hay tarp suggestions?

[Hay Dude]

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.

Are you using net or string?

 

[bazman82]

Are you using net or string?

String. I have Gehl 1460 tdc, nothing fancy or new thats for sure.

 

[Hay Dude]

String. I have Gehl 1460 tdc, nothing fancy or new thats for sure.

I understand. “Hay don’t pay” is pretty much true. A net wrap baler would help you a lot, though.

 

[two_bit_score]

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.

If you are serious about your hay you might want to consider building a hay barn. The smart kids at Texas A&M say a hay barn is the first AG building that will certainly pay for itself.

Hay bales are an investment worth protecting | AgriLife Today

INSIDE HAY STORAGE WOULD PAY FOR EAST TEXAS PRODUCERS | AgriLife Today


Definitely on the right track with stacking off the ground on tires and covering it but a Hay building would be a better investment.

>>"The same study showed that storing hay outside on pallets or tires brought the losses down to about 12 percent. Hay stored on pallets or tires and covered with a tarpaulin brought losses down to 7 percent. But hay stored on the ground (without pallets or tires) and covered, lost nearly 13 percent.

By far, the lowest losses occurred to hay stored inside barns or sheds — only about 3.5 percent. You say you don’t have enough barn space to store all your hay? Then building another barn, particularly a relatively inexpensive one such as a pole barn, might pay off, said Greg Clary, economist with Texas Cooperative Extension."<<

 

[Hay Dude]

If you are serious about your hay you might want to consider building a hay barn. The smart kids at Texas A&M say a hay barn is the first AG building that will certainly pay for itself.

Hay bales are an investment worth protecting | AgriLife Today

INSIDE HAY STORAGE WOULD PAY FOR EAST TEXAS PRODUCERS | AgriLife Today


Definitely on the right track with stacking off the ground on tires and covering it but a Hay building would be a better investment.

>>"The same study showed that storing hay outside on pallets or tires brought the losses down to about 12 percent. Hay stored on pallets or tires and covered with a tarpaulin brought losses down to 7 percent. But hay stored on the ground (without pallets or tires) and covered, lost nearly 13 percent.

By far, the lowest losses occurred to hay stored inside barns or sheds — only about 3.5 percent. You say you don’t have enough barn space to store all your hay? Then building another barn, particularly a relatively inexpensive one such as a pole barn, might pay off, said Greg Clary, economist with Texas Cooperative Extension."<<

You can also benefit from partial indoor equipment storage. I have a tractor shed and my equipment looks much better for it. It retains its value and is a welcome sight in bad weather. Keep snowplows in it too.
I have found some local property owners who have unused hay barns and I farm their properties for them. I have been able to offer to fix them up a little in return for storing 50-100 bales in them.

 

[bazman82]

As much as I would love to put a building up for hay storage, its just not in the cards for money reasons. Even if i buy new tarps every year, itll only cost me about 200 bucks at the most. So 200 bucks a year and about an hour or 2 more of my time per year is way cheaper than a building. I would also have to sacrifice one of my smaller hay fields to build on. Now, we will most likely have an arena built for the horses on that field in the next 10 years or so. At that time, i will work into that building an open covered end for hay storage and equip storage. I only do about 120 - 150 rounds a year and about 900 small squares a year and we use mostly all of it ourselves.

 

[Hay Dude]

As much as I would love to put a building up for hay storage, its just not in the cards for money reasons. Even if i buy new tarps every year, itll only cost me about 200 bucks at the most. So 200 bucks a year and about an hour or 2 more of my time per year is way cheaper than a building. I would also have to sacrifice one of my smaller hay fields to build on. Now, we will most likely have an arena built for the horses on that field in the next 10 years or so. At that time, i will work into that building an open covered end for hay storage and equip storage. I only do about 120 - 150 rounds a year and about 900 small squares a year and we use mostly all of it ourselves.

I see you live in Lockport NY. That’s a damp area, near lakes and up north with lots of snow.
Another thing you can do is get yourself some big stone, like 3 inch and spread it over a large enough area to assist in draining the bottoms of the bales.
Funny story: I store bales on a customers property alongside his stone driveway. After decades of snow plowing, some of the 3/4 inch stones are cast by my plow onto the lawn area alongside my driveway. It looks like nothing, because grass grows through them, but they make a BIG difference in the way the bottoms of the bales look.
You may be able to make a few calls to local excavators and paving contractors and let them know youll take any extra stone that they have left over from jobs they do.

 

[bazman82]

I see you live in Lockport NY. That痴 a damp area, near lakes and up north with lots of snow.
Another thing you can do is get yourself some big stone, like 3 inch and spread it over a large enough area to assist in draining the bottoms of the bales.
Funny story: I store bales on a customers property alongside his stone driveway. After decades of snow plowing, some of the 3/4 inch stones are cast by my plow onto the lawn area alongside my driveway. It looks like nothing, because grass grows through them, but they make a BIG difference in the way the bottoms of the bales look.
You may be able to make a few calls to local excavators and paving contractors and let them know youll take any extra stone that they have left over from jobs they do.

This is actually in part of my plans. I have been buying stone for our horse winter area to help make a base. We started a good chunk of it quite a few years ago and it worked out really well so we are doing it again this year. I wont get to the round bale area this year with stone since i already started placing them there but next year for sure. All I have for dirt to work with is clay and right now its been really dry so its hard to work with..

 

[shooterdon]

When I wanted "protected" storage for firewood and attachments, I looked at carports. They are quite reasonable in cost. IIRC a 20x20x9 was about $2000 installed and they are up in less than a day. I decided to go with covered IBC totes I can move around for the firewood.

 

[bazman82]

When I wanted "protected" storage for firewood and attachments, I looked at carports. They are quite reasonable in cost. IIRC a 20x20x9 was about $2000 installed and they are up in less than a day. I decided to go with covered IBC totes I can move around for the firewood.

My neighbor did this for her square bale storage. She bought lumber and built sides and ends on them as well. They actually look really good and I bet she only spent several hundred in lumber. She got 1 then a few laters got another 1.