Unroll Hay without Equipment

[@brucemattes5015]

What I didn't understand at first, and to be fair to Greg Judy, I can't recall him ever mentioning it in this exact context, is that unrolling hay by one of Greg's current methodologies *(he and Issac have several)* constitutes the *ULTIMATE* form of mulching. If done properly so that the cattle leave enough uneaten hay on the pasture where it was unrolled, I believe it has the potential to boost one's soil fertility faster than by *ANY* other methodology utilizing hay. *MORE IMPORTANTLY,* the fertility added to one's soil biome will be *MORE EVENLY* distributed across one's pastures than by any other methodology involving hay. After watching thousands of regenerative farming videos over the past 3 years, the primary complaint against unrolling hay is the time necessary to do it completely and right. The secondary complaint against unrolling hay is that it does not provide the intense lush growth in the area surrounding where a bale ring was placed in the 2 years following such placement. Like I mentioned above, I am not raising ruminant livestock on pasture. However, I have a thinking brain, and I can see little philosophical or practical difference between utilizing high energy nitrogen fertilizers and the immense deposits of urine and manure that occurs when bale feeding. *ESPECIALLY* since by the time the soil biome is able to utilize the nutrients in the urine and manure, a large proportion of them have been wasted though oxidation, evaporation, and mechanical *(wind)* degradation. *If I am missing something here, and am wrong, please let me know, because I want to learn. Thanks.*

[@stringerbridgefarm3201]

There are a lot of complexities at play with bale grazing vs unrolling. It’s hard for me to comment much beyond the more immediate and observable effects.

[@randybutler4772]

Thank you for sharing.🐂

[@stringerbridgefarm3201]

Your welcome, and thanks for watching!

[@springtimeplumbing6240]

I can't begin to get hay for $25 a roll around here. Even frozen Bahia hay is going for $50.

[@stringerbridgefarm3201]

It’s mediocre quality at best, and I have to pick it up in the field. But still I think I’m pretty lucky to have a good neighbor who gives me such a good deal on hay.

[@tomlarge8841]

The nutrient value of the hay is worth more than that. Your neighbor is literally selling you the fertility of his land for under cost

[@stringerbridgefarm3201]

He doesn’t have any livestock, a custom baler charges him 25 per bale, and that’s what he charges me if I haul it all off. From his perspective, he gets his field cut for free. He is happy and I am happy. Works out for both of us.

[@tritchie6272]

@@stringerbridgefarm3201 I noticed they wasn't fighting any over the hay. Looked to me like any of them that wanted a bite could find them a spot pretty easy. What your saying about different ways working best for different situations sounds logical to me. I suspect you will keep seeing good results by doing what you are barring anything like a Drought or flood. And a Drought hits you will probably be even more glad your doing things the way you are. I don't know about Floods. Hopefully you won't have to deal with either. On a side note its to bad you probably don't have a way to improve the quality of hay your getting for that price. Still, it looks to me like you got a pretty good thing going. In my view the more people that successfully do this,the better for us consumers.

[@stringerbridgefarm3201]

I have considered getting some second hand baling equipment and making our own hay. I have about 15 acres at the far end of our property that we don’t use currently because we don’t have fences or water over there. It’s just such a big time and money commitment I haven’t pulled the trigger on it yet.