First Hay Round baled ? on rain

As hay man said, set on gravel, on a hump if possible, end to end, a few feet apart, and face N-S to get sun between the rows (and snow blows thru). Some of that is courtesy my Hesston baler operators manual.

Mark

When I have hay that needs to sweat I put it on a gravel pad in front of the barn. Sometimes it gets rained on. Thats ok as long as the bales get air all the way around. When they are dead dry (at least a week with no rain and test ok with a meter) I'll stack them. Never gone 5 high, not sure what I'd use to get them up there, 3 is as far as I can go. I then put the first bale on its end, set 1 directly on top, and then put the 3rd run in the pocket of the 2nd run. If the bottoms are a little slimey I try to make sure that 2 slimey spots never touch. Use at your own risk. Last year I had some hay (round bales) that I knew was dry enough, stacked it in the barn. A week later I smelled one souring. Started digging and found 3 out of 50 that had hot spots (BIG HOTSPOTS), temps up in the 150's. Pulled them out mid sweat and they all got musty. Oh well, saved the barn and my cows were happy.