How to Stack Round Bales for Covered Storage

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Mighty Mouse

Mighty Mouse

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Jan 17, 2023
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south central Missouri
I just finished up a small lean-to for hay storage and have some 4x5 round bales scheduled for delivery later this week. I’m curious what stacking method y’all prefer…flat side horizontal, flat side vertical, or a mix? I’ve seen all 3 of those methods employed around here, but I’ve never really thought about which might be best. The overhead clearance inside my lean-to is a little less than 12’, so I’ll only be able go 2 bales high regardless of how I stack them.
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Stacking on the flat side will maintain the bale shape better. Like Chevy said, if on the ground, setting on the round side will potentially help a bit more to reduce wicking moisture up into the bale. I put mine in rows on "bale rails"... , they help to maintain their shape, and no more "soggy bottom boys"... minimal frozen netwrap. I space these rows out at 12' on center now, instead of close like this... that let's the snow get away from the sides instead of building up on top of them, and I can pick one row out anytime I want... allowing me to select whichever kind of hay I want if I've stored the different crops in separate rows. There's potentially a little more "difficulty" in the handling of them if storing them on the flat, or in a combination.

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When y'all are stacking them flat side down, do you just spear them through the round side?

My lean-to floor is a 4" layer of base rock, so not completely impervious to moisture intrusion from below but better than dirt. I do have some old plastic pallets lying around that I could stack on top of.
 
I stack flatside with pallet forks 4 bales high.

Here even with fabric, sand, and 4" of rock bales stacked on the flat side wick up moisture from the ground. As always that's a here problem not necessarily a there problem.

Only reason for me to stack on the flat is I can get bales 4 high vs 3 high in a pyramid. If only stacking 2 high then I'd just stack on the round side with spears.
 
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I store our hay in 40 ft shipping containers.
Container is only a little over 8 ft High so I have to stack them on the round side. I can get two of them in Caddy corner so I get 16 bales in a 40 footer.
You just got to make sure it's cured correctly before you put them in and close the doors.
Everyone told me they would mold but I've been doing it for years and have no trouble with varmints of any kind.
As long as their water tight they're a cheap way to go.. or at least they used to be before pricing got crazy I paid $1500 for each
And you got to make sure you got a small enough tractor that can get into the container that's big enough to lift a 800 lb Bale
 
We stack on end like 2nd pic. I feel like we get more in the barn this way. I fip them over then get underneath them with the forks to load or unload. We stack 3 high and don't have an issue with the floor getting wet so I feel like the net wrap side being exposed on front row helps with sun and moisture.
 
I've added this pic in my post above as well, to show how I store them in rows spaced 12' OC. You could pick one row out between the adjacent rows, even if you had duals on when they're stored this way. The snow melts down off the bales, instead of bridging and piling up between them, and then melting down INTO the bales more. Less spoilage, easier access to any kind of hay that you might want. Can "blend"... taking one 1st crop, and one 3rd crop bale, if you want, etc. Notice the "bale rails" underneath each row. When stored this way, you can back down the row, straddling the rails easily... as you see in that far right row... Right now, I've got 3 or 4 rows of rails in the bale yard out there that have had all the bales completely removed from them. Each full row is 50 bales long (approximately 250'). Makes inventorying simple. It's best to have the rows run up and down the hill (not across the hill) for better drainage. Pic is taken looking "uphill"...

If you do this for a few years, because of tractor caused compaction, you'll have the "tractor tracks" that run on each side of a "raised area" where the row itself is sitting on the bale rails... = better drainage too. If one wanted to, you could "cover" the bales with some plastic, or a tarp, about 8-10' wide, running right down the row, and then just pull it back when feeding. I haven't done that, but I'm sure it would help to save more hay. They'd shed all the water off the sides then. It could be "pinned down" with stakes stuck into the bales on the bottom edges, maybe one per bale on each side. A tarp, with eyelets riveted on, would work for this. I haven't gone there... too much of a hassle to deal with that, for the minimal amount of spoilage that I'm seeing on the bales when stored this way.

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RDFF said:
I've added this pic in my post above as well, to show how I store them in rows spaced 12' OC. You could pick one row out between the adjacent rows, even if you had duals on when they're stored this way. The snow melts down off the bales, instead of bridging and piling up between them, and then melting down INTO the bales more. Less spoilage, easier access to any kind of hay that you might want. Can "blend"... taking one 1st crop, and one 3rd crop bale, if you want, etc. Notice the "bale rails" underneath each row. When stored this way, you can back down the row, straddling the rails easily... as you see in that far right row... Right now, I've got 3 or 4 rows of rails in the bale yard out there that have had all the bales completely removed from them. Each full row is 50 bales long (approximately 250'). Makes inventorying simple. It's best to have the rows run up and down the hill (not across the hill) for better drainage. Pic is taken looking "uphill"...

If you do this for a few years, because of tractor caused compaction, you'll have the "tractor tracks" that run on each side of a "raised area" where the row itself is sitting on the bale rails... = better drainage too. If one wanted to, you could "cover" the bales with some plastic, or a tarp, about 8-10' wide, running right down the row, and then just pull it back when feeding. I haven't done that, but I'm sure it would help to save more hay. They'd shed all the water off the sides then. It could be "pinned down" with stakes stuck into the bales on the bottom edges, maybe one per bale on each side. A tarp, with eyelets riveted on, would work for this. I haven't gone there... too much of a hassle to deal with that, for the minimal amount of spoilage that I'm seeing on the bales when stored this way.

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With the "tarp" idea, you could use like 10' x 50' tarps with eyelets, and then just uncover them 50-100' at a time, limiting exposure ALMOST entirely, but still not have to deal with the durned tarps every time you fed. Leave 'em covered if some weather is coming in, if the forecast is good, you could uncover more. Would avoid any frozen ice layers when you got those wet rains/snows too. Snow would pretty much slide right off for the most part.

If one had tarps made specifically for this, you'd want to put the eyelets up maybe 6" above the hem on the tarp, so that there'd be a flap hanging down out away from the bale then, below your eyelet row... that way the water would drip off a few inches away from the bale, so it couldn't wick into the bale at the bottom edge of the tarp.
 
Like soup cans. I have forks and don't have open endwalls. stacking on ends doesn't waste space on the second level. Takes a little more time to manouver in the barn, but it is what it is. Getting the most use of the barn is my goal, not speed.
 

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