EPIC hay tarp FAIL!!!

[Supa Dexta]

Find a spot to dump them, take off the string, and then back the manure spreader up to them with a few loads. Then let it sit a while, turn as needed.

 

[Bigfoot]

I'd feed that in the drop of a hat.

 

[ez14]

How far in to the bale does that stuff go

 

[Brute 23]

Uncovered my hay stack last night and discovered that the tarp had apparently not shed a drop of water since I put it on. 1/3 to 1/2 of the bales are ruined or mostly ruined. Mold and stuff growing everywhere. The monetary loss sucks but I've actually got plenty of hay at another farm. My biggest concern is disposal. I don't have a good spot to dump it. I'm thinking about feeding it in rings in the brush and letting the cows eat what they want. Good, bad, or ugly for cows? I've fed some bad stuff before but that doesn't make it smart. Thanks

Is it common in your area to stack hay like that? Even when people tarp their hay around here they put it end to end.

 

[J&D Cattle]

EZ, some bales it's all the way through.

Brute, yes a lot of people around here stack it like that. Tarp size always dictated how I could stack and it seems I'm never able to buy the same size when replacement time rolls around.

Saw our county's extension livestock specialist yesterday when I was taking soil samples. He said he would unroll it and give them plenty. Don't force them but he would feed what he could. He cautioned about early bred cows though.

 

[Craig Miller]

You could grow potatoes

http://www.goodshomedesign.com/how-to-grow-potatoes-in-a-pile-of-hay/

 

[Brute 23]

I was always told if you stack your hay like that it will rot. It works its way from the ground up through the bale.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Never seen anybody stack hay that direction. I stack all mine in pyramids under tarps and have never had anything resembling that come out from under a tarp.

 

[Lucky_P]

Had a bunch like that this year... barn was full, stacked a bunch outside under tarps - pyramid on pallets... but they were smaller bales than usual... tarps went all the way to the ground all around.... rainforest, or more like a sunless greenhouse - like mentioned earlier in this thread.
I fed it all, but d@ng, it was some nasty stuff, and they wasted a LOT of it... but they got something out of it... most bales were rotten for 6-12 inches in, or more, all the way around; we usually peeled off the rotten crap before we let the cows in to it - that was a whole lot more work than I'd have liked to have had to deal with.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Don't sit them on their butts next time, and throw away the tarp.

You can still feed it, just go dump it in some brush you want cleared, and let the cows go to work.