Bale storage...

[Southernspeed]

A good position to be in I guess, first year doing hay too, but I've run out of covered storage room and at the moment have 16 round bales on one trailer and 8 on a wagon. I have a tarp covering them that I remove by day if it's dry and replace at night. Is it ok to just leave them covered or will they spoil? This is horse hay I don't want to weather too much. Bales are pretty low moisture and baled 2 weeks ago.
Any thoughts/experience with tarp'd bales?

 

[Hay Dude]

I found tarps can trap moisture if in direct contact. Try to put 2x4’s across the top to allow air circulation. Allow air to circulate around all sides of the bales

 

[sea2summit]

Well if you’re feeding horses just putting them on a rusty wagon destroys them. If cows, why even cover them? So bottom line, what are you trying to do with the hay?

 

[Southernspeed]

Well if you’re feeding horses just putting them on a rusty wagon destroys them. If cows, why even cover them? So bottom line, what are you trying to do with the hay?

Where did you get 'rusty wagon' from? It's all wood and built a couple of months ago.

 

[sea2summit]

Where did you get 'rusty wagon' from? It's all wood and built a couple of months ago.

Tell that to the horse hay buyers.

In all seriousness, what are you trying to do with the hay? That would probably help with recommendations for how to store it.

 

[Southernspeed]

Tell that to the horse hay buyers.

In all seriousness, what are you trying to do with the hay? That would probably help with recommendations for how to store it.

It’s for our horses and the excess gets sold. I’ll only use around 40 bales if that so I’ll have about 60 for sale on top of what’s sold already.
The analysis put it at very good horse hay which is why I don’t want it to weather too much. Once a few more sell I can get these in the barn but no one’s buying at the moment around here.

 

[Hay Dude]

It’s for our horses and the excess gets sold. I’ll only use around 40 bales if that so I’ll have about 60 for sale on top of what’s sold already.
The analysis put it at very good horse hay which is why I don’t want it to weather too much. Once a few more sell I can get these in the barn but no one’s buying at the moment around here.

There’s low interest in hay this time of year because everyone usually has hay this time of year.

People start looking for hay from January-April, because that’s when all the people who can’t afford to buy enough in the summer run out.

 

[riptides]

Round bale.... horse hay???

Ya...those are destine for field feeding. Stick them on some lumber or pallets and cover lightly with something...

If they are not in a shelter, it is a race against time for "horse" hay.

 

[sea2summit]

It’s for our horses and the excess gets sold. I’ll only use around 40 bales if that so I’ll have about 60 for sale on top of what’s sold already.
The analysis put it at very good horse hay which is why I don’t want it to weather too much. Once a few more sell I can get these in the barn but no one’s buying at the moment around here.

This is just a recommendation but if you’re making the horse hay for you and want to sell the excess I would find the nearest cattle guy and offer him a good package price on most of the remaining rolls. You won’t get the premium price but you’ll get out of having to store and manage them. Save like 5-10, if you have room, to sell to horse people late in the winter when hay gets scare and use that to get your foot in the horse hay market.

All joking aside, I don’t really like selling to horse people because the are extremely opinionated and seem to want to lecture you about how to make hay if it’s their first time buying, the worst was a 20 something woman who was rescuing horses I still remember her. It’s a hard market to get into as well, horse people have their “hay guy” and if they don’t they only buy from another horse person’s hay guy until they find their own. You have an advantage if you’re already in the local horse circle but not sure how far that will go. I will say they won’t touch it under a tarp or on the ground, the first question is always about how it’s stored the second question is chemicals/fertilizers applied…I’m pretty sure most could lecture for hours about chemicals but couldn’t tell you more than two types of grass

FWIW I’M three years into making my own hay and have only a handful of hose people that call me and usually it’s only at the end of the year when their primary suppliers are out of hay.

 

[Hay Dude]

This is just a recommendation but if you’re making the horse hay for you and want to sell the excess I would find the nearest cattle guy and offer him a good package price on most of the remaining rolls. You won’t get the premium price but you’ll get out of having to store and manage them. Save like 5-10, if you have room, to sell to horse people late in the winter when hay gets scare and use that to get your foot in the horse hay market.

All joking aside, I don’t really like selling to horse people because the are extremely opinionated and seem to want to lecture you about how to make hay if it’s their first time buying, the worst was a 20 something woman who was rescuing horses I still remember her. It’s a hard market to get into as well, horse people have their “hay guy” and if they don’t they only buy from another horse person’s hay guy until they find their own. You have an advantage if you’re already in the local horse circle but not sure how far that will go. I will say they won’t touch it under a tarp or on the ground, the first question is always about how it’s stored the second question is chemicals/fertilizers applied…I’m pretty sure most could lecture for hours about chemicals but couldn’t tell you more than two types of grass

FWIW I’M three years into making my own hay and have only a handful of hose people that call me and usually it’s only at the end of the year when their primary suppliers are out of hay.

Some truths spoken there.
The horse hay market is difficult.

I went through more than a dozen psycho freaks before I settled on 4 customers I have stayed with for many years and I sell almost exclusively to them. They are sane, realistic, stable and usually bathed & fully clothed when I deliver to them.

If you think you want to get into selling horse hay, I’d suggest you line-up some courses in anger management and forget about having any Sundays off.

 

[riptides]

The horse hay market can be very lucrative if you get the right clientele.

Sorry to say, but the round bales would not attract the type of customer in horses that would make your day.

You have to get a really good feel for your marketing and customer base if you want to deal with horse people. They are a wide variety of personalities, for sure.

IMHO, of course.

 

[5030]

First off, are they wrapped in net or twine.

I don't have any stock anymore so I sell everything I make (I sell a couple hundred rounds every year) and I sell them all to one customer and have for the last 5 years now. He picks them up out of the field, I load them on his semi trailers and off they go and he pays me at the end of the year. Basically turn key and zero grief.

Had my fill of horsey people years ago. At my age, I have no patience with stupidity or rubber checks or ignorant horsey people that want to tell me what to do either. Why I sold my square bailer, don't do idiot cubes anymore (for idiots) and I don't miss it either.

Currently, I'm running 4 fields of mostly vernal alfalfa mixed grass. Everything is in net and net bales weather very well if not tarped or kept inside. The net acts like a roof and repels rain. Twine does none of that.

far as tarping rounds is concerned, expect them to sweat unless you pull the tarps daily, in the morning and re-tarp them in the evening, something I'd never want to do.

My customer keeps all the first cut outside and all the second or third cut rounds inside.

Twine bales won't weather outside very well at all, never have. Twine wrapped bales will soak up rain water and mold and the outer layers become useless.

I net wrap at least 2 wraps, usually 2.5 wraps per bale at high tension so the net is very secure on each one. My new round baler is adjustable on the fly for bale density as well as net tension during the wrap cycle which is quite nice. and I use over the edge net so the ends of the bales have protection as well plus they are easier to handle.

 

[5030]

I will say that in the current inflationary economy, the price of good hay (in idiot cubes or rounds) is getting pretty steep. I peruse the local hay auctions regularly and the last one I went to (Manchester hay and feed Auction), round bales (4x5)'s were bringing upwards of 50 bucks per in first cut or last year's second or third cut, supposedly stored inside in net and idiot cubes were getting 5+ per bale.

I don't buy auction hay, no need to but I like to go and observe and of course get a cup of watered down hot chocolate and a stale fry cake...lol

 

[Southernspeed]

Some truths spoken there.
The horse hay market is difficult.

I went through more than a dozen psycho freaks before I settled on 4 customers I have stayed with for many years and I sell almost exclusively to them. They are sane, realistic, stable and usually bathed & fully clothed when I deliver to them.

If you think you want to get into selling horse hay, I’d suggest you line-up some courses in anger management and forget about having any Sundays off.

I know, I've met them too!

 

[5030]

Non issue here any more.

 

[LouNY]

It's quite hilarious the different attitudes about what makes good horse hay or good cow hay.
As far as hay storage that is dependent on many different variables also.
I've seen hay stacked outside in the western states that stays in fairly good shape except for the top and bottom tiers.
The top from weather the bottom from ground moisture getting pulled up into the dry hay.
Round bales have been left every where from in the field where they were baled right where they were ejected or carried over and placed in rows or stacked on the edges of the fields.
I've had numerous people try and tell me that net wrapped bales can be stored outside in the weather and be fine.
All I'll say about outside stored hay is that if it's on the ground it will pull moisture from the ground requardless if it's small squares, big squares, round bales or even stacked unbaled hay. You can get by in arid locations with minimal looses.
If it is done in the East you will have considerable spoilage and loose.
I cringe whenever I see round bales left out in the weather around here, all that work and money to throw 50% away.

We store many round bales outside ourselfs with one "small" difference every bale stored outside is wrapped in plastic,
we store dry rounds wrapped in plastic when space is used up. Silage round bales are all stored outside in stacked rows of big marshmallows. Just waiting to be picked up with the squeeze grapple and feed out to the cows.

As far as hay quality in my mind dairy cows and feeder beef all need high protein, energy and digestibility. Beef brood cows
need a more fiber and lots less protein. Horse hay to me just good soft grasses with minimal dust and no mold. (it's just a horse).

 

[super55]

I would just stack and tarp. Make sure they are off the the ground resting on logs and put some milk crates on top to keep the tarp from resting on the top bales. You should get minimal spoilage.

I had a net wrapped round bale that I had for about 3 years sitting in a field. I through it in the cow pasture thinking they would tear it apart for bedding. After they got past the outer 3-4 inches it was still really good hay. Hard core net wraps last a long long time even out in the elements.

Since this is for horse people. Later in fall/winter and barn space opens up and you have free time. Open up the bales and square bale them and sell them. They will look like the freshest greenest small squares anywhere and will pull in a better price then rounds anyways.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

Some truths spoken there.
The horse hay market is difficult.

I went through more than a dozen psycho freaks before I settled on 4 customers I have stayed with for many years and I sell almost exclusively to them. They are sane, realistic, stable and usually bathed & fully clothed when I deliver to them.

If you think you want to get into selling horse hay, I’d suggest you line-up some courses in anger management and forget about having any Sundays off.

Anger management courses, Psycho Freaks? From personal experience I agree with you. My dad and I were delivering a load of hay to a horse stable with an agreed upon price. One way trip to this location was 187 miles. When we got there they said they wanted a lower price and commented that the 24 ton of hay on the truck didn't look like what they agreed to.
My dad told them he wasn't here to lose money and we hopped in the truck and drove down the road to a dairy that we also sold to.
The horse hay buyer followed and told the dairyman that the hay was his. Had to call the police to get rid of the guy. I have only seen anger like this displayed a couple of times in the good old USofA.

 

[5030]

It's quite hilarious the different attitudes about what makes good horse hay or good cow hay.
As far as hay storage that is dependent on many different variables also.
I've seen hay stacked outside in the western states that stays in fairly good shape except for the top and bottom tiers.
The top from weather the bottom from ground moisture getting pulled up into the dry hay.
Round bales have been left every where from in the field where they were baled right where they were ejected or carried over and placed in rows or stacked on the edges of the fields.
I've had numerous people try and tell me that net wrapped bales can be stored outside in the weather and be fine.
All I'll say about outside stored hay is that if it's on the ground it will pull moisture from the ground requardless if it's small squares, big squares, round bales or even stacked unbaled hay. You can get by in arid locations with minimal looses.
If it is done in the East you will have considerable spoilage and loose.
I cringe whenever I see round bales left out in the weather around here, all that work and money to throw 50% away.

We store many round bales outside ourselfs with one "small" difference every bale stored outside is wrapped in plastic,
we store dry rounds wrapped in plastic when space is used up. Silage round bales are all stored outside in stacked rows of big marshmallows. Just waiting to be picked up with the squeeze grapple and feed out to the cows.

As far as hay quality in my mind dairy cows and feeder beef all need high protein, energy and digestibility. Beef brood cows
need a more fiber and lots less protein. Horse hay to me just good soft grasses with minimal dust and no mold. (it's just a horse).

I agree to a point Lou... I leave my netted rounds in the field until my customer drops his trailers and then they get loaded. After that, I don't much care about them as they aren't mine anyway.

When I stored rounds in my big Clearspan truss arch building with it's engineered sand floor, I always stored them on plastic 4x4 shipping pallets which elevated them off the ground at least 4" and I NEVER stored them flat. I always stored them on end, 3-4 bales high. That totally eliminates them getting oval from the weight of the bale(s) sitting on top of the lower rows, plus, in my case at least, I could store inside, more bales than conventional stacking and because the bales were round, not oval and off the ground (so no moisture was geeing wicked into the bales, they were worth more and my customers (then) appreciated a good, dry and round, round bale. Not an issue now as we have no stock to feed and I only have one customer now and he really don't care so long as the forage is high quality and dry.

I will say the vertical stacking does require a tractor with substantial horsepower and weight as well as a round bale grabber (bale squeeze) to do that. You get them up, 3 or 4 high they make you cautious. Never had an issue however. Heck, I even vertical stacked them with pallet forks but that does take some 'finesse' on the part of the stacker, whereas a bale squeeze don't. Most everyone around these parts vertical stack, very few conventional stack.

 

[5030]

The horse hay buyer followed and told the dairyman that the hay was his. Had to call the police to get rid of the guy. I have only seen anger like this displayed a couple of times in the good old USofA.

Why I'm always carrying a sidearm, even in the tractor when making hay and in this state, open carry is 100% legal too.

Something about the sight of a sidearm seems to make people act much more congenial.

The old adage applies here...

'An armed society is a polite society'.. That applies in spades.