Round Bale Storing

[tnwalkingred]

Hey y'all,

For the past few years we have been fortunate to get our hay from field to barn without any issues. But this year some of my hay suppliers are cutting hay much earlier, in turn it's taking longer to cure, and there is a chance the baled hay will get rained on before we can get it from the field to the barn. A couple of questions for the group below.

1. How long should hay that was baled a little early be left outside to pass through a "heat phase" before it is stacked in the barn?

2. How many days after a rain should you wait to put baled hay that was stored outside in a barn to stack?

 

[callmefence]

1 . Untill it peaks. I have a long drill bit on a extension that I drill into the wettest squattingest Bale. A oven thermometer with a long probe is inserted, and the hole plugged with hay. Don't do it in the core. Just outside the core where it's really tight. Usually it'll peak about 7-10 days. If it doesn't get over 130 you should be ok. If it does it's not worth storing in the barn so problem solved.

Good bales that got rolled up right are designed to shed rain. Just wait until the hay on the outside is dry .

 

[Stickney94]

This is a topic that the short hand "ymmv" is probably the right answer (your mileage may vary).

1. I've had the best luck with hay like this by getting it under roof but not stacking. I just loose place them in rows and keep the doors open. But I live in a place with near constant wind day and night. If I leave them outside and they get rained on, it just seems to fuel the heat phase longer.

2. If the rain was hard and ran off, I'd say stack when the bale exterior is dry. If its a three day soaker you may simply be out of luck.

There are some good threads on HayTalk as well on this topic.

 

[WFfarm]

2. I wouldn't worry about rain on the top and side of the bales. You can feel when it's dried off. Its the bottom of the bale that if left to set on the ground for a few days does not get air to breath and will draw moisture from the ground. I've seen people tip bales on end to get the circumference to dry. Faces can dry latter if stacked in a barn.

P.S. I was told that hay in the field needs to be dryer for big round bales than small square bales. Some people think they can bale hay tough if they are rolling it up because it can breath out in the field. But, if you have a good dense bale, its hard to get that moisture out from the inner parts and not get heat and mold. Wet big bales in the field at least wont burn a barn down.

 

[BFE]

Ran into this problem myself this week. Fortunately, my bale man has a wrapper. Probably the best quality hay (wheat/clover) I've ever baled. Quantity is down with everyone this year, but there should be minimal waste with this wrapped hay.

 

[greggy]

Most people store the round bales outside around here if net wrapped.

I have no hay shed, have had many that lived outside till used, but my numbers are low, what I do though is sit them on pallets so the bottom does not rot, but I think most accept that small loss & would not be practical for large numbers.

 

[WFfarm]

Net wrap is better than string for preserving hay and leaving round bales outside. We only have a string baler, so we found an OD wrapper to most cost effective way to save our hay.