stacking round bales

[gary in neb.]

i have always stacked my round bales end to end tight, with about a foot between rows. found that if i put a row on top of the bottom two i would get alot of rotten hay. now i see folks putting one bale on end and then one on it's side on top of that. wont the top bale let water run into and through the bottom bale? wondering the reasoning here.
thanks
Gary

 

[Sid]

"wont the top bale let water run into and through the bottom bale?" That's exactly what happened when that was tried around here.

 

[gary in neb.]

i would also think the bottom would "wick" up water. so your saying they dont do it in your area like that anymore?

 

[jackinok]

what i have found ,is the the farther i put them apart in rows the less hay i lose.If I stack them close together in the rows i seem to lose more because sun and wind cant circulate as well.Of course i have a good size area to stack them in,if you didnt i would at least try to keep rows as far apart as possible.My opinion of course.Ive never tried putting them other than end to end though,and dont stack them except in a barn because i feed with a truck most of the time.

 

[gary in neb.]

thats what i got. about a 300 long by 35 wide area i put them. end to end and about a foot or so apart. i dont seem to loose much. but now i see alot of em around here stacking and i just wondered why. if it was for room or what.

 

[Jerry/MT]

I think it depends on how much rain and snow you get and what the diameter to width ratio is( needs to be 1.0). I have stacked them with one verticle and the top one horizontal and in a drier winter they keep well. But this year we"ve had a lot of rain and snow and I"m seeing some damage in the lower bale where water runs off the top and seeps length wise down into the verticle bale.

The guy that bales our hay says that JD recommends laying them on the ground with the lengthwise( width wise?) ends touching and with a minimum of one foot between rows. To expand on that, I think you minimize the loss if you have the bales on a a raised area so the moisture doesn"t collect around the bales and better yet on some one inch crushed rock to keep the bottoms as dry as possible.

I would never stack them on top of each other pyramid style (unless it was in a barn or covered) because the water accumulates where the bales touch and and the hay rots.

 

[Tom-TX]

New Holland round baler manual says end to end as tight as you can press them together in long rows, with 3 or 4 feet between rows, rows running North-South. This protects end of bales and allows wind to blow between the rows and sunlight to get in between the rows to help dry them out. Tom

 

[Anonymous-0]

Stacking like beer cans is OK, if you have a roof over, and a well drained gravel floor under. I use slip on bale bonnets, and push flat end to flat end into rows, as tight as I can get them, as close to the top of a hill as possible. Also point the row into the direction of the prevailing wind, helps dry them after rain or snow.

 

[PJH]

We have a local guy who plows a strip down and back with a two bottom plow, leaving a dead furrow on each side, then places his hay in rows on top of the plowed area. It elevates the bales a little and provides a "sump" in the two furrows to get the water away from the bottom of the bales. He covers his hay with long strips of greenhouse plastic. He holds the plastic on with 1/2 of a three hole brick tied on each end of a piece of plastic binder twine. Lots of them. He sizes the length of the binder twine by tieing to one of his pickup tailgate braces, then wrapping twine around and around the whole tailgate. One wrap is one length - he cuts them all at once on one end of the tailgate, then ties the half bricks on each end. It keeps real good using his method.

I use his idea about every other year. I get sick of fooling with the plastic and swear I'll never do it again, but then a year will go by and I forget how much I hate it and I cover them once more. The plastic bothers me when I'm feeding - it seems to be a hassle to get the bales uncovered and ready to haul - usually in a driving rain or a blizzard. . .

The years that I don't cover them? I leave about a 6 inch gap between the bales in every direction. I've found that if I mash them together, they get kinda slimy where they make contact. Cattle don't eat the slimy part.

Paul

 

[Nebraska Cowman]

The only reason to stack bales is if you are short on space. In a dry winter I could get away with it here.

 

[rrlund]

I've tried about every way. Stacking them in any way that they are touching just isn't a good idea unless they are inside a building.

Baler manufacturer instructions are to set them out in the open,facing north and south at least 3 feet apart.

I've been rolling round bales since 1979,so I've tried it all.

 

[ksbowhunter]

When I had my 504C, it made a softer bale so lined them up and unrolled some roofing tar paper on top and held it down with twine and bricks. Takes a lot of bricks. Was doing fine until got a very strong wind that removed some of the tar paper. Made some big stacks the last few years and that takes some time. Then you have the sob's that like to set them on fire. Lost two stacks in one year a few years ago that way.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I have been ptting up about 300 round bales a year and I stack them end to end with about 3 ft. between rows. We get about 45inches of rain a year and my bales hold up real well. No mildew. I row them up north and south.

 

[Doug Wi]

It depends on the bale size and tightness whether this will work or not. A guy I knew had old New Idea balers that didn't bale real tight. Worked real good for him beacause the top bale slumped enough to cover the bottom one. My custom baler had a newer NH , which made a tighter bale and slightly smaller. I tried stacking like that and just made a mess. Lots of rot arouhd the edges of the bottm bale.