Cotton*wood
Loving the herd life
Hi-- What suggestions do people have for storing round hay bales outside? I am having four delivered this weekend, and do not have any indoor barn space. What has worked best for folks?
So better to leave it in the open, shedding water? I don't think I have time to build a roof of any sort over it.....I have some, they are net wrapped. The net wrapping sheds rain better, but I still lose some. If you try to wrap them up in plastic, it can trap moisture, condensation will form and drip on the hay. It is likely to rot.
Yes!!!!!Yeah, for the future..... We bought our farm in December of 2019, and our list of projects we need to do is a mile long.
I did end up tarping them. We put them on top of an array of logs so they're not on the ground, and there is air circulation under there, threw a couple of logs on the top to keep some air space over the top, underneath the tarps, and then staked the tarps down like they were rainflies on a tent. The sides are mostly open. We'll see how it goes. We had a storm yesterday, and they're all intact.With only 10 ewes, you should be feeding about 30-50 lbs. daily depending on size, and whether they are pregnant or lactating. You can certainly tarp the hayrolls. I used to tarp my hay stacked out (when we bought by the field) by covering it with a a large tarp then using concrete blocks (the kind with holes in them) tied through the grommets with hay ropes. I also used weight bench weights from the thrift store. The rolls will get some air circulation because the sides are open for air. The portion on the ground may have some loss. You want to make sure the tarps don't blow off or pool water into the hay.
You do want to be careful about feeding moldy hay to sheep.