Storing round bales under a tarp

[kwoods]

I've got a question on the timing of when to stack round bales under a tarp. Is it OK to stack round bales in a pyramid and cover them with a tarp directly after baling (same day/next day)? Assuming dry hay of course. Or do the bales need to "sweat" for a few days no matter how dry the hay is before baling? The reason I ask is because it seems that in the recent years we haven't had stretches of nice weather for bales to sit outside and sweat. There is always rain 2-3 days after baling. If we can get away with stacking under a tarp right away this will avoid the hay getting rained on. I'm relatively new to making round bales but I'm very familiar with making small squares and I'm a little confused on why people say round bales have to sweat but we've always stacked square bales in the barn the same day without and issue? Is the sweating only necessary if the round bales are made when the hay is too wet?

 

[David G]

I do not cover my round bales.

 

[730virgil]

the guy that makes my round bales uses net wrap. something i won't do again is stack them with all the rain we have had the last couple years the bales have froze together what a pain that is. I put them on wooded pallets to keep them off of ground.

 

[kwoods]

I should have mentioned that the bales are not net wrapped and they are stacked on pallets.

 

[jamstra]

I have many years experience of making both round and small bales of hay, in Scottish conditions where it rains regularly! Hay will 'keep'
when made into small bales at least a day before it is dry enough to keep without moulding in round bales. So if you make round bales when
you think the hay is dry enough to bale into small bales then yes, the round ones will definitely need to sit out and 'sweat' for maybe a
couple of weeks. (stick your hand or maybe a temperature probe into the middle after a week and surprise yourself, even if you thought the
hay was dry when you baled it!) Unlike small bales though, round ones will take no harm from being rained on if left sitting out singly (ie
not touching) and on their round sides. Once they have 'cured' thoroughly and are cold in the centre, you can stack them and cover them any
way you like. Stacking and covering them immediately after baling will risk heating and moulding. Jim

 

[RalphWD45]

I buy mine, out of the field, generally the same day they are baled, I haul them home, and stack them in A tall metal carport building, with open fronts . 3 high. on wooden pallets, I hang a HF tarp, across the front, (north side), and have no mold or spoilage problems I have 3 bays that are 20x20. and 15 ft tall.

 

[showcrop]

You are not confused, you just have a good resistance to believing an old wives tale, LOL. Dry is dry regardless of size or shape. A properly made dense bale is not going to sweat and lose moisture. If the hay was not dry it will mold and build heat for a period of time until the moisture is used up. The higher the moisture the longer it takes of course. As jamstra said a long probe thermometer might help with peace of mind. Stacking under a tarp won't contain enough heat to make any difference in the molding process or the possibility of spontaneous combustion. Stacking on the sides as opposed to on ends will allow more air passage.You could buy my moisture tester that I haven't used in 25 years.

 

[jamstra]

I can't agree that 'dry' is 'dry'! In an unpredictable climate like mine there is 'dry enough for a square bale if left outside for a few
days', 'dry enough for a square bale to go straight inside the shed', dry enough for a round bale to be left to cure for a couple of weeks'
and, very rarely, 'dry enough for a round bale to get stacked inside immediately'. Which of these options is acceptable for getting the baler
out depends on how far away the rain is! Various shades of 'dry' is no old wives tale - 40 years of experience in making 10s of thousand of
hay bales is ample testament to that!

 

[showcrop]

(quoted from post at 04:57:34 04/29/20) I can't agree that 'dry' is 'dry'! In an unpredictable climate like mine there is 'dry enough for a square bale if left outside for a few
days', 'dry enough for a square bale to go straight inside the shed', dry enough for a round bale to be left to cure for a couple of weeks'
and, very rarely, 'dry enough for a round bale to get stacked inside immediately'. Which of these options is acceptable for getting the baler
out depends on how far away the rain is! Various shades of 'dry' is no old wives tale - 40 years of experience in making 10s of thousand of
hay bales is ample testament to that!

<img src="https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cvphotos/cvphoto3160.jpg">

Jamstra, perhaps you have high soil moisture and high air humidity as we have here. I have had times when my hay was totally dry, then an hour or two baling have found that it was drawing moisture from the ground, so dry was no longer dry.

 

[Tech 7]

Net wrapped bales, placed on truck tires. Farming in the lee of lake Huron which keeps the humidity up year round. Losses due to
spoilage is well under 1%

 

[JK-NY]

I will second what you say. One of the biggest issues is if the
ground has a little moisture in it and you have a hedgerow or
woods west of where you are baling, the hay can be almost
ready to bale and when it starts to get shade onto it from the
trees it will draw moisture from the ground and get too tough
to bale.

 

[Tx Jim]

The thing that amazes me is the local people I see pyramid stacking rd bales in wide open spaces with no tarp covering their ignorant stacking method.

 

[JK-NY]

Doing what you suggest may result in mold where the tarp
lays on the hay, especially if bales are on the high side of
moisture. My neighbor who was the first one around here with
a round baler experimented with several different ways to
store the bales outside and he felt that putting extra twine on
and then putting them in rows flat end to flat end worked out best for
him. He tried what you suggest and had trouble keeping the
tarp tight enough to stay on for a long time, and without the
tarp the lower bales rotted a lot more than unstacked ones. I
think net wrap would do better than twine for outside storage ,
unless you want to do baleage, that would keep best of all
outside.

 

[caterpillar guy]

We haul and put in the barn as we bale them. When we had more help I would be hauling or baling. Always just set them on end inside on pallets. Never had a problem in 50 years.

 

[495man]

I stacked and tarped 4x4 for a few years. 3-2-1, 66 bales a stack with tarps sized exact for the type of stack. 23 x 48 tarp.

All dry hay when baled, some sat out 3 weeks and got rained on a few times, some went right into stack right after baling. All depended on what time I had and if the loader was on the tractor (pin on boom)

I don't see a different putting several hundred square bales in a barn stacked 20' wide x 30 long' x 15' high the same day they were baled and stacking round bales and tarping.

I never stacked and tarped wet or damp hay. Any bales suspect I left out to sweat.

Stack losses were from the bales on the ground (direct on ground) and any holes in the tarp. Rodents, birds and the sun trash tarps in a hurry. I was lucky to get two seasons out of a tarp before it had some holes in it. Then get to fight with the wind blowing it off during a hurricane and the hay wet anyways, but in a big pile.

 

[Ken Macfarlane]

Disagree with part of that. Like most agricultural products the drying of hay means not all the moisture to reach equilibrium is out at baling time. The easily freed water is gone by baling time but water bound in plant cells etc will more slowly be
released after baling and reach the plant surface and into the air space in the bale so you can watch the humidity climb after baling, peak, then decline after it leaves the bale. There is also moisture released by the consumption of plant sugars by
aerobic processes. Like combustion, fuel + oxygen = co2 + h2o. That water has to get out too.

People call this the "sweat" and talk about letting the heat out but there's really a lot going on.

Short answer is we leave the ends of the tarps open to allow airflow and stack on pallets.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

Guess I have tried it all except bale pyramid with
tarp, or no tarp. If the hay is dry when baled, and I
want to store it in the barn, I just go ahead and put it
in, on end ,3 bales high. Never been a problem in
the past 30 years. I always have some dry hay I
leave outside, net wrapped hay sheds water far
better than string wraps. This hay is mostly surplus
to my needs, and sold to beef cow calf farmers that
are mostly concerned about price over quantity. In
other words, these guys won?t pay a nickel extra for
hay stored inside. I have now discovered that for
our farms use, the best and easiest most cost
effective way to store hay is, to use a inline bale
wrapper with stretch plastic. As I own the wrapper
for making silage bales already, the cost of
wrapping a dry bale is $2.00 for plastic, and can be
done from the seat of the tractor. No screwing
around tying tarps down, or folding them up to try
making them last for several years. Tarps are costly
to buy. And unlike a barn structure, a line of
wrapped bales needs no insurance, no
maintenance and isn?t subject to property tax. Bales
come out just as good as they went in. And unlike
other storage methods, if the hay was baled too
high in moisture to keep without moulding, bales
wrapped in plastic will ferment , instead of mould.
These are my experiences, and opinions, not
advice.

 

[kwoods]

Thanks for the replies guys. It sounds like I should be safe with either approach. Obviously if we have the weather we will make dry hay and stack it right out of the field. If some of the hay is questionable we will let it sweat before being stacked. The stack will run East and West and we will leave the ends open to promote air flow. We live on top of an open Hill so there is normally always a breeze. I may buy a moisture/temp sensor for peace of mind. We have always just done the "feel" test like the majority of farmers but I'm kind of curious to know what moisture we're actually baling at.

 

[olgentdc]

Me neither ,.and I string tie with NH 847. I have tried Pryimid and tarping and tying to tires .. A week later along comes a tornado blast ripping everything to shreds .. It Just is not worth the effort for Me /////We get 60 inches of rain most of the last 5 yrs ,Normally should be 45.. And My Hay Kept VERY well outside.. As long as You dont get 10 inches of rain over 4 days right after the bales are made .. If the bales get less than a inch of rain a week for 3 weeks . The bale will form a wet cap in perhaps the top 4 inches that will protect the entire bale until march . Yes I have waste ,,. But I also have ditches , Clay knoll hill tops in the pasture that i feed on , and several cedar thicket that the momma cows love to bed down on the trash hay and have their calves on the cold march nites .. There are lots of HUMOUS soil builder needs around my farm.