How to dispose of 5-6 old round bails of hay?

[Richard]

Number of years ago, we leased the farm. Guy had dozens and dozens and dozens of round bails. He wrapped them in white plastic and lined them up.

Lease over.... he left (stored) the bales here for another year before we called him and asked if he wanted them... "yes, I'll get them".

Came & got them.

Today, a year LATER, we have 5-6 bales near the barn and I want to clean that area up. I've asked my wife's cousin to contact farmer (no idea if he has or not)....

to be blunt "I'm over it" and want them gone irrespective of the farmer. He's had 2 years.

So.... they're wrapped in that white wrap. A couple of them are "soft". Meaning, I attempted to roll a small one into the bucket of my backhoe or then, simply roll it towards the others to tidy it up.

The roll just squashed as though it was 50% air, 50% contents.... no meat to it at all.

Will these simply burn?

Should I instead, unroll them in the fields and let the flexwing mower do the rest?

I thought about putting them on craigslist but craigslist is getting to be so flakey....AND I don't want to "wait 2 weeks until someone can get here" Besides, I travel most of the week so the time slots I'm here are somewhat limited.


So....

Bonfire or mower or other?

 

[aczlan]

If you cut the wrap off, you can unroll them and mulch them up with a big mower.
Around here, if they are good (not soft and rotten), they are worth $30+ each (depending on if they are silage bales or not).
I doubt that they will burn unless they are still dry and then they will make a smoky mess.

Aaron Z

 

[Ken_f]

Where I live you can burn anything you want and nothing is said. Well, I had 5 or 6 left on my property when I bought it. The farmer did not want them so I figure burn them. Yes, they slowly burnt and it was more like a smolder but man did they stink ! After a couple of days of this, I ended up breaking them up and scattered the semi-burnt hay around and it just became part of the field.

 

[EddieWalker]

My wife likes to buy old rotten bales to create worm beds for her gardens over the winter. She has done this twice in the last five years. Basically, you spread the rotten hay out real thick over an area that you want to improve the soil and just let it sit there. In time, worms will appear and start working the soil, and then it will become fertile.

 

[TractorGuy]

I imagine you can unroll them and mulch them up with a brush mower. I had a bunch of mildewed bales on the back of my property. I finally cut the strings and mowed them over in the winter. No sign of the hay now.

 

[Fuddy1952]

My wife likes to buy old rotten bales to create worm beds for her gardens over the winter. She has done this twice in the last five years. Basically, you spread the rotten hay out real thick over an area that you want to improve the soil and just let it sit there. In time, worms will appear and start working the soil, and then it will become fertile.

That's what I would do especially if you have a ditch to put them in, then wrapper off. Leaf piles I put pumpkin, squash or watermelon seeds in, they grow like crazy.

 

[Jstpssng]

If they are no good then I would spread them back onto the field where they came from.

 

[Richard]

Thanks for the thoughts.

Mulch it is.

 

[Fuddy1952]

I would wear a good respirator when fooling with moldy hay.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

If they are dry in the middle they will burn like nobody's business. One of the best burn piles I've every done had an old round bale in the middle, the whole pile went up with a single match to that bale. If they've gotten soaked through spreading and mulching is the best course.