Adding nutrients, organic matter, and ground cover to poorly productive lands have some raving about bale grazing. Added fertility and better water holding capacity of soils after bale grazing is often mentioned by early adopters.
For sceptics, improved hay inventories and lower hay prices coupled with fertilizer, fuel, and equipment prices that remain elevated may be the sign they needed to give it a try.
Bale grazing can look differently from farm to farm but, in essence, it is strip grazing with bales of hay set out for cattle to eat. Many times, it looks like bales set out in a grid pattern and temporary electric fence to control the allocation of hay.
Bale grazing requires planning. It is important to pick a location with good water resources, good electric fence power, windbreak or area for cattle to shelter, and land that needs additional fertility. Cows need to be well-broke to an electric fence.
Target feeding on thin, low nutrient soils. Areas where there is broomsedge. Nutrients need to stay put. So, pick areas less prone to run off or soil erosion. Rolling out hay may be better for sloping areas. Bale grazing on thin hill sides may lead to nutrient runoff and more disturbance that could lead to soil erosion. It is best to have stockpiled grass in the area where bale grazing will occur. This can allow for some grazing, keep the behavioral hierarchy from causing a lot of fighting for hay. It also can supplement the hay nutritionally. Residual forage on the ground can also help keep sod and slightly reduce the pugging of the soil. Cows grazing stockpiled forage alongside of the bales can also spread nutrients in a wider swath than just immediately around the bale.
To determine how many bales to set out, predict cow intake, hay waste, and feeding period. A 1300 lb. beef cow will eat approximately 32 lbs. of hay and waste around 8 lbs. per day. So, 40 lbs. of hay per head per day. A herd of 25 cows will go through 1,000 lbs. of hay per day. While bales of hay vary greatly in size and weight, for this example I will assume that a round bale weighs 1,000 lbs. Thus, we need to set out 30 bales for the 25-cow herd for one month of bale grazing.
Most recommendations say to set out no more than 2 tons of hay to the acre, roughly 4 bales per acre. This helps spread nutrients and reduce the amount of impact in one area. Putting bales too close together will result in much more disturbance to the sod.
Feeding good quality hay will likely yield the best results. First, it will provide better nutrition to the cows. It will also be more palatable and likely result in less feed refusal and waste. Feeding very poor-quality hay can result in more fence pressure, and reduced cow performance. I prefer using a ring feeder around the bale/bales. It does help reduce the amount of waste. If you plan to only feed the amount of feed needed for one or two days, then ring feeders may not be needed. If hay is fed without a ring feeder there will be more waste. If you are using a ring feeder, remember that too little feeder space for the number of cows can cause cows fighting for hay, dominance hierarchy and more uneven cow performance with young, small cows getting less feed.
From an economic perspective, savings of fuel, fertilizer, and labor are an important piece of making bale grazing pay. If a round bale of hay is $50/bale, then feed cost for the hay is $2/per cow/day. Using Illinois fertilizer prices from August 2025 and assuming a 75% capture of the nutrients in a grass-legume mix hay bale, there’s approximately $18 of fertilizer value per bale. If these nutrients are fully captured and the fertilizer value is subtracted from the hay cost, this results in a 36% reduction, resulting in hay costs of $1.28/hd/d or $32/bale after the nutrient credit.
In my experience, there are plenty of challenges that come with bale grazing. First, taking the net wrap off a frozen, iced-over bale of hay is a frustrating task. Same for trying to step in posts and move polywire when the ground is frozen. The weather can dictate success. Wet, muddy conditions are not fun to bale graze in. The trample and pugging around the hay bales can be detrimental to forage stands and open it up to weed pressure. You must accept that there will be mud, there will be hay waste, and there will be weeds that will fill in holes to the sod. Timely seeding is necessary to fix these high impact areas. Despite these challenges, I think it is time to try bale grazing.
*Originally published in the Illinois Beef magazine