This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Jennifer and/or Michael
The good thing about round bales is that they unroll like a roll of toilet paper. So you don't have to set the whole thing in the pen with them. Just pull some of it off and feed it like you would a square bale. In the past I would recommend feeding round bales because then the horse could nibble all day long (normal horses, not fjords). This was good I thought because it more simulated grazing rather than feeding in meals. I no longer recommend feeding whole round bales though. That is because of the respiratory problems I have seen them cause. If you have ever seen a horse eat a round bale, you know that they don't neatly nibble around the edges working their way to the center. Instead, they burrow straight to the middle and then sit there all day long with their head buried in it breathing in all that mold and pollen spores. Round bales typically carry more mold than square bales. Even if you can't see it, it's there. Breathing in this bad air can cause asthma and emphysema (COPD/Heaves). So if a client must feed round bales, I tell them to peel some off and feed a little at a time, rather than setting the whole bale out at once. This will help control their weight as well as saving their respiratory health. Steve PS - someone even makes a round bale carrier that holds the bale in a way that lets you unroll it just like a paper towel holder Steve and Amy White Prairieholm Farm Waterloo, Nebraska
