Wait to put round bales in barn?

[Dougwatts]

I'm buying hay shortly for my cow-calf operation (14 cows). I can buy bales that have been stored in the seller's barn. Or I can buy bales he's cutting now. If I buy the fresh cut, he says they should be stored outside for a week or ten days, NOT put immediately in the barn.
I thought that keeping the hay dry would result in better feed. Apparently he thinks there is a fire danger.
I'd appreciate your advice.

 

[BillG_in_TX]

See this discussion, started by Cowboydoc about a barn fire.

 

[ThistleKop]

I would not store round bales in a barn after waiting only 10 days. It will get hotter for a considerably longer time than that. I'd wait min. of one month. You will get lucky many times but it will eventually catch up with you if you continue to put it in the barn too soon. About June 04 I had my round bales lined up outside with about a foot distance between them. A wind storm blew a large tree trunk across one of the rolls. A few days later I lifted the trunk with my fel and smoke came pouring out from where the trunk had been resting. I put my hand on the hay and it almost burned my hand. I would say that the compression by the tree increased the heat potential. I think stacking rolls in the barn would do the same.

TK

 

[Cliff_Johns]

This may be obvious, but when you get them delivered, place them so they shed water (like they would roll), not on their side.
Cliff

 

[cowboydoc]

Hay needs to go through the "sweat" before it is completely cured. If the bales are outside then they will "breathe" better and the resulting heat from the sweat will easily be carried away. Inside you get little air circulation and the barn becomes very hot and the hay cannot cure very well. Leaving the hay outside for a couple weeks won't hurt it much and will probably save you in the long run from building a new barn. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[oldgrizzlybear]

Ok, I don't understand. You can bale square bales and put them directly into a barn, but not round? If the hay is cured the same, why not? In fact, round bales will have more ventilation around them then square and therefore heating should be less of an issue. Like I said, I don't get it? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[kensfarm]

Both round & square bales will generate heat when they go through their "sweat" period.. and the length of time and the heat generated depend on the moisture level of the hay being baled. A farmers will try to bale at a moisture level that limits the sweat period and the heat generated by it.

I've measured temps. in square bales I've done.. that reached 135 degrees.. and they were layed out around the barn. If the bales are packed.. less air.. the temp can rise to a point where combustion will start.

 

[cowboydoc]

Ken hit the nail on the head when he said you really have to watch the square bales. We probe our hay for three weeks after we put it up and if there is any question at all it all gets salted. The problem with square is that if they get rained on they are ruined so they have to be stored right away. With round bales one or two rains isn't going to hurt the hay at all.

The biggest cause of barn fires is square bales so yes it is a major issue. My friends barn that caught on fire that hay was some of the dryest I've baled this year yet it caught on fire. You just never know. But it is a big risk no doubt.

 

[MicroPilot]

What does the salt do? I've heard of salting the hay to make it more palatable to the livestaock and reduce waste but not for fire prevention. How much salt would you use, and how would it be applied?

How do you probe for temperature? Is there a special thermometer to use, or could I use the meat thermomoter from the kitchen? /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[cowboydoc]

We use rock salt and it will help draw the moisture out of the hay. The probe we use is a special hay probe with a digital readout. I get ours at John Deere. I'm sure other stores would sell them too.