Hay Tarps

[DougG]

Who makes a good decent tarp to cover round bales thats worth the money ?? The neighbor used a thick black plastic cover but its already got holes and tearing , seems the suns very hard on it ;Any recomendations ?? Thanks

 

[okierob]

farmtec has hay tarps but i have no experience with them. you might look on their website.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I've never had a tarp of any type last more than about 4 months here. I went to slip on bale bonnets for my round bales, costs me about $3 per bale, and will last at least 2 years. I have seen an ad for used billboard tarps, that looks interesting, but would cost me more per bale than the slip ons do. Who wants to spend more on a question mark?

 

[RodinNS]

There's not one worth the money in my opinion. If you live in an area where anything will stay on top of a pile then a sheet of 8 mil plastic will work fine. If you have wind, nothing will stay so you might just as well find a barn for the hay or leave it out in a line, end to end with space between the rows.
Long term... a barn is probably your cheapest storage.

Rod

 

[rrlund]

That's what I finally did. I tried blue tarps,gray tarps,you name it. I just couldn't get enough weight on them to hold them down. The gromets would rip out,the seams would tear.....
The reason we NEEDED them under cover was because we unrolled them in a stanchion barn,but now that we aren't milking and just feeding them to beef cows,I don't know that even TRYING to cover them or building a barn for them is worth it. As long as they're stored right,not touching each other,can get sunshine to dry them out,those cows will clean everything right up even if they're stored outside.

 

[PJH]

I cover my round bales about every third year. It takes me two years to get over being sick of fooling with uncovering/recovering/retieing/rolling/folding/storing those stinking tarps.

That being said, I've gotten about 15 years out of the silver tarps by using them every third year. I'm not gonna try to do the math.

My 15 year old tarps are getting loose at the seams.

A new hay barn would be nice, but the taxes and insurance on that building would bring the cost at least equal to the cost of tarps.

I'll just take the loss on weathered hay. My cows seem to be glad to see anything I bring them.

Paul

 

[NEBeef]

We use the silver one side/brown other side that the Depot and others carry. We make stacks of nine bales, six on the bottom, three on the top, stake them down using a variety of stakes, whatever we got. Run a line through the grommets along the front and rear face to stakes, short lines on the sides to a stake. They seem to last about three years before the sun gets to them and they start to split or lose the grommets. I've gotten four from some by doubling up two three year olds so the holes don't overlap, but I've been called "a cheap you-know-what" for doing that!

Can be a pain, but it really cuts down on the loss due to rain/snow...

 

[BCnT]

only tarps worth a damm are the canvas ones and you mite as well coff up the cash for a barn...theyre expensive.

 

[Anonymous-0]

The best thing I found, other than a shed, I bought one of those three point bale wrappers, and it works great. the wind doesnt blow the plastic off, only complaints is the mess and the bale at the bottom couple inches gets crappy. All in all though, it is a good way to store hay, it only cost about a dollar a bale!

 

[Anonymous-0]

The best thing I found, other than a shed, I bought one of those three point bale wrappers, and it works great. the wind doesnt blow the plastic off, only complaints is the mess and the bale at the bottom couple inches gets cruddy. All in all though, it is a good way to store hay, it only cost about a dollar a bale!

 

[Anonymous-0]

I got sick of tarps flying off in the wind, and found a three point bale wrapper, works great, only cost about a dollar per bale to wrap, the wrapper cost 575 at an auction!

 

[Anonymous-0]

we sell a heavy tarp 14x48 covers 27 rolls with pockets for a pipe hold down for 30.00 they are billboard covers and heavy

 

[Negligence]

I've found this works well -- if you stack in a pyramid form (3 bottom, 2 middle, 1 top), get a 28-30ft wide tarp and use some of your crappy/leftover bales and jam/pinch them against the tarps along the side of the stack and at the fronts. That gives you 800+ lbs of weight holding the tarp on either side.

Can almost guarantee your tarps will not come off. Every other method I've tried (weights, tires, etc.) I've had problems with.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Isnt that silly, I put in one bad word, cr1ppy and it said it wont send so I changed it and same thing, So retype and it goes, and so do the others I see! I love computers, LOL

 

[Lew Best]

(quoted from post at 06:49:37 07/19/10) <<snip>>I have seen an ad for used billboard tarps, that looks interesting, but would cost me more per bale than the slip ons do. Who wants to spend more on a question mark?

I picked up some of those billboard tarps at an auction a few years ago; they're almost indestructible. I use one for my dump trailer & one of these days need to cut one to fit my stock trailer. they've been out in the weather here in the broiling Texas sun for several years with no sign of deterioration

Lew

 

[Anonymous-0]

I got one of those silver tarps from Tractor supply 3 yrs ago. It is one tha is made to cover a stack of hay. I have only used it to cover hay on the goosenck trailer on and off for a week at a time. It is allredy trash. I think that the folding it up and rolling it up has made the finish come off. It was expensive and now when you hold it up and look thru it you can see thru the damn thing.

 

[JDseller]

I have Farm Tec hay tarps. They are about ten years old, used every year. I like them. I have alfalfa mixed hay and the tarps work great on it. I lay down a precut nylon rope under each row of bales. I then use PVC pipe in the sleeves. I have five foot wide bales so my pipes are in five foot sections. I just roll the tarp back over itself and retie it as I am feeding the hay. When I get close to the end of the pile I just take the tarp off. The ropes will hold well this way. I tried the ground anchors and they are junk.