They'll work much easier in a TMR system. At the start of the study, the heifers averaged 966 lbs. Over the entire two month trial, those fed sliced bales gained an average of 2.2 lbs. per day, compared to 1.79 lbs. per day in the group fed unsliced bales. Grant Snyder, an Ontario dairyman, milks 90 cows and farms 600 acres with his brothers, John and George. They're emptying the feeders out faster and there's less hay wasted.
Sliced bales are easier to keep and they feed out easier.
Sometimes we get behind in our cutting and the grass gets long. You still get an easy-feed bale. Sheldon and Barbara Clark, who run a custom baling operation in New York, also validate the Penn State findings about the benefits of sliced bales with their own experience. Most farmers in this area would like to put it in a TMR system. Sliced bales feed into a mixer wagon.