Every fall the tractor gets a workout. The year this photo was taken, I stacked about 55 round bales for winter, all cut from our own field. A neighbor makes hay on one of our fields, and part of the bales are the rent. It's a simple trade: the field gets cut, the neighbor gets hay, and the herd gets fed.
Right now the cows eat from a feed ring near the barn. It works, but that spot stays wet, and by spring it's a muddy mess with all the manure piled in one place.
We'd like to try something different, maybe even this winter: unrolling bales out in the field. The cows spread out to eat, and the leftover hay and manure land across the pasture instead of in one corner. That feeds the soil where next year's grass will grow.
The catch is water. Cows need it every day, and a trough out in the field freezes. So we're working on a water system with a frost-proof trough in the pasture. Once that's in, the bales can go out where the grass needs them.
We'll share how it goes. If you want updates, join our email list.