Storing round hay bales

Cotton*wood

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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?
 

Baymule

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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.
 

Cotton*wood

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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.
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.....
 

Baymule

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Maybe bow cow panels over them and cover top with a tarp, leaving a couple of feet from the ground open for ventilation might work. Hay is costly and I hate to see waste. I peel the icky layer off and toss it in the barn floor for bedding and my sheep eat it, so go figure.
 

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I shudder at the thought.

I would figure out some kind of way to cover it, AND get it up off the ground .

A layer of pallets works great to get it up off of the ground.

As for a roof... go with @Baymule 's suggestion.

Or... I would probably stick a few T-posts into the bales, make some bit of junk act as a plate/topper for the t-post so it doesn't rip the tarp, and tent them all.

For future.... I would beg, borrow or steal a way to store the hay dry and put of sunlight with good ventilation.

Sun exposure and moisture is causing you to lose nutrients.

Since you are going with the huge rounds... I have seen metal round bale feeders that have an integrated roof...

If you can weld you could make one yourself... or just bite the bullet and buy a pre-made one.

When we bought rounds we actually managed (with blood sweat and tears), to get them all up into our barn loft.
 

Cotton*wood

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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 am very aware that this isn't ideal, and we probably even won't need even half of the hay we're buying. We got a VERY good price for some excellent hay, so it's not THAT much money, and yes, I hate to see any of it going to waste, but the plan is to feed it on the pasture, and let them trample a good portion of it in to add biomass and also grass seeds to some very sparse pasture. It's a hillside that was no doubt very much overgrazed in the past, and needs a lot of building up.

Last year we only fed hay when there was significant snow on the ground, but last year we only had four ewes, and this year we have ten.

We do have a barn, but if we ever get our tractor back from the shop, that's where it will have to live. We have 1 1/2 big round bales in the garage from last winter, but we've since erected a small greenhouse in front of it, so even if there was more space, we wouldn't be able to get it in. And we have a big shop building, but right now it's full of other stuff.

So yes, I think we're going to need a hay barn of sorts. But it's not happening now. I guess I just have to accept the waste. I don't have time to get/find pallets, so there'll be some rot from the ground. I do have big tarps, and I'll see what I can do with T-posts and/or cattle panels.

Thanks!
 

Baymule

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I have sandy soil. White, pure sand, like sand on a Florida beach. To add humus to the soil, I fed round bales to my horses for 2 years, moving the hay each time. They wasted a lot, pooped on it, trampled it and improved the soil enough that I planted Bermuda grass seed this past spring. Enough survived the summer heat and lack of rain, that next year it should thicken up and have the makings of a good pasture.
 

Ridgetop

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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.
 

Cotton*wood

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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.
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.

I don't know when we'll need to start feeding hay. The grass is still really green (mid-November, go figure), and we have a couple of areas that are a foot tall. Last winter we really only fed hay when there was snow on the ground, but the rest of the pastures have been grazed in the past several months, so there is less grass stockpiled. So, we'll see. Last winter we only used part of a single bale with 4 (very pregnant) ewes, and this year we have 10, only 6 or 7 which may get pregnant.

They're not pregnant yet, but will be in this next month, so won't be reaching late pregnancy until the grass starts growing in the spring. So....we'll see. There's definitely a learning curve here. For next winter, we'd like to have a hay shed built.
 
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