hay tarp suggestions?

[bazman82]

Hey guys, I'm using more round bales for horses now and I'll be needing to pick up some tarps to cover them. I do single rows stacked on tires (the farm used to be an old junkyard). I would like to buy just a few in 30' lengths but unsure if 8oz tarps would be heavy enough or too much. Right now, tarpswholesaler seems to have the best selection but its surprisingly hard to find hay tarps for just single rows. Any suggestions? I make 4.5' x 5' bales.

 

[DJ54]

Try one of your local outdoor advertisiing companies. Billboard signs anymore around here are made of tarp like material. When they take them down, fold them up and take back to the shop. Our local company gives them away, I suppose to keep from paying a disposal fee. On the back side, they are black, I suppose to make the advertisement stand out. They are stitched around the borders, and come in various sizes. Some 20 long, some 40' long. I think height is 12'-14'.

Amish get most of them to make tarps. They buy the eyelet kits, and put them in at whatever spacing they need. Don't know how you plan to hold the tarps down, but just a suggestion on the eyelet kits.

I got 6 or 7 a few years back to pile industrial steam coal on, and cover it up. It was on there for 3 years, and held up well enough, I saved the one's on top. The others were pretty grungy from the coal dust, so went to the burn pile.

 

[5030]

Post number 2 is what I used to do as well, but be apprised, tarped rounds thend to sweat and you will have quite a bit of material loss. Horses don't like nasty hay.

 

[oosik]

Most of the farmers around here are using tarps like are used on the cross-country semi trucks. Really heavy and held down with those twist-in ground stakes. However - it would appear that tarping is on the wane. Tarping mostly for square bales. Covered storage or individual nylon wrap for round bales.

 

[Hay Dude]

Never had luck tarping bales. They would mold under the tarp because the tarp holds in the moisture from the ground below and the moisture the bales give off while sweating.
Instead, I put them on plastic pallets and rely on the net wrap to shed water. Of course, theres no option when you dont have inside storage, you gotta do what works best.
After several rains, I have found the outer 1 inch may be spoiled, but the rest looks pretty good. If I tarp them, it seems to create even more spoilage.

I take the very best bales and store them inside. The rest are left outside and sold as lower quality hay.

Your results may vary

 

[bazman82]

So i've seen a site that sells the vinyl billboards to specific sizes. I'd rather not go that route and have to spend the time to put the eyelets in. I would be using tires and hay string to hold them down. I have hundreds of them...if anyone in the WNY area needs some and are not that far from me I would be more than willing to bring a dump trailer load free of charge!!

I never noticed the bales sweating under the tarp I used last year. It was just a cheap tarp I had laying around and tried it out. Actually kept the bales looking pretty decent but was way to big. I believe it was a 20x30 tarp. The bales also don't set on the ground either. I use the bigger tires that I have on hand and place the bales on them. If sweating would be a big issue, I could try salting them like I do the square bales but I'm not sure how effective that would be considering their size difference.

 

[5030]

When I ran squares, I never salted them. No need. I bailed below 15%RM always. Rounds themselves don't sweat (unless you bale with high moisture. What happens is the temperature change from day time (warm) to night time (cool) causes moisture to condense on the underside of the tarp and drip on the bales causing mold to form. I gave up on that method years ago. I have a very large Clearspan storage building I store mine in. I store them vertically, on end, 3-4 high with the bottom bale on a plastic shipping skid. That way, they stay out of the weather, don't bleach out and retain their round shape and don't get oval. I sell them so my customers want round bales, not flat oval ones.

 

[5030]

Never had luck tarping bales. They would mold under the tarp because the tarp holds in the moisture from the ground below and the moisture the bales give off while sweating.
Instead, I put them on plastic pallets and rely on the net wrap to shed water. Of course, theres no option when you dont have inside storage, you gotta do what works best.
After several rains, I have found the outer 1 inch may be spoiled, but the rest looks pretty good. If I tarp them, it seems to create even more spoilage.

I take the very best bales and store them inside. The rest are left outside and sold as lower quality hay.

Your results may vary

EXACTLY. Net makes a great roof with 2 wraps on a bale. Been my experience as well. Tarps do not breathe so the dew and condensation drips on them and basically ruins the bales after a time.

Cattle aren't that particular but nags are. I have a genuine dislike for horsey people anyway. Dealt with them for years but no more. All cattle people now.

 

[5030]

To the OP... You can listen to experience or wing it and find out the hard way. One thing about crappy bales, they stink when roasted and you'll be roasting quite a few.:laughing:

 

[bazman82]

Well i would love to put a building out in the one field for both hay and horse arena but the funds dont allow for that at the moment. We do make the bales tight and I string them close together so the runoff is pretty decent. Usually by Feb. just a few inches of the outter layer is crap and the rest is good. I will still give the tarps a try to cover about 40 or 50 bales and see how it goes. Its all I have as an option right now.