bales so much??

I don’t understand it. We feed a lot of bales every year and ever bale goes in whole and stays hole. 1 bale per span and just pull the top of the bale down to the sides

Next day push it in with the loader

I just don’t see the point of splitters and unwinders

Aul lad makes out the cattle will pull it in and clog up the slats if not broke up and he then has to spend his time un clogging the slats. Cattle don’t put their heads out through slots, so easy for them to to pull silage in.

obi604

SuperTortoise wrote: »

I bought a bridgeway unroller( Diamond)here about 2 years ago, would'nt go back, i can only drive in parallel to the feed passage so a splitter is out, we used to put one bale in front of every pin and grape it in but that takes it's toll.

One of the best purchases i've made on the farm, i can feed a shed full of cattle in 10 mins, silage is fresh, the spikes are handy for moving pallets etc.

It goes on the back of the tractor in October and is used every day for a full 7 months, i'd bet there is no other implement on a farm that gets that much use.

How many bales would you be feeding over an average winter?

Thanks for input. He only uses 1 bale a day.

Cavanjack

Panch18 wrote: »

Why do lads want to break up or fork out bales so much??

I don’t understand it. We feed a lot of bales every year and ever bale goes in whole and stays hole. 1 bale per span and just pull the top of the bale down to the sides

Next day push it in with the loader

I just don’t see the point of splitters and unwinders

To answer your first question, It’s a pastime. It kills half an hour or more every day for lads and keeps them out of the house.

ruwithme

Cavanjack wrote: »

To answer your first question, It’s a pastime. It kills half an hour or more every day for lads and keeps them out of the house.

Your right and I'd nearly swear some lads house cattle unnecessarily early just to get cracking into feeding fodder and collecting shyit.could be a irish thing

obi604

Cavanjack wrote: »

To answer your first question, It’s a pastime. It kills half an hour or more every day for lads and keeps them out of the house.

This could be the crux of the matter possibly!!
He seems to like making work for himself, would rather use wheelbarrow than tractor and transport box, dose rather than pour on etc.

However, found a video on that bridgeway rotospike and it actually looks alright. Could justify the price versus the 5 or 6 grand for the hustler type machine.

Anyone here have a bridgeway rotospike. Do you kind of have to unravel them in the direction of the grain / the way the bale was wrapped?