Storing Round Bales

[oxhill]

I currently store my hay stacked three high on used tires and covered with quality tarps but I am always looking for a cheaper and more convenient way.

Does anyone know how effective storing them on a 6" gravel pad is? Four heavy truck tires per bale are extremely effective but getting off the tractor to place them and pulling them up from frozen ground is a nuisance.

Has anyone tried to cover a stack with 6-mil plastic sheeting or some other disposable material? The tarps I am currently using are expensive enough that I want to get a few years out of them. Managing them so I can take the hay out one row at a time and not destroy the tarp is a pain because they freeze to the peak of the stack and you have to keep the left over area tarp secured from the wind. My thought is that it would be easier to use a one time use material and just cut it off whenever I need to remove a row.

 

[Bigfoot]

I will be the first to tell you, that a hay barn won't pay for itself, but have you priced just a roof? I put some value on my sanity. At some point packing tires, rolling tarps, moving pallets drove me crazy. I went ahead and bit the bullet, and got the majority of my hay under roof. I leave part of the last cutting out, and feed it first.

 

[oxhill]

I hope to be able to someday but it isn't possible at the moment. I agree a building doesn't make sense dollar wise but it sure starts to make more sense when you are playing with frozen tires and tarps on a windy night below 0!

 

[Bigfoot]

I hope to be able to someday but it isn't possible at the moment. I agree a building doesn't make sense dollar wise but it sure starts to make more sense when you are playing with frozen tires and tarps on a windy night below 0!

How many bales do you feed in a years time?

 

[oxhill]

Currently 60-70 but maybe 100 in the future.

 

[Bigfoot]

I can build just a roof, 16 feet in the air for about $2.50 a square foot of floor space. In time, you could cover the two most prevalent walls for weather. 1200 square feet should cover 100 bales, and have room to park a tractor. Divide that over 20 years, and never touch a pallet, tire, or tarp again. It starts sounding more affordable. There will be some hay saved of course. That figures in the equation to. Now if you hire a barn crew, your gonna be talking more like $6 a square foot. Me, I'd rather handle a few trusses, and a few sheets of tin in may, than a tarp in January. If it's not in your budget, it's not in your budget. One thing to remember, building materials want be cheaper 5 years from now.

 

[JSCATTLE]

I built a 40 x120 hay barn . It added value to my property as well as provided storage for my equipment and hay . I'm able to store 400 rolls plus tractor and other things . That's 2 years worth of hay for me. I've fed 3 year old hay out of the barn that looked as good as the new hay i added that year.

 

[dun]

I built a 40 x120 hay barn . It added value to my property as well as provided storage for my equipment and hay . I'm able to store 400 rolls plus tractor and other things . That's 2 years worth of hay for me. I've fed 3 year old hay out of the barn that looked as good as the new hay i added that year.

The one we had built is slightly smaller, not sure how much we can store in it. We fed 3 year old hay at the start of feeding season and are now feeding 2 year old hay. Put 4 inch cleran rock base in it and the hay is as good as the stuff we put it in it last year. Only issues have been the critters bedding in the bottom bales uglying up the bottoms. Still fed fine though.

 

[M-5]

Plus one on a hay Barn, I need to build a new one. 20 years ago we put up about 800 to a 1000 rolls and pyrimd stacked them 100 rolls to stack. used a black plastic to cover them. I don't remember the mills . We would take about 4 bales of hay and set one each side to keep plastic on and tight. you loose some of the bottom bales but hay would look like it was just baled.

I put 50 rolls of this years hay under the barn and I will tell you hay barn will pay for itself overtime in hay that is not wasted, I put 3 more bales on my feed trailer yesterday. I have feed about 40 rolls of barn stored hay on it where its setting now. I could rake up all that's on the ground and would not be able to fill a 55 gal drum of wasted hay.

 

[oxhill]

I am defiantly convinced on protecting the hay. The tarps and tires are very effective. They just are not convenient. A three sided barn might be in my future but not now. I am looking for something better till then.

 

[Farmgirl]

Oxhill,

We use pallets. They are a pain because they rot and fall apart. Been thinking about trying telephone poles or railroad ties. Billboard covers are much cheaper and heavier than tarps.

 

[kenny thomas]

I am defiantly convinced on protecting the hay. The tarps and tires are very effective. They just are not convenient. A three sided barn might be in my future but not now. I am looking for something better till then.

Va Tech and im sure some others have some studies showing the savings realized by having the hay in a barn, compared to covered, compared to uncovered, etc. The hay barn will pay for its self quicker than you think. FSA now have low interest loans (2%) designed just for hay storage structures. Might check it out.

 

[AllForage]

Some folks will wrap their hay in tubes with a baleage wrapper. Only one mil thick. I would think it better be low on moisture or a guy could poke breather holes.

Would do the best job of protecting, but rental and plastic disposal would be the cost.

 

[TexasBred]

I hope to be able to someday but it isn't possible at the moment. I agree a building doesn't make sense dollar wise but it sure starts to make more sense when you are playing with frozen tires and tarps on a windy night below 0!

A simple pole barn doesn't cost that much money.

 

[Bigfoot]

I realize what oxhill is saying about spending the money. If money is tight, it's the time to quit spending it. I finally came to the conclusion that things like hay barns, that take a while to pay for------------might as well go ahead and buy them, so they'll start paying for themselves. Its also not hard to add on to a pole barn. Maybe build some now, and some later. That rock your talking about will cost, tarps cost. In time, it all adds up.

 

[nobull82]

I thought about getting one of those 3pt bale wrappers that Leaves the ends open but not really sure about it or know anything about it but you may wanna look In to it.

 

[Tim/South]

Last year I had to buy some hay to finish out the year. A friend had some stacked on gravel and tarped with the heavy bill board material. The hay was in great shape. He had a layer of large gravel with a layer of smaller on top of that. I figured the bottom rolls would wick up a lot of moisture. Was very impressed with how well the hay made it through the winter.

 

[ddd75]

I thought about getting one of those 3pt bale wrappers that Leaves the ends open but not really sure about it or know anything about it but you may wanna look In to it.

yea i was thinking about one of these also... i've seen some nice ones at auction going for around 4k

you need 2 tractors to run one though.

 

[nobull82]

There's a post about it on here but don'tknow how to share the link. Srbeef has it and looks pretty cool for a 1 tractor setup

 

[jedstivers]

I thought about getting one of those 3pt bale wrappers that Leaves the ends open but not really sure about it or know anything about it but you may wanna look In to it.

yea i was thinking about one of these also... i've seen some nice ones at auction going for around 4k

you need 2 tractors to run one though.

I priced one like srbeef has but it's been to long. I think it was 2,500 but I wouldn't bet a nickel on that being right. It's a unverforth, one tractor to run it. Can spin out with it to feed too. Wrap wasn't that bad of price.