Cattle Chronicles: Hydraulic Float, What Does It Do?

A DewEze Bale Bed exclusive feature

You’ve just purchased your new DewEze Bale Bed and it’s time to feed. Backing up to grab your first bale, you notice an extra button at the bottom of the remote. You remember the dealer talking about a hydraulic float feature and now you’re wondering to yourself- how does hydraulic float affect unrolling hay?

The dealer mentioned that you could use hydraulic float to allow the bale to maintain contact with the ground while unrolling hay. Gravity and the weight of the bale help unroll it down to its core. Hydraulic Float lets this be an automatic process—no more manually adjusting arm pressure while unrolling. Think of hydraulic float as a “set it and forget it” feature.

When you’re ready to feed, using the remote, set the bale about one foot off the ground while you cut the wrapping from the hay. Press the hydraulic float button (see photo left for reference) on the bottom left of the remote. As you unroll your bale, notice that the arms will float along the ground while the bale unrolls, maintaining contact with the ground even as you get to the core.

DewEze Bale Beds are the only beds on the market to have direct linkage and a positive lock valve. Our competitors have what is described as a mechanical float; this requires their cylinders to run on a track. Direct linkage allows us to have true down pressure by attaching the cylinder directly to the arms. A positive lock valve, this valve is designed to hold pressure indefinitely.

When activated, hydraulic float opens the valves, allowing oil to flow back and forth in the cylinders limiting future wear and tear on the arm bushings. This takes the pressure off the back end of the bed, allowing you to go over rough terrain without undue stress on the arms. The hydraulic float allows the driver to feed without constantly “bumping” the arms, extending the durability of the bed by preventing wear and tear on the linkage pins.

Many cattlemen prefer to unroll in multiple strips to allow for even distribution of cattle during feeding. Keep in mind that while using the hydraulic float function you will have to raise the arms if you want to have a gap between hay strips; otherwise, the hay will continue to unroll evenly. By pressing any button on the remote, you will disengage the hydraulic float feature.

How has your experience been with the hydraulic float function on your DewEze Bale Bed? Does it make for an easier time unrolling hay over rough terrain? Share your experience in the comments!