# Will deer eat hay bails?



## EXsystem (May 23, 2007)

I been picking up from friends and family their leftover pumpkins for the deer but will the deer also eat hay bails? My neighbor has a few and said I could have them if I wanted.:thumbs_up:thumbs_do


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## *ProLine* (Oct 10, 2007)

*Hmm*

My family farm is filled! with round bales... Thats actually what we make our ground blinds out of...
I've seen the deer sorta munch on them as their browsing around...but not a crazy amount... Not like their running to them for dinner time, just if its there while their browsing..they might nibble at it..


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## chuckatuk (May 28, 2003)

i think they use them more as a land mark.they will browse them but i see alot of deer moving past them


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## davejohnson2 (Mar 20, 2008)

depends, what kind of hay? round bales and square bales for cows and horses are usually too "prickly" for a deer to swallow. they may nibble at bits but they wont go crazy. we sometimes drop bales and the deer dont even touch em. they like the nice tender new stuff that grows just after baling. on the other hand i have seen people put out alphalpha bales up north and the deer like em.


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## *ProLine* (Oct 10, 2007)

*Yeip*

Yea thats how it seems here at least... I catch them eating all around them more than anything.... and after a good bailing, they eat up all the yummy stuff coming up after about two weeks...


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## TTripin (Oct 17, 2007)

add some chopped up apples,mix in a little corn,and a few chunks of sugar beets


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## mofarmboy (Aug 6, 2006)

if your talkin about the hay bales the guy used for decoration in his yard.those would be straw bales.these are usually used for cattle bedding, lawn sowing etc.... not for feed.all straw bales consist of is whats left after the whaet is harvested via a combine.


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## twosheds (Aug 7, 2006)

*hay bales*

They will eat alfalfa bales.


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## undercover (Jul 2, 2006)

They will tear up alfalfa bales! Much like cattle though, baled hay adds little to no nutritional value. It's only a filler. But again like cattle, hay helps the wall lining of a deers rumen.


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## hntnksn (Jan 18, 2008)

alfalfa bales yes. straw bales no.


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## ruffme (Aug 4, 2005)

I have a round bale at the farm as a back stop. Its been there two years.
There is a little sign around it every winter, and you can tell where they have pulled some out, but I'm always a little amazed at how LITTLE they do actually use it.

But they line up 10 deep to get at my neighbor's corn cribs in January!


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## Powerstroker (Oct 2, 2008)

Good, FERTILIZED alfalfa or coastal bermuda hay will attract deer. All hay is not the same. Regular old grass hay does not have near the protein that good fertilized (horse hay) has. As it gets colder, the deer will move to the alfalfa or coastal hay very well. Myself and others in my area (NE) Tx. have had a lot of success with hay. Granted, its not very sweet or anything, but deer will eat ruffage ie; hay very well especially as winter gets closer. Hope this helps.


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## bigbuckdn (Sep 19, 2007)

once it snows if you bust them up they eat it


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## Alpha Doe (Feb 7, 2008)

I've heard that deer can starve while eating hay. As said before there is not alot of useable nutrition and the deer need a variety of forages to produce bacteria in one of the four chambers or stomachs that aids in the digestion of the food. Without the bacteria production the food is not digested properly and they can starve with a full belly. They will eat it though.


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## Powerstroker (Oct 2, 2008)

Not meaning to start an argument with the poster above, but fertilized hay holds a lot of protein, and protein is what deer need to keep them going especially when the temps drop.


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## Kansas P&Y (Dec 14, 2007)

I hunt some alfalfa bottoms and it's very common to see a bale that has some of the center ate out of it. It's


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## Alpha Doe (Feb 7, 2008)

Powerstroker said:


> Not meaning to start an argument with the poster above, but fertilized hay holds a lot of protein, and protein is what deer need to keep them going especially when the temps drop.


I should have worded that better... there is alot of nutrition, just not useable nutrition without the bacteria from other food sources. I guess what I should have said is they will eat hay and if they have other food sorces available to help produce these bacteria then they can then use the protein. They just can't eat hay alone and survive.


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## kzz1king (Jan 21, 2007)

The whitetail here (North Dakota) like alfalfa bales in winter. Shot my first buck while hiding at the end of a row of them one January. Ranchers in the western part of the state put up snow fences to keep the muleys and maybe antelope out of there hay. I think they mess it up by pissing on it more than eating it.


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## medic63 (Nov 12, 2008)

hoytviper said:


> They will tear up alfalfa bales! Much like cattle though, baled hay adds little to no nutritional value. It's only a filler. But again like cattle, hay helps the wall lining of a deers rumen.


I feed horses and cattle hay, if they had little to no nutrional value horses and cows would stay fat and healthy in the winter, as for deer eating hay they are forage animals, they will as others have stated will occasionally eat hay but prefer finding their own, as most farmers know the out surface of hay is usually moldy and not much use.


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## BUCKMASTER1249 (Nov 5, 2007)

Never witnessed it, but i would assume they might


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## dougkellermann (Feb 16, 2009)

*Deer do not eat gress*

Deer do not eat grass, if they are eating stuff out of you round bales it is probably forbs.


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## 7thSeal (Dec 18, 2008)

I have two square bales strapped together out in the field which I use to place my target on top of when practicing. It was this past Saturday which my wife and daughter came home after dark and my wife stuck her head in the door and told me to come outside quickly. Well she left the headlights on her 4runner turned on shining in the field and there were five does standing around my target eating the hay.

Saw them with my own two eyes pulling strands of grass from the bails eating away and didn't seem to mind us one bit. If they keep that up I'll be having to place my block on the ground. :lol:


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## Mo-Hunter (May 24, 2006)

*Alfalfa bales are good feed*

I have a buddy that like to use alfalfa bales to slow erosion in ditches around his stands! I can't remember if he said it helps the erosion or the deer population?:teeth:


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## antlrcolectr (Jan 4, 2007)

Not all hay is created equal. Some hay is crap the day it was baled. But most good leafy alfalfa hay has 14-20% protien and 25-30% fiber. In hard times of cold and snow, deer hammer *good leafy alfalfa*. It's not ideal food to get them through the winter, but they get quality nutritional value from it for no longer than they need it in the winter.. It's actually a better supplimental feed than corn. It has a high feeding values and is underestimated as an energy source. .

If anyone has questions look it up online from people that study the stuff, don't ask opinions, you'll get more than you can shake a stick at.


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## Canuck Archer (Jul 1, 2007)

I feed about twenty head when we have bad winters. Second cut alfalfa and molasses with oats.
Takes me about thirty square bales of hay and 25 bags of oats with molasses to see the deer through the winter.(That's the price of a new bow that could be hangin' on the wall):smile:
Be aware that when you start feeding deer in the winter ,you can't stop as their digestive system changes back to summer feeding and if you stop they will starve to death from eating winter browse.
Three winters ago we had a heck of a pile of snow in December.I started to feed the deer in January and about a week later it turned super mild out with rain and most of the snow melted away. I couldn't stop feeding the little buggers,but I swear they had little smirks on their faces every evening they came in to feed. It's worth the price of feed to watch them interact.:darkbeer:


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## EASTON94 (Jan 25, 2003)

I'd say if its quality hay, they may eat it if other food sources are scarce. If it was used as Halloween decorations I'd bet its likely straw which the deer are not going to eat, little to no nutritional value. '94


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## ruffme (Aug 4, 2005)

Canuck Archer said:


> I feed about twenty head when we have bad winters. Second cut alfalfa and molasses with oats.
> Takes me about thirty square bales of hay and 25 bags of oats with molasses to see the deer through the winter.(That's the price of a new bow that could be hangin' on the wall):smile:
> Be aware that when you start feeding deer in the winter ,you can't stop as their digestive system changes back to summer feeding and if you stop they will starve to death from eating winter browse.
> Three winters ago we had a heck of a pile of snow in December.I started to feed the deer in January and about a week later it turned super mild out with rain and most of the snow melted away. I couldn't stop feeding the little buggers,but I swear they had little smirks on their faces every evening they came in to feed. It's worth the price of feed to watch them interact.:darkbeer:


I've heard that before and I'm not sure I believe that. A deer has adapted to eat just about any herbaceous material available anytime anywhere. Not sure why they would have a summer/winter issue. They can and do dig down and find alfalfa on their own all the time. A deer eats a wide variety of dead, green and everything in between year round. If that was really the case there would be a lot dead deer around my place because I can't get up there to put out corn on a regular basis.

But on the issue of do deer eat round bales...
here's your photographic evidence and a picture of what comes out the other end. I've got video of a bunch of deer standing around it every night, but I don't have it edited yet.


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## MOdroptine (Feb 8, 2006)

I have seen them eat alfalfa bales.


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## chuckatuk (May 28, 2003)

so when deer eat hay they poop like cows...that looks like cow to me...but i am only use to small eastern deer.:dontknow:


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## ruffme (Aug 4, 2005)

There are no cows on my property nor one for miles! LOL..
that's all deer poohhh! LOL... so ya....a little fiber.....:wink:


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## bassman417 (Feb 24, 2009)

We raised deer for the last 6 years and they eat mostly alfalfa bales. We do give them grain from the grain elevator which is basically the same stuff in the "special formulas" for deer. Its the exact same thing you can get a farm store for goats. Never had any underweight deer for us. Our breeder buck weighed in at 240# at 3.5 yrs old. For a treat we would give them day old bread from the breadstore. (Deer LOVE bread!)


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## IChim2 (Aug 20, 2006)

Arround here,the food is far and few inbetween after nov.....i've seen them tearing at the white plastic wrap on round alphalfa bails to get to it in the evenings.


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## badbow148 (Dec 5, 2006)

Does a deer like hay . Does a deer crap in the woods.They sure like the hay in WY./ KS. and MO.


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## corey4 (Jan 27, 2009)

as an added bonus look around or sometimes in the round bales for sheds. sometimes they use their antlers to get to the good hay in the center and if the time is right those antlers will pop right off


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## IGluIt4U (Sep 22, 2004)

I watched mulies in Montana jump up on top of the round bales (about 8' dia) and start munchin on em.. I about fell outta the truck the first time I saw it.. :chortle:


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## SEOBowhntr (May 13, 2005)

angermanagement said:


> I been picking up from friends and family their leftover pumpkins for the deer but will the deer also eat hay bails? My neighbor has a few and said I could have them if I wanted.:thumbs_up:thumbs_do


Hay yes, straw is a bit more iffy. You really don't want them eating "straw" per se as it can mess there stomaches up. I actually collect my lawn clippings with a lawn sweeper, and drop them in piles in my back yard (more of a 1.5 acre field), and the deer in the fall pick at them a little, but in the winter when its a frozen tundra as it seemed it was for the whole month of January this year, they get quite friendly with them.


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## xswanted (Feb 1, 2008)

I've seen deer in the winter months here in ND, both mulies and whitetails, devour alfalfa bails. 

When the food gets short, they eat them like crazy!


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## rkc (Dec 13, 2008)

chuckatuk said:


> so when deer eat hay they poop like cows...that looks like cow to me...but i am only use to small eastern deer.:dontknow:


+1...I have hunted blacktail, whitetail and mulies and none of them poop like that. Do you have any pictures of deer tracks in the snow? That looks the cow crap or a horse that has the runs


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## archerm3 (Jan 4, 2007)

rkc said:


> +1...I have hunted blacktail, whitetail and mulies and none of them poop like that. Do you have any pictures of deer tracks in the snow? That looks the cow crap or a horse that has the runs


+1, maybe a bear.IDK.


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## CLB (Oct 2, 2004)

rkc said:


> +1...I have hunted blacktail, whitetail and mulies and none of them poop like that. Do you have any pictures of deer tracks in the snow? That looks the cow crap or a horse that has the runs


They sure do crap like that. Have seen it lots. It looks like that as well when they get feeding heavily in a chick pea field.


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## BoTec1 (Jul 15, 2006)

*Hay*

Pour pancake syrup on the hay and it will go fast!


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## mn5503 (Feb 21, 2006)

They love alfalfa bales but are pretty selective on what parts they eat. Most of the stems get left behind. The deer on my property are looking very good despite the really cold winter. I've been feeding them a mixture of things that include protein/fat pellets, corn and of course the alfalfa bales....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHIVAUg_5_8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MaVDNCJM_g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0a9-ahp8-g


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## bowtech jsat 50 (Aug 24, 2007)

we have about 100 deer on the farm and we go thru a couple hundred bales a during a winter, but they are picky. they won't eat just any hay. we feed them straight alfalfa and they hammer it. I feed some out to the wild deer where i hunt and they pound it too.


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## MNHOYT (Oct 6, 2007)

I have a bail out behind my house right now that is just about gone..Lots of snow makes deer eat whatever they can get there nose into. Fun to watch too. :darkbeer:


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## DUCKORBLEED (Dec 17, 2008)

*Hay Bales*

One of the closest encounters I ever had was hunting behind a haybale and a doe and fawn came and ate off the bale I was standing behind! They like to eat the middle out of em just like a swiss roll:tongue:


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