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?

richie123

obi604 wrote: »

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?

I had one few years back ya it did the job ..won't do a perfect job but good enough

obi604

richie123 wrote: »

I had one few years back ya it did the job ..won't do a perfect job but good enough

Did it put the bale everywhere like messy or did bales possibly just fall apart in one lump straight after starting the unrolling

divillybit

If you're feeding just one bale a day a bale splitter is probably the best bet. You could put in a bale in the last pen, split it letting one half in next the barrier, and then back into the other half, put the blade down and pick up the other half and pull it up to the next pen of cattle. Depending on how well chopped the bales are you can put several cuts in the bale to make it more manageable.

richie123

obi604 wrote: »

Did it put the bale everywhere like messy or did bales possibly just fall apart in one lump straight after starting the unrolling

Depends how well chopped it was and how fast u unwind bit of a knack to getting it right

Micheal H

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.

Bought a new Hustler last year and my back is very thankful I did! Used to suffer greatly at this time of year from forking silage, so for that reason alone it's been a very worthwhile purchase.

On top of that I find there's a lot less waste silage now. I used to leave a bale in front of every bay and between them pi**ing and shi**ing out through the barriers, spoiling the silage, by the third day they would be gone off the bale and always leave some after them. I'd say there's 5 or 10% of the waste now, and they'll eat every last bit of silage unless they've shat on it, still haven't figured out how to get them to stop doing that

What size tractor are you planning to use it on? It's a very heavy unit when it's loaded up with a bale and you'll need some extra weight on front if it's a small-medium size yard tractor, which is the only drawback really. Well, that and the price!

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

Because some sheds have narrow passageways and low rooves, which makes manoeuvring with a front loader next to impossible, so an unwinder or forking are the only viable options.

MfMan

Anyone have a straw blower for feeding bales? e.g. Mchale 460? Was thinking of investing for feeding out bales and bedding sheds. It might seem like overkill, but it may be easier than trying to lift up a round feeder, put in a bale in and dropping the feeder over it again, while cattle are pulling at it and the netting.

obi604

Anyone else have experience with the bridgeway rotospike?

hopeso

divillybit wrote: »

If you're feeding just one bale a day a bale splitter is probably the best bet. You could put in a bale in the last pen, split it letting one half in next the barrier, and then back into the other half, put the blade down and pick up the other half and pull it up to the next pen of cattle. Depending on how well chopped the bales are you can put several cuts in the bale to make it more manageable.

I do similar to this, but I split the two halves again, which gives me four blocks of silage from each bale. Then back in under a block and lower the blade, as you said, and I can carry the block forward to the next pen, and so on. Even if you have to go forking, it's very easy work from such narrow blocks.

Omallep2

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.

My feed passage is only 11ft wide. I split bale in half. Then quarter. Leave quarter closest to cattle, move other quarter in front then take other half and move that (as a half bale) closer to exit and split with next quarter in front of feed barrier. Then take last quarter and leave in front. Basically put a half bale (in 2 quarters) in front of each pen. Make sense?

obi604

Omallep2 wrote: »

My feed passage is only 11ft wide. I split bale in half. Then quarter. Leave quarter closest to cattle, move other quarter in front then take other half and move that (as a half bale) closer to exit and split with next quarter in front of feed barrier. Then take last quarter and leave in front. Basically put a half bale (in 2 quarters) in front of each pen. Make sense?

Yep. I’m not even sure if our concrete clean area in front of shed is wide enough to allow for the splitting of the bail in 2, it may spill out too far.

obi604

Omallep2 wrote: »

My feed passage is only 11ft wide. I split bale in half. Then quarter. Leave quarter closest to cattle, move other quarter in front then take other half and move that (as a half bale) closer to exit and split with next quarter in front of feed barrier. Then take last quarter and leave in front. Basically put a half bale (in 2 quarters) in front of each pen. Make sense?

When moving the 1/4’s, is it hard to grasp it. I imagine when you reverse in to the bale that it would just move back when spikes hit it, as not much weight in the bale to make it stay put.

divillybit

Ah no it wouldn't be hard to pick up the quarter of the round bale provided it's not too well chopped in the first place, the prongs will go under the silage and just drop the blade on it but not down fully. It holds the quarter bale in place and you can pull that up to the next pen. You'd be surprised how much you can do with a bale splitter. I opted for a bale unroller as we'd be feeding 4 bales a day of not very well chopped stuff either so it was a good option for us.

hopeso

divillybit wrote: »

Ah no it wouldn't be hard to pick up the quarter of the round bale provided it's not too well chopped in the first place, the prongs will go under the silage and just drop the blade on it but not down fully. It holds the quarter bale in place and you can pull that up to the next pen. You'd be surprised how much you can do with a bale splitter. I opted for a bale unroller as we'd be feeding 4 bales a day of not very well chopped stuff either so it was a good option for us.

It’s also worth fitting a fourth prong in the spare hole to help with lifting the quarters..

obi604

I’m just drawn towards the bridgeway rotospike. Seems a simple setup and could take away a lot of pulling and dragging. Only thing I’m worried about is it coming off in one big lump.

The father probably wants to do a bit of forking to keep him active. Just not pulling and dragging type stuff.

See this link: https://ibb.co/zfskNzB

This is the very simple basic setup we have. Only a small area of concrete in front of shed to play with.

richie123

obi604 wrote: »

I’m just drawn towards the bridgeway rotospike. Seems a simple setup and could take away a lot of pulling and dragging. Only thing I’m worried about is it coming off in one big lump.

The father probably wants to do a bit of forking to keep him active. Just not pulling and dragging type stuff.

See attached. This is the very simple basic setup. Only a small area of concrete in front of shed to play with.

You possibly could get one on the understanding that if you weren't happy enough with it you could give it back.worth a shot

obi604

richie123 wrote: »

You possibly could get one on the understanding that if you weren't happy enough with it you could give it back.worth a shot

Hmmmm, true. Doubt there would be many sellers willing to give an option like this.

minerleague

obi604 wrote: »

Hmmmm, true. Doubt there would be many sellers willing to give an option like this.

Just saw picture of shed, plenty room to do what i do on outside farm. remove 2/3 plastic /netting from bale, drop bale 1 foot from barrier at an angle, pull out from bale then reverse catching back of bale with prong of bale handler rotating bale so its square to barrier ( flat side ) The 1/3 netting keeps bale together and fresh, after a day or 2 tip whats left in with bale handler. (Know it isnt what u asked, father same as yours here! afraid they get too fat )

twin_beacon

divillybit wrote: »

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.

I agree with everything you've said there. We're on our 5th winter with the bridge way diamond feeder. My dad bought it after he got his second hip replacement. We are on our second one, we found a few issues with the first one after a few weeks, the mechanism that connects the spike to the bale cradle wasn't great, and the hydraulic motor that spins the bale would struggle in a wet bale on the bottom of the stack. The first one was swapped with an updated model after a few weeks, zero complaints since. Simple machine to maintain, keep grease in the bearings, and keep the chain oiled and it should last many years. As someone mentioned earlier, you need a hydraulic top link. Its not a time saver, it roughly takes the same length of time to do the feeding, however, its a lot less Labor intensive.

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

We used to do that, for many years. We always end up forking the ends of the bales. To be honest, if you had one for a month, you wouldn't go back. We find there is also a lot less waste as cattle are always eating fresh silage.

obi604

minerleague wrote: »

Just saw picture of shed, plenty room to do what i do on outside farm. remove 2/3 plastic /netting from bale, drop bale 1 foot from barrier at an angle, pull out from bale then reverse catching back of bale with prong of bale handler rotating bale so its square to barrier ( flat side ) The 1/3 netting keeps bale together and fresh, after a day or 2 tip whats left in with bale handler. (Know it isnt what u asked, father same as yours here! afraid they get too fat )

Hi. What machine are you using for this?

Is it a front loader type thing?

minerleague

obi604 wrote: »

Hi. What machine are you using for this?

Is it a front loader type thing?

The round bale handler on back of tractor that you use to bring in bales from meadow