Hay storage?

[Bill Elliott]

I'm fairly new to the cattle world. I have 10A of "pastureland". I was using about 3A for hay production. I don't have covered storage available. I have about 30 large rolls of hay. I currently have it set end-to-end north/south. We are located in lower Alabama. Is north/south correct or should it be east/west? Or does it make a difference. Great site...thanks for any advice/help. Cheers, Bill

 

[NorCalFarms]

Don''t know about Alabama, but here outside stacks run N-S so we can load hay off of the N end without snow drifts. Doubt you have that issue :shock:

I truly believe that a hay barn will always pay, for no more hay that you have wouldn't have to be that big, something small and cheap would work.

 

[Bill Elliott]

Snow is not an issue.... Thankfully....but space is. I've tried putting black plastic over the tops of the rolls...has not worked all that well...I only carry 5 pairs so have plenty of hay to get me through the next couple of months...will carry over remainder until next winter...just in case....Cheers, Bill

 

[Saltydawg]

I have had good luck storing hay outside using one of those big hay tarps I bought through a mail order place for greenhouse type stuff.

Has really cut down on the ammount of hay that ends up wasted.

I feed the outside stuff first in the winter cause once it starts snowing the tarp gets harder to move off the bales lol. Course thats not a problem for you :lol: .

 

[certherfbeef]

We set the bales on old semi tires. Keeps them up off the ground that way. We don't tarp and set the bales north to south. We don't let the ends of the bales touch though. Lots of moisture here and when they touch like that we have found that we get more spoilage.

We don't normally have too much hay left from the year before but, if it is made right the quality is just fine the second year.

 

[dj]

Bill,
If you run your stack e-w the sun will never hit the north side.
The wind won't dry the north side. And snow packs up worse.

If you run it n-s the sun hits both sides. The south wind dries both sides. And the snow won't build up as bad.

But as others will tell you. This all depends on your space and place.

 

[Bill Elliott]

Thanks everyone...appreciate the advice. I'll keep'm north and south and try to find something to put under them to keep them off the ground. Cheers..Bill

 

[CattleAnnie]

Be darn careful if you stack round bales.

Six years ago I stopped in at a friend's place to give her a hand with a calf (big dumb calf syndrome).

Anyway, she had her round bales stacked three high under an open sided hay shed, and as I walked by the shed I heard a soft "whoosh" kind of sound.

I looked up in the direction of the sound, and that saved my life, as I was able to jump out of the way of the 1500lb round bale that bounced right where I was about to step.

A bale had come off the top row. It sure wreaked all havoc on her son's tricycle, which was next in line with it's path (thank God the bale didn't let go when he had been riding it earlier in the day).

Anyway, just sharing this in the hopes that others will be aware that situations like this can happen.

We store our bales in single rows, butt to butt in an open hay yard. We also leave a fair bit of room between every four or so rows in case of fire due to a hot bale, etc.

Take care.

 

[MrBilly]

For the life of me I can't understand why someone would go to the expense of baling or buying good quality hay and then leave it out in the weather not protected? Many studies show at least a 30% loss in quality? sometimes more, topped with higher feeding losses.

A study in Louisiana found Losses of 43% for hay on ground; 32% on gravel; 37% on tires; 31% on wooden rack; 12% on wooden rack with plastic cover; and fianlly 2% in a pole barn.

Animal refusal of the hay in the same study ran from 66% on the ground down to 3% in the pole barn.

There are some pretty good covers out their that are relatively cheap - Dun has used them and might give us the name.

Billy

 

[MrBilly]

Here is another study on the costs of not protecting hay and of building a barn:

http://www.caf.wvu.edu/~forage/roundbale.htm

Billy

 

[CattleAnnie]

Billy, would love to be able to afford a hay shed, but BSE reared it's ugly head and threw a monkey wrench into those plans.

Would have to be a darn big building to store enough hay (at least 5 bales per cow) to overwinter 200 head of cattle...so we just do what we can with we have.

Take care.

 

[alabama]

I have stored hay under a tarp made to cover hay. It allows air to pass through but water runs off. Plastic will sweat and keep the hay wet. I stack the hay on old pallets on the crest of a hill and it keeps the hay just as well as in a barn. My tarp is called a "Hay Guard" and I ordered it out of north Alabama.
Another thought is that unless you are producing a lot of hay it is cheaper to use your land for grazing and buy your hay.

 

[bullred]

This is not practical for a big operation, but a buddy of mine that has about 10 cows, and only keeps about 20 bales of hay sits them on old tractor and 18-wheeler tires. Every time he sees an old truck tire on the side of the road he stops and picks it up. Sitting the hay on them keeps it from rotting on the bottom, and they last forever in the mud, unlike pallets.

 

[preston39]

Billy, would love to be able to afford a hay shed, but BSE reared it's ugly head and threw a monkey wrench into those plans.

Would have to be a darn big building to store enough hay (at least 5 bales per cow) to overwinter 200 head of cattle...so we just do what we can with we have.

Take care.

=================
Cattleanne...,

We tarp/plastic cover our hay 3 round bales high with the hay sitting on old tractor tires. 600 bales this last year. We burm around the area for drainage. It cuts the loss considerably and is cheap.

 

[Lammie]

That's been our problem is that we don't have anywhere to store much hay. I can put it in the barn, but then when I have a situation like I have now where I have bottle calves penned up, my other animals don't have anywhere to go if the weather gets bad. (Actually they can go to the adjoining pasture where there is cover, but they are afraid that they'll miss something. Like lunch.) I raise miniature donkeys. If I get round bales, I have no where at all to put them. And since I have a small operation, it is a pain for me to drag out one or two bales of hay every day. Havoc on the nails!