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.

 

[ThistleKop]

In my part of the country many folks feed loose minerals to their cattle. Many feed high-mag minerals to get additional magnesium to help prevent grass tetany in their cattle. When my brother stores his 1200# round bales in the barn he spreads a small bucketful of high-mag minerals on the hay. On high humidity days the minerals leach their way into the hay. This assures that when the cows eat hay, they get their minerals. I cannot say if this reduces the heat buildup.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

You should be able to get a hay moisture/temp probe from any ag dealer. Farmex is one of the main brands and I bought mine thru my New holland dealer for around $180. Farmex made it and put New Hollands logo on the front and on the box. Your dealer should have a brochure of the different styles. My dealer had the one I bought in stock but they had to order the baler mounted tester.

 

[MicroPilot]

Thanks all for the replies.

 

[Dougwatts]

You guys are an invaluable resource! Thanks for the responses.

 

[slowzuki]

2 points:

A slug of wet hay the size of your fist in the middle of the mow can be enough to start a fire.

Salting has been proven to be ineffective against heating.


The salt is supposed to draw in moisture but it is generally already at saturation. 50 tons of hay at 20% moisture needs to loose 2.5 tons of water to get down to 15%.

If salt could be spread evenly in the hay it would help prevent bacteria from growing.

 

[cowboydoc]

<font color="green">Salting has been proven to be ineffective against heating.

</font>

This is one of those things that I don't what the researchers were smoking when they did the study. We have done it time and time again with wet hay and it DOES work. We have done numerous moisture tests of the hay both salted and not salted and it has made a significant difference. The hay will not spoil that is treated with salt.

Now the heat issue is a separate subject and I don't think researchers understand the whole process sometimes. Hay will go through a sweat, even the dryest of hay and this will produce heat. There is nothing that will stop that. All hay is going to produce heat, how much it produces and how fast it dissipates is the key to it not catching on fire. If the hay is too wet then it will start the decaying process and produce tremendous heat that when it reaches the dryer hay it will combust. This is what the salt controls. It provides faster drydown times resulting in less heat produced so that it doesn't enter the decomp stage where it molds and continues heating.

 

[Cletrac]

In this part of the country, if you bale hay that is green enough to heat up it was not dried properly in the field. Now there is a difference in what a cow can tolerate and what a horse can and my experience is all with horses but even at that, my brother-in-law is a dairy farmer and all his round bales go in the barn the same day they are rolled. If you leave them out how do you keep the rain and the dew off them? I will agree that new hay should not be fed out for about 4 - 6 weeks to prevent the possibility of colic but we take our square bales from the field and pack them in the hay loft the same day. We never have a problem with moldy or dusty hay.

Thanks

 

[cowboydoc]

<font color="green">if you bale hay that is green enough to heat up it was not dried properly in the field. </font>

Yes that is always nice to do. Problem is there are invariably pockets of hay that are sometimes still wet. As far as roundbales go leaving them out doesn't hurt at all. After a year or so then you get alot of spoiled hay, unless you are not using wrap. With the wrap my hay is just as good outside as it would be inside. At the very most you get about a 1/2" of spoiled hay.

Also there are many times, especially in the spring, when you take a chance on hay when rain is coming. Either way if it gets rained on or you put it up too wet it's going to be ruined. But it's a heck of alot better to get the hay off of the field wet than to leave it there and try and bale it later.