Wrapped first hay bales of the season today (pic)

[SRBeef]

I picked up my first new bales of the season from my hay supplier today. He has had a very difficult time making good dry hay this summer with all the rain in SW WI but these are good dry beef bales.

I know a lot of folks use bags or full wrap. I have compromised on a simple system of just wrapping the outside diameter of these very large 6 ft+ dia x 5 ft wide heavy bales. Most weigh 1600 lb +. I wrapped them today right off of the trailer.

Last year my net-wrapped bales sat on the ground for a couple months before wrapping and I could tell when I took the wrap off. This year I was aiming for wrapping them as they come out of the field but can't quite time that with my day job schedule right now.

Just got a start today but it helps to have a season under my belt. Little things like don't wrap around the corners (holds water), more efficient handling etc. Here is a picture of some wrapped bales from today. I set them on used pallets from our plant until I run out of pallets then on the ground. I save the ones on pallets to feed last. The strip tilled corn on corn in the background is part of my grazing/finishing corn for the coming winter/spring steers.

Jim

 

[bigbull338]

that hay looks good.

 

[novaman]

I'm pretty sure you said what it costs to wrap bales in last year's post but I can't seem to find it. So did you figure what it costs with fuel, wrap, and any other expenses? The other thing I'm curious about is the ends of the bales being exposed. The bales almost look like they aren't tight together or else the bales just aren't lined up well. Do you see much spoilage on any of those exposed areas?

 

[Stocker Steve]

Thanks for the pics SR!

I made some balage last year, and it seemed to work well as long as you were not moving bales a long ways. What do you think about wrapping balage vs. dry bales?

I estimate that I can build a fancy hay shed w/ sides, store dry bales for about $10/yr, and have it paid off in 7 years. Looks like overkill for cheap grass hay but justifiable for good mixed hay. How much lower is your cost of wrapping dry bales vs. shed storage of dry bales?

 

[SRBeef]

I'm pretty sure you said what it costs to wrap bales in last year's post but I can't seem to find it. So did you figure what it costs with fuel, wrap, and any other expenses? The other thing I'm curious about is the ends of the bales being exposed. The bales almost look like they aren't tight together or else the bales just aren't lined up well. Do you see much spoilage on any of those exposed areas?

Costs to wrap bales as shown is minimal. The machine costs about 2500. If I figure a 5 year life (it is so simple should last much longer) and 100 bales/year, the machine cost is about $5./bale. Fuel is so low it is negligible. It only takes me about 10 minutes or so to wrap each bale now that I have some experience and a system. I wrap them as I take them off of the trailer and before setting in line. The plastic is about $60/roll if I recall. I think I got about 30 bales per roll last year but not sure. so total cost is about $7./bale or in that vicinity. At $7 or $8/bale x 100 bales I can't build a building for that. And I also don't have a good flat open spot where I want a huge 100 6x5 bale hay storage building which sits empty half the year.

Last year I pushed them tight together and the ends stayed nice. My neighbor suggests this year however to leave a gap between them since we have been so extremely wet all summer to let any moisture still in the bales out. So I am leaving about a foot between them this year.

The bales I buy tend to be coarse on the ends for some reason. I don't see significant spoilage on the ends which are mostly coarse material anyway. what I don't want to see in March is mold in the outer foot or so, especially on the bottom. That is very expensive and pretty much eliminated by the wrapping, especially for the ones on pallets.

The $7 or $8 cost of wrapping is probably completely paid for by reduced losses from mold, compared to a net-wrapped bale sitting on the ground. Maybe repaid several times over by spring in our climate. jmho. Jim

 

[SRBeef]

Thanks for the pics SR!

I made some balage last year, and it seemed to work well as long as you were not moving bales a long ways. What do you think about wrapping balage vs. dry bales?

I estimate that I can build a fancy hay shed w/ sides, store dry bales for about $10/yr, and have it paid off in 7 years. Looks like overkill for cheap grass hay but justifiable for good mixed hay. How much lower is your cost of wrapping dry bales vs. shed storage of dry bales?

Steve, I think in baleage you need to wrap the complete bale air tight including the ends. While the manuufacturer of my 3-point wrapper says you can do baleage I question that. The machines I have seen for baleage are different, spin the bale differently and are more complex and expensive. But I have not really tried baleage. In my system over the winter I need to be able to set out 3%/day of my herd weight x 7 days for a week worth of hay in various feeders and wave goodbye, see you girls next week.

I addressed cost and shed comparison in a reply above. Jim

 

[Angus Cowman]

Jim
I think you will find out by the end of winter you would of been better off shoving them bales tight together
JMO
AC

 

[SRBeef]

Jim
I think you will find out by the end of winter you would of been better off shoving them bales tight together
JMO
AC

You are probably correct. I will experiment: next trailer loads I get I will push them tight and compare. I did like the pushed-tight bales last year. Thanks for the input. Jim

 

[Stocker Steve]

Costs to wrap bales as shown is minimal. The machine costs about 2500. If I figure a 5 year life (it is so simple should last much longer) and 100 bales/year, the machine cost is about $5./bale. Fuel is so low it is negligible. It only takes me about 10 minutes or so to wrap each bale now that I have some experience and a system. I wrap them as I take them off of the trailer and before setting in line. The plastic is about $60/roll if I recall. I think I got about 30 bales per roll last year but not sure. so total cost is about $7./bale or in that vicinity. At $7 or $8/bale x 100 bales I can't build a building for that.

I agree - - your wrapping cost is less per bale than a decent building. Some low volume folks might be able to match costs after a building bonus depreciation tax benefit. I try not to think about real estate taxes...

I think the individual issue gets into how much bale storage you currently have, and how much use can you get out of the wrapper investment. I have made or purchased about 700 bales this year and have storage for half of that -- so my wrapping cost per bale should be lower than yours. More like $3.50 plus labor.

Labor is not free but I need to handle them either way. So call it $5 or half price vs. a decent building???

Who made your wrapper?

 

[novaman]

Jim
I think you will find out by the end of winter you would of been better off shoving them bales tight together
JMO
AC

I second that. Any bales with exposed ends get pretty brown looking with the added exposure. The bales that were tight together keep a nice color to the feed.

 

[SRBeef]

...Who made your wrapper?

Here is the wrapper I purchased:

http://www.unverferth.com/um/hayhandling/roundabout.php

Very well made. Jim

 

[daniel]

Jim,

Just curious what was the moisture content of the hay and have you checked them since.

Has any one else tried this method with results of total feed loss?

 

[Angus Cowman]

Jim,

Just curious what was the moisture content of the hay and have you checked them since.

Has any one else tried this method with results of total feed loss?

if it was dry for baling why would you have loss
the only way I would see you losing your bales would be if they were baled to wet to begin with and then it won't matter if they are wrapped or not you will experience loss

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Jim
I think you will find out by the end of winter you would of been better off shoving them bales tight together
JMO
AC

I second that. Any bales with exposed ends get pretty brown looking with the added exposure. The bales that were tight together keep a nice color to the feed.

I THIRD that!! Been feeding net wrapped dry bales for many many years. Always push them til I move the whole line or try to anyway!
Jim, I know you said you had a lot of spoilage and that's why you are plastic wrapping. But, I find very very little spoilage if net wrapped. If string wrapped, lots more. I pretty much always line mine up on a slight slope - maybe that helps keeps the moisture from seeping up. Yes, the bottom has more waste than the rest. But, I'm looking at about maybe 3/8 on outside and maybe 3" on bottom at most. And with that little, they eat it along with the good. The bottom is usually one big frozen block that I usually set off to the side. When it thaws out, my cows usually eat it :shock:
Most of my hay is put up as baleage, in-line wrapped, so only the outside is wrapped - no waste.

 

[SRBeef]

Here is a picture of my net wrapped bales taken about two weeks ago:

These bales were netwrapped by my hay supplier and then I plastic wrapped them. When I put them out I first lift them high and then drop them on the ground to get the snow and ice off of them. The plastic wrap comes off easily and usually the netwrap under that.

If these were not wrapped I do not think it would be physically possible to get the netwrap off of them before feeding. I will not feed a bale with plastic netwrap on it.

Here are two pictures of some of these bales I put in feeders the other day. I try to rotate the bales so the part that was on the ground during storage is on the top in the feeders.

A cow and some weaned heifer calves seem to think the hay is ok.

These bales have stayed in very good condition and the plastic wrap and netwrap both came off fairly easily. It has been below freezing in Wisconsin since mid December except for one or two days when the temperature came up and went back down again making a lot of ice under the new snow.

I did have one bale that my cattle just would not eat. They finished off every bit of a 2-year old wrapped bale but would not touch this what I thought was good quality current year bale right next to it.

Moving the uneaten bale I found that it was very moldy most of the way through.

This past year 2010 had a very wet early summer haying season in Wisconsin. The hay supplier I buy from was about pulling his hair out trying to get it dry although it was growing like crazy. First and second cuttings especially were very difficult. He and I picked over the bales that had been rained on from the ones that had not.

Obviously we missed one of the bales that had been rained on after cutting and prior to baling.

Conclusions:

-Wrapping a bale that is not dry is not going to make it better, even if a space left between.

-A bale that is dry when it is baled and wrapped seems to stay in good condition. While my 2-year old wrapped bales which sat through a very wet summer did have some waste on the bottoms (sitting directly on the ground on a slope), once I removed that, most of the bale was excellent quality and the cows ate it readily.

-Wrapping also makes frozen-on netwrap possible to remove when otherwise I would have wasted a lot of hay to get it off.

-Pushing together keeps the ends visually more green than leaving a space but that does not seem to be significant as just inside the brown ends on the spaced bales the hay is as green as the pushed together bales.

My #1 conclusion is to not bother buying/moving/wrapping ANY bales that have even a hint of apparent moisture in them or were not fully dry when baled. jmho.

I hope this helps. Jeanne, in my climate I do not see that netwrap provides any significant weather protection other than if it keeps the bale tighter than say sisal. But I think that is a function of how the baler is set more than the netwrap itself. Other climates may be different.

Jim

 

[SRBeef]

And yes, AC, next year I am going to push these all tight together. Leaving a space does not seem to be doing anything positive. A bale is either dry inside when it is baled or it is not. I owe you one.

Jim

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Yes, Jim, the tightness of the bale makes a major difference in their quality if stored outdoors. My guy mostly bales baleage, and his baler (no, I don't want to guess what brand) makes a really really tight bale. You cannot put your fingers in it to try to pull out any hay.
Our weather is probably pretty close to yours. Occasionally, like you, if the weather warms up above freezing, you will get a crust of ice on top (and like you sometimes major ice all over it). I just squish the bale with my front end loader prior to picking up. I rarely have trouble getting the net wrap off.
The worse thing with my bales, is that they pick them up & move them with a pick-up trailer. If they "hit" it wrong, they can "disturb" the tightness of the edges or tear net wrap, and that will cause some outer spoilage.
We all do what we can to provide the best feed at least cost. Your hay looks absolutely perfect. So, if it's cost affective to you, that's all that counts.
And you are absolutely right. If the bale has any moisture when baled, there isn't anything you're going to do to keep it from getting dusty. Pushing up tight means you can get more hay in a smaller area, and keeps the hay inbetween fresher.

 

[hayray]

net wrap plus wrapping in plastic for dry bales sure seems like a huge waste of energy and plastic, not trying to be critical, just an observation on labor time and energy cost and conservation. I sisal twine tie mine and stack in pyramid stacks and store under silage plastic, is for sure alot cheaper and may be as fast when you consider the wrapping time versus time saved baling with net wrap versus twine tie. I get a couple years out of the plastic. Obviously does not work for baleage.

 

[SRBeef]

net wrap plus wrapping in plastic for dry bales sure seems like a huge waste of energy and plastic, not trying to be critical, just an observation on labor time and energy cost and conservation. I sisal twine tie mine and stack in pyramid stacks and store under silage plastic, is for sure alot cheaper and may be as fast when you consider the wrapping time versus time saved baling with net wrap versus twine tie. I get a couple years out of the plastic. Obviously does not work for baleage.

Well, I purchase all of my hay and my supplier definitely prefers to netwrap vs twine because of the speed in baling. I have tried tarps and don't ever want to do that again on my windy ridge. I'm not sure I understand how you cover a 3-bale pyramid with silage wrap - or do you just mean tarp?

As far as the amount of plastic used - when I cut the wrap and netting it generally comes off cleanly and I can compress both the plastic wrap and the netting from one bale into a volume about the size of a large coffee can just with my hands. If there is little of no hay stuck to it I put the coffee can size ball into a plastic trash sack and when full put it in recycling. The wrap is very thin and only about 1-1/2 wrap thickness used.

Jim

 

[SRBeef]

I snapped a picture of a couple of the bales wrapped last August after I unwrapped them and loaded the bale feeders earlier this week. It has been cold, snowy and icy in Wisconsin. One advantage of having wrapped these net wrapped purchased bales is the ability to remove my suppliers net wrap.

If these were not wrapped with plastic film I doubt it would have been possible to remove the net wrap as frozen, cold and icy as it has been. Here is a picture of a couple bales after I removed the plastic wrap and net wrap. I will not feed my cattle net wrap.

I am pleasantly surprised at the condition of the bales. The only thing better would have been to have them inside a hay storage building, it seems. fwiw. Jim