ROUND BALE ?

[BRYANT]

I may have more hay than I will feed this year depends on weather. How do most do your round bales if kept outside ? I never line them where the sides are touching , I leave about a foot between the sides, but what about the ends do most people line them where the ends are touching or do you leave space between each bale also??
they are 4X6 net wrapped grass hay some are tight others not as tight
I do hope this does not sound to dumb what I am asking

 

[Bigfoot]

End to end, mine touch. Sided to side they do not.

 

[bird dog]

Also try to put them on sloping ground where the water will run away from them. In other words, an ideal place would be on a south facing hillside with the bales lined up end to end going up the hill. They will keep for a long time if you can keep water from leaching up from the bottom.

 

[dun]

I leave about a foot between ends and sides.

 

[fenceman]

Whoops

 

[NolanCountyAG]

I put about a foot and half between the sides and butt the ends together. I wrap bales 3.5-4.25 times so the biggest area to rot are the ends if they aren't touching.

 

[dun]

I put about a foot and half between the sides and butt the ends together. I wrap bales 3.5-4.25 times so the biggest area to rot are the ends if they aren't touching.

Interesting. The reason I leave the end exposed is that they don;t rot where they arent touching another bale.

 

[Rafter S]

End to end as tight together as I can get them. The first 4"or so around the edges on the end will get discolored, but the rest will still be bright many months later. I leave room to walk between the rows.

 

[ram]

Nothing beats a barn. I use to keep my hay outside, but the waste was making me sick. It really got worse once I started to fertilize heavy and had good quality hay.

 

[skyhightree1]

I leave about a foot between ends and sides.

I have learned this is good practice in places that it snows and rains alot I lost a ton of hay by keeping it together end to end the air circulating in between lets it dry better.

 

[Angus Cowman]

I leave about a foot between ends and sides.

I have learned this is good practice in places that it snows and rains alot I lost a ton of hay by keeping it together end to end the air circulating in between lets it dry better.

Only way leaving a space between them would help is if the bales are loose
In Mo where we had dnow and rain and in the Delta where we had lots of rain snd HIGH humidity
I could stack them tight together end to end and a yr later when you moved them they would still be as green as the day they were baled
But they have to be pushed Tight together
Only time I noticed any rotting between them was if they were stacked to early after baling and they didn't go thru their heat before being shoved together

 

[littletom]

Tight end to end 3-4' between rows. We can get 300 inside. The ground water is a huge problem. Rock would save alot

 

[1982vett]