Outside hay

[coachg]

Do you separate your round bales when leaving them outside or do you jam them together end to end ? Barn is full , have to leave some outside. I've tried it both ways and not convinced which is better . . I never put them touching on the sides.

 

[M.Magis]

I've done both with string tied bales, and as long as the bales are reasonable tight and square, I don't see a big difference either way.

 

[jltrent]

I have some round bales 5x4 tight with three rounds of net from last year jammed together North/South direction on the flat ends. I was checking a few days ago and they had about 2" damage on the bottom and a 1/2" damage on the top. Feeding them the same year you don't get much damage. I see a lot of people letting their equipment set outside while their hay is inside.

 

[bird dog]

Butt them tight and on a slightly sloped ground preferably in the north south direction. At least a foot apart on the sides.

 

[Brute 23]

Jammed flat end to flat end in rows. Tighter the better. Leave a foot two and make the next row parallel to the other.

The outside will brown but even several years later the parts touching will look new, if they are tight.

I would not want to do round end to round end. It tends to rot where it touches because it makes a V.

 

[Dave]

Here and in a lot of the west I see them with a bale sitting on the flat side with a bale setting on the round on top of it. The whole pile stacked close.

 

[Silver]

Here and in a lot of the west I see them with a bale sitting on the flat side with a bale setting on the round on top of it. The whole pile stacked close.

That's a disaster if you live anywhere you get moisture unless you can feed them out before they take on water. The snow melt or rain runs down around the top bale and goes straight down through the bottom bale. It also wicks up from the bottom. The top bale will be fine and the bottom bale completely ruined by spring.

 

[Dave]

That's a disaster if you live anywhere you get moisture unless you can feed them out before they take on water. The snow melt or rain runs down around the top bale and goes straight down through the bottom bale. It also wicks up from the bottom. The top bale will be fine and the bottom bale completely ruined by spring.

Didn't say it was for everyone. Just how it is done here. When I was on the coast (60 inch annual rainfall) I stacked them 3, 2, 1 and stretched a silage tarp over the pile. A twine over the top with an old tire on each end at about every other bale to hold the tarp. Tied it so the tires were about a foot off the ground and each side. Tarps were 100x40. Got about 3 or 4 years out of the tarp by folding it up when done.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Butt them tight end to end and when you take them out the flat ends will be almost as green as when it wad baled.

 

[Silver]

Didn't say it was for everyone. Just how it is done here. When I was on the coast (60 inch annual rainfall) I stacked them 3, 2, 1 and stretched a silage tarp over the pile. A twine over the top with an old tire on each end at about every other bale to hold the tarp. Tied it so the tires were about a foot off the ground and each side. Tarps were 100x40. Got about 3 or 4 years out of the tarp by folding it up when done.

Here we get about 16" annual precip average ( much less the last few years) so we just butt them end to end.

 

[WAnabee]

Didn't say it was for everyone. Just how it is done here. When I was on the coast (60 inch annual rainfall) I stacked them 3, 2, 1 and stretched a silage tarp over the pile. A twine over the top with an old tire on each end at about every other bale to hold the tarp. Tied it so the tires were about a foot off the ground and each side. Tarps were 100x40. Got about 3 or 4 years out of the tarp by folding it up when done.

Yup, Im in western WA and thats what ive been doing the last few years. Even so somehow moisture seems to get under the tarp and it starts to lose quality, i try to have all the dry bales fed before January or so and switch to wrapped bales. Ive often wondered how bales would do here using some of these other methods, i predict they wouldnt last long but maybe an experiment is in order.

 

[Mrcopier]

We just butt end to end in Texas

 

[Brute 23]

Some one on here use to have the study that showed most hay loss to least. I remember flat side down in dirt was the worse. I think 3-2-1 or 2-1 uncovered was pretty bad. Any thing that didn't shed water or touched the ground, especially on the flat end, caused the most loss.

 

[Allenw]

End to end with a good space between rows for air flow and to let the coyotes and bobcats to hunt rats and mice between rows is what I like to do.

 

[WestTexasLivestockGrowers]

You can but them up end to end in a north to south direction but can always leave a couple of feet of space between the rows for ventilation

 

[redcowsrule33]

You can but them up end to end in a north to south direction but can always leave a couple of feet of space between the rows for ventilation

And to allow a cow to get through cleanly if they get out into the pile. Had one get wedged so tight that the front feet no longer touched the ground, had to pull the bales out to get it free.

 

[wobbie1775]

Dangerous post coming: I have no experience but Greg Judy on youtube puts 2 scrap logs/branches (that are under almost every tree) under his bales to chock them up in the air. So instead of having approx 4ft x 4ft in contact with the ground you only have 4ft x 2 in per log (4ft x 4in) plus some ground contact (maybe 4ft x 20in?). This should reduce your damaged hay on the bottom. Might be too much work for 1 human... Unless you set all the scabs/sticks/chocks in place.

 

[Butterbean_Farms]

I'm in AL too, and with good consistently baled hay stored on smooth ground, I'd push them together end to end. I never have any of those things so I always leave an air gap around each bale. I had a serious issue with water causing rot on the end of the bales when I tried to jam them together. I use cover edge net wrap.