Round Bale - Fitting your net

Measuring your Round Bale to Determine the Net Size Needed

The measurement of the flat side (width) of the round bale will determine the size of the hay net required. This is the most important measurement needed.

The sizes of the hay nets and round bales are given in feet, Eg. A 4x4 round bale is 4 foot wide x 4 foot high, or 1.2m x 1.2m. We have converted these and provided you with them in meters to make it easier when measuring your bales.

The measurements in meters are as follows;

3x4 = 0.9m wide, therefore a 3x4 = 0.9m x 1.2m

4x4 = 1.2m wide, therefore a 4x4 = 1.2m x 1.2m

5x4 = 1.5m wide, therefore a 5x4 = 1.5m x 1.2m

6x4 = 1.8m wide, therefore a 6x4 = 1.8m x 1.2m

How to measure your round bale for a GutzBusta Round Bale hay net

The red line illustrates where the measurement is taken to give you the sizing of the round bale.

Measuring a round bale to fit a GutzBusta Slow feed hay net

This second photo illustrates the second measurement (height) of a round bale. This measurement is the same for all four sizes of round bales. This measurement is always 1.2m (4 foot) in Australia.

Sizing:

All of our round bale hay nets are now able to fully encapsulate the round bales as we have done a revamp of all product sizes. These nets are now more generous in sizing and super easy to put on the round bales and the large square export bales. Tight nets on bales might look good initially, but to keep our products easy to use throughout their entire life, we recognized they needed to be a bit bigger, so they are all true to size and easy to put on, for years! As they are true to size, if you only ever use 4x4 hay bales/rolls, then you only need a 4x4 hay net.

Please note that the 6x4 will fit on all sizes of round bales. Obviously it will be big if fitting on a 3x4 or 4x4 for example, however the excess netting can simply be rolled up along one edge of the net and tied off in a couple of sections using twine to take up the slack. We send simple instructions on how to do this with your round bale purchase, but if you don't receive this then please email us at admin@gutzbusta.com.au

Horses eating from a 4cm GutzBusta® 5x4 round bale hay net in 48ply.

Sizes and Range Available:

Round bale Nets – Available in 3cm, 4cm and 6cm sized holes in both knotted and knotless netting;

Please note that the 6x4 hay nets will fit all 4 sizes of round bales (3x4 up to 6x4). For instructions on how to fit the hay net over a bale of hay and also how to make a 6x4 hay net fit the smaller sized round bales, then please click here.

If you are after a truly flexible hay net that will fit BOTH the large export bales AND the round bales, then we suggest purchasing the Large Square 8x4x3 / 8x3x3 nets in either knotted or knotless.

The following sizes are available in both the knotted and knotless range.

3x4 (black in colour) 3cm, 4cm & 6cm sized holes.

4x4 (black in colour) 3cm, 4cm & 6cm sized holes.

5x4 (black in colour) 3cm, 4cm & 6cm sized holes.

6x4 (black in colour) 3cm, 4cm & 6cm sized holes.

 

Installing your GutzBusta® Hay Net on a Round Bale

We have a great Blog article, including a video tutorial on how to put a round bale hay net onto a bale of hay which can be viewed here!

The following is a pictorial on putting a 4x4 round bale net onto a 4x4 round bale of hay.

GutzBusta Round Bale hay net
Firstly, position your hay roll on its flat side so you can pull off the twine or string holding the bale together. Then put the hay net over onto the top of the bale before you undo strings etc. If your hay bale stays together once string is removed such as lucerne hay might, then putting the net over first isn't necessary, but some bales such as oaten and pasture fall apart quickly, so this way you have net in place ready to pull down quickly to contain the hay.


Once the string is removed, you can then pull the netting down the side of the bale to the ground.

GutzBusta Slow Feed Hay Nets - fitting a hay net
Pull your draw string firm at the base and then either undo the knot at the end of the rope and redo it at the base of the net and let the remaining rope be free, or you can simply tie the remaining length of your draw string back up into the net so it is not free to get caught in. You can also use a daisy chain knot to secure or take up the slack of the excess drawstring length. Again, by watching our Blog here, you will get more ideas on how to do this.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL SIZES WILL NOW FULLY ENCAPSULATE THE ROUND BALE. Once you have the net pulled over the entire bale and down to the ground, you can simply flip the bale over either 90 degrees or 180 degrees and pull up the remaining net up to encapsulate the bale.

Your round bale is now ready to go. Enjoy watching your horses EAT their hay instead of laying on it, pooping on it and weeing on it 🙂

You can then either tie a simple knot in the drawstring at the base of the net (and undo the one at the end of the drawstring) and leave your remaining drawstring free with no knot at the end, or you can secure the drawstring into the hay net. Make sure you don't leave any loops that your horses legs could get caught in.

Be sure to look at our Blog post for more ideas on how to deal with your drawstring such as using a daisy chain knot.

You may also use the drawstring to do a quick sew of the join if your hay net didn't come together as well as you would have liked such as the below photo shows. Be sure to undo the simple knot at the end of the drawstring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following photos show another way to tie off your draw string.

Putting a loop the end of the drawstring of a round bale GutzBusta Slow Feed Hay Net
Untie knot at end of draw string and then tie a simple loop on one end


Put free end of drawstring through loop

Putting a loop the end of the drawstring of a round bale GutzBusta Slow Feed Hay Net

Take up slack of drawstring pulling through loop and tie a knot at the base of the net.