When it comes to creating bales of hay, there are generally two different options for farmers to choose between: round and square. Each variety comes with its own set of pros and cons, and it’s worth familiarising yourself with.
What’s the difference between round and square hay bales? Okay, so you may be thinking that this is pretty obvious (one type is round while the other is square), but there are differences beyond their shape. Read on to find out more!
A brief history of hay
Hay has been used to feed farm livestock for a very long time. Traditionally, most bales of hay were made in squares. It’s only been relatively recently in farm history (around the last 40sih years), that advances in technology have allowed for the production of round hay bales.
The difference between round and square bales
Apart from their shape, the main difference between round and square bales of hay tends to be their size. Square bales tend to be smaller and lighter, while round bales tend to be larger and heavier. As such, a farmer may choose to create larger, round hay bales if they have a lot of livestock to feed, and smaller, square bales if they have fewer animals (however, this isn’t always the case).
Our round bale feeders
We design and manufacture two different bale feeders that exclusively carry round bales of hay. These bale hay feeders are the Elite and the Champion models. Both of these models have a high ground clearance, and a strong, robust design.
The Elite
This round bale feeder can be stocked with up to two bales at a time, and can feed out both hay and silage. It is 2.3 metres wide, 4.6 metres long, 1.2 metres high, and has a weight of 960 kilograms. The Elite has:
A versatile loading system with collapsible fork for safety
User-friendly maintenance
Rippers that travel over the top of the chassis to reduce component damage
A simple chain adjustment
For more photos and information about the Elite, check out our page here!
The Champion
The Champion is a round bale feeder that is available in either a four or six-bale hay variation. Both of these machines feed out hay and silage, and user-friendly maintenance. The 6-bale model is 2.3 metres wide, 9.7 metres long, 1.5 metres high, and weighs 2.12 tonnes. While the 4-bale model is 2.3 metres wide, 6.9 metres long, 1.5 metres high, and weighs between 1.8 and 1.9 tonnes. Both variants of the Champion have:
A simple chain adjustment
Rippers that travel over the top of the chassis to reduce component damage
An independent tandem rocker system
A versatile loading system with collapsible fork for safety
User-friendly maintenance
For more information about the Champion, check out our page here!
Our square and round bale feeders
Two of our brands are able to carry both round and square bales of hay. These round and square bale hay feeders are the Pa-Mick and the Albybone. Both of these models have a high ground clearance, and a strong, robust design.
The Pa-Mick
The Pa-Mick is a hay feeder that can carry up to two bales of hay at a time. It can be used for carting in, and can carry both a round and a square bale, placed in any order. This includes large square bales, large round bales, and hay and silage. The Pa-Mick is 2.5 metres wide, 4.9 metres long, 1.95 metres high, and has a weight of 1.2 tonnes. It features:
A specially-designed curved chamber for feed pads up to 1.2 metres high
An independent tandem rocker system
An extendable chamber to accommodate all bales
For more photos and information about the Pa-Mick, check out our page here!
The Albybone
This machine is another of our round and square bale hay feeders. It is able to handle either 6 square bales, or 5 round bales, in any order, at the one time, and can be used for carting in. The standard model of this multi-bale feeder has a width of 2.5 metres, a length of 8.1 metres, a height of 2.25 metres, and a weight of 2.1 tonnes, however, larger machines can be built to order, if required. The Albybone has:
A curved chamber for pad feeding
An independent tandem rocker system
An extendable chamber to accommodate all bales.
For more photos and information on the Albybone, check out our page here!
At WMI, we manufacture and supply both bale feeders that exclusively carry round hay bales, and combination, round and square bale hay feeders, offering versatility of options to our customers. If you would like to find out more about us or our products, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with our friendly staff!
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