Once the hay is good, the next step is choosing what format it comes in. For horses, the two common ones are the small rectangular bale and the large round bale. Neither is better than the other: one simply fits your stable better.
The small bale
The rectangular bale, at around 18 to 20 kg, is handled by hand, with no machinery, and makes rationing easy: you open it, split it up and always know exactly how much you're giving each animal. It's the logical format for small and medium stables, for those with few horses or without a tractor with a grapple. In exchange, it moves fewer kilos per unit, so for many animals it means handling more bales.
The round bale
The round bale, at around 350 kg, is efficient when there are many animals and the means to move it: it cuts down the number of units and the work of restocking. It needs machinery to handle it and a suitable place to store it, and rationing is less precise, since it's often left freely available. It's the format for operations with several horses and good access.
Questions that help you decide
How many horses you feed, whether you have a tractor or only your own hands, how much dry storage space you have, and whether you prefer precise rationing or free feeding are the four questions that almost always settle the choice. In small stables, the small bale wins out; in operations with several horses and machinery, the round bale starts to pay off.
The same hay, two formats
At Piriheno, both formats come from the same high-mountain Pyrenees meadows and the same work. What changes is the packaging and the logistics, not the hay. In both cases, delivery is arranged to your stable, because moving hay is part of the problem we solve.
