Tamping hay????

[TennesseeTuxedo]

My hope is to graze until December and then use my outside stored bales first, then tarped hay, then inside hay last.

That's the way I'd do it.

 

[Bigfoot]

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!!!

Untarped hay first (shouldn't rot much by then. Tarped hay second, hopefully barn kept will be left over, and Cushing me for a drought.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

How did you line up your outside hay?

 

[snoopdog]

We use tarps, if I could I would pyramid the bales and save the aggravation of water pooling between the stacks. We aren't there yet, no loader here, but we always feed the other hay first. Y ou can get a grommet kit from harbor freight, and probably other places. We use weights to tie to and just let them hang, when we start feeding the tarped stuff I just cut the string.

 

[tom4018]

The billboard tarps I got have a sleeve you can put pipe in along the edges. I then run a rope under the bales and tie to the pipes. I have had pretty good luck with it. Only got about a third of mine covered this year as it rained so much.

 

[Bigfoot]

I probably won't tarp anymore hay. That huge tarp, that you can just barely get to slide an inch with all of your force..............Moves a foot a day. Debating on making a third cutting. I may run an 8' x 100' piece of black plastic down it, and sit them on truck tires. Put the hay in straight rows. Seems like a better option. Tarping also sounded good, but I'm not impressed with it.

 

[Dave]

I use the 6 mil silage tarps. Build a pyramid stack (3, 2, 1), pull the tarp over it, and tie it down. To tie it I use the heavy twine off big square bales with an old tire on each side. I hold the tire a foot or so off the ground. One strand of twine at each bale and two or three on the end ones. Tarps last 3 or 4 years. The tarps come in 32 by 100. I cut them in two when I first get them. 32 by 50 is a lot easier to handle.

 

[uplandnut]

The last time I tarped hay I bought a normal tarp and threw ropes over it and had retaining wall blocks hanging on each side to keep it down. Tarp stayed in place but it was a pain in the butt when the sides started to freeze down. I've noticed people around me use old tires in the same manner I used retaining wall blocks