Tamping hay????
- Thread starter Bigfoot
- Start date
Help Support CattleToday:
I'd cover the end down about half way BF.
TennesseeTuxedo said:
I agree with TT. You want a little air to circulate.
If that's Cotton Duck (canvas) like the army used to use for tents and tarps, it breathes air but the fibers are woven so close together water molecules can't penetrate.....unless you touch the under side and water will come gushing through every place you touched.....well not gushing, but you will have a leak.
That's why it makes good boat covering tarps vs vinyl/plastic. It lets the boat "exhale" whereby the latter holds the moisture in and has to be mechanically ventilated.
Which causes me to wonder with it sitting on hay, and having it touching and having the wind blowing on it, it just might leak on you and defeat the purpose. Might be worth checking out.
That's why it makes good boat covering tarps vs vinyl/plastic. It lets the boat "exhale" whereby the latter holds the moisture in and has to be mechanically ventilated.
Which causes me to wonder with it sitting on hay, and having it touching and having the wind blowing on it, it just might leak on you and defeat the purpose. Might be worth checking out.
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
I have stacked and covered before. High winds ALWAYS rubs holes in tarps for me. These were not the "special" hay tarps.
I store mine in a line, pushed together as tight as tractor possible, end to end. NEVER let round sides touch anything. Hay comes out like stored in a barn, except maybe 1/2" on top (which the cows eat) and the bottom - couple of inches (which the cows also eat).
Edit: also, when I had a tarp, it was a major PITA to get the bales out after it got cold and we had snow & ice.
I store mine in a line, pushed together as tight as tractor possible, end to end. NEVER let round sides touch anything. Hay comes out like stored in a barn, except maybe 1/2" on top (which the cows eat) and the bottom - couple of inches (which the cows also eat).
Edit: also, when I had a tarp, it was a major PITA to get the bales out after it got cold and we had snow & ice.
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
In my experience, the tarp will wear through where the rope touches it. Hope it doesn't for you. Let us know this winter.
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
You are right. That is the only way I would know to keep it solid.
I'm just saying that IS the way I did it in the past and would just NEVER tarp hay again. It is a PITA to do. IF it leaks, it ruins your hay. And, lining them up end to end outside is easy and keeps super good without all that worry & work. In your climate, you may not have the moisture or wind we have. Might work great for you.
Edit: I hope you are able to say it worked great this winter!
I'm just saying that IS the way I did it in the past and would just NEVER tarp hay again. It is a PITA to do. IF it leaks, it ruins your hay. And, lining them up end to end outside is easy and keeps super good without all that worry & work. In your climate, you may not have the moisture or wind we have. Might work great for you.
Edit: I hope you are able to say it worked great this winter!
chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
I tarp all the dry hay I can and with decent hay tarps have no trouble with them ripping or wearing thru. The ones I buy have grommets down the side so I tie on whatever I have for weight to hold them down, a pipe sleeve would be more robust. Leave the ends open, and keep the tarp about halfway down the bottom bales on the sides and the hay will come out looking like the day it went in.
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
Yes, with a HAY TARP, designed to be used like that. And, with the grommets, you don't have rope going over the top of them. People invented hay tarps because regular tarps don't normally work.
Still, even if someone gave me a hay tarp, I wouldn't ever use them because of the snow & ice.
Still, even if someone gave me a hay tarp, I wouldn't ever use them because of the snow & ice.
chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
We get more ice and snow than most (25.5 FEET last year) and still don't mind the tarps one bit. Plow down both sides of the tarp and the snow slides off, roll it back and get your hay. Depending on the weather forecast I will uncover a week or so at a time.
OP
OP
Bigfoot
Well-known member
Saw a picture on Facebook. Someone had put their hay in rows. Took a 8' X 100' sheet of 6 mil black plastic, and ran it down the top. Had two bricks tied together and drapped over the rolls. Looked like it would work to me, and they said some of the plastic had been holding for a few year.
Had a neighbor back in the day, that ran sheets of tin down his and weighted the tin with concrete blocks. His hay looked like it had been kept in a barn.
Had a neighbor back in the day, that ran sheets of tin down his and weighted the tin with concrete blocks. His hay looked like it had been kept in a barn.
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
Chevy - you got me beat - my average is 120" a year - that's only 10'. Are you a real moist cold? You are about the same North as I am.
I have to agree Jeanne. I tarped some rolls before I had a shed. The juice just wasn't worth the squeeze. Everything you previously mentioned and then some. The little bit of quality you MIGHT save if things go well, just wasn't worth all the aggravation(especially with snow and ice). Anything I can't store under barn cover gets stored outside on the high ground and fed out first. Not much more waste than when I tarped it.Jeanne - Simme Valley said:
At any rate, looks like you did a great job tarping it and tying it off Bigfoot. Hope it works out well for you!
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
Guess I would do it the opposite timing. Feed the tarped bales first, barn hay last.
Or = do you mean, you won't start feeding ANY hay until February? My mind doesn't think in those terms - LOL - we START feeding hay in October!!!
Or = do you mean, you won't start feeding ANY hay until February? My mind doesn't think in those terms - LOL - we START feeding hay in October!!!
Lucky_P
Well-known member
Good luck.
You'll be surprised(or hopefully, you won't) by how well that tarp will wiggle right out from under those ropes and slide down to the ground on one side or the other. Ask me how I know...
Pipe sleeves on some of them are a nice addition. I've used tarp-gripping clamps and tied down to the pallets that the bales were stacked on, or to locust posts.
Used several of those billboard and shipping container cover tarps for several years, before we built a barn.
One batch covered a 2+1 stack just right... but the next year, different supplier... bales were smaller and the tarps went all the way to the ground on both sides and on the ends. Trapped every bit of moisture coming up out of the ground and the rot/damage to the bales was substantial. Don't know if leaving the ends open would have been enough, but when I've tarped since then, I make sure they don't go all the way to the ground to create a 'dark greenhouse'
You'll be surprised(or hopefully, you won't) by how well that tarp will wiggle right out from under those ropes and slide down to the ground on one side or the other. Ask me how I know...
Pipe sleeves on some of them are a nice addition. I've used tarp-gripping clamps and tied down to the pallets that the bales were stacked on, or to locust posts.
Used several of those billboard and shipping container cover tarps for several years, before we built a barn.
One batch covered a 2+1 stack just right... but the next year, different supplier... bales were smaller and the tarps went all the way to the ground on both sides and on the ends. Trapped every bit of moisture coming up out of the ground and the rot/damage to the bales was substantial. Don't know if leaving the ends open would have been enough, but when I've tarped since then, I make sure they don't go all the way to the ground to create a 'dark greenhouse'
chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
My hope is to graze until December and then use my outside stored bales first, then tarped hay, then inside hay last.
