first try at large round bales

steve in wi · Jun 30, 2011

Well this my first year at making round bales with a 504 l series vermeer baler.Always make small squares ,but i did mess up good.I thought the hay was good and dry.baled up 10 acres and put them in the barn right away that night and this evening before i put the next 10 away it smelt funny in the barn,sure enough the centers of the bales got warm.is this a norm for these? Should i leave the bales out in the field longer next time?I moved all the bales out of the shed and spread them out,are they junk now? And just leave them outside.Any way of saving them with salt down the centers? Have a lot to learn with this baler.Thanks for any help steve

retired farmer · Jun 30, 2011

Hi, The way I check to see if it is dry, is to take a pencil sized thickness of hay and twist it three times, if it breaks on the third twist, it is dry enough to bale, or if the stems break in half crisply with no sign of moisture left in the stem, it is dry. You do know that you can unroll a bale and then drive right back over it and rebale it right back up. I would have just unrolled them and left them to dry for another day or two until the hay was completely dry. You can bale with a little dew moisture if the hay is completely dry. Haven't been too impressed with the job a Vermeer round baler does. Neighbor here bought a brand new one and baled the last two days with it. You couldn't give me one. I used to have a Hesston 5580 and loved it.

Tony in Mass. · Jun 30, 2011

Boy that's hard to figure. I had a Heston that after baling what seemed like 0% microwaved windrows, dusty, seed loss, leaves fluttering all off, hey the center of the @#$% bale was moldy. Every single one of them- so it seemed. Get a moisture meter somewhere, if the twist and pull seems dry, it might not be enough for this baler, seems there are tight starts,loose starts, holy cow huh? But you know, 100 degree heat in the windrow, packed like a bandage, I guess they will radiate- if not 'generate' heat. I wouldn't put any in the barn till you sort this out. People I knew who did put big rounds inside, didn't do it right away, more towards the end of summer. They might have a reason... you got them out of there? good.

JDseller · Jun 30, 2011

Any hay is going to go through the curing process. Small square bales do it too. You just don"t smell them as they are stacked tight. I usually leave round bales out side until the temperature of the core is back down under one hundred degrees. I have seen dry hay go to over 175 degrees during the curing process. Your hay might be all right. It also could be going to be moldy centered.

What type of hay and how long was it cut before you baled it?? Did you ted it??

M Hoffmann · Jun 30, 2011

Is it a soft core baler, most of the time you can bale round bales a little tougher than small squares if it was dry enough for small squares it should be ok

steve in wi · Jun 30, 2011

I cut it with my hesston 1095,next day i ran my crimper back over it to spread the windrows out a little,the next day i tedder it out ,with my niemeyer rotary which pretty much flips it over and spreads it out some .and next day i raked.I could take the stems and break them in the 2 to 3 twists.that baler uses a hard center core.I guess i never thought of the curing process ,i always thought any heat was bad. How long does it take? to cure? thanks good info

LAA · Jun 30, 2011

If it was a little damp it will dry out, cows like a little moldy hay, I don't know why but it might have a nutrient they crave.

flying belgian · Jun 30, 2011

I'm not familiar with round baling but it seams to me wet hay is wet hay. I don't think it will turn out good no matter what kind of bale it is in. Better keep it out of the barn so you don't burn the barn down. Right now you got a small problem but a fire would make this into a huge loss.

farmboyWI · Jun 30, 2011

Good thing you moved them out of there. May not be a problem but you never know- our neighbor's barn burned to the ground Tuesday night because of big squares put up too wet.

Pair-a-dice farm · Jun 30, 2011

What is it that you don't like about Vermeer? Just curious. I've had 2 of them and really liked them. I have my hay baled now and they us a Vermeer 604M net wrap. I think it puts up a better bale than any I've seen

paul · Jun 30, 2011

Good you got them out of the barn & spread a bit, never know.

In my experience, small squares can be baled wetter than big round bales. I try to leave them sit individually for 5 days to a week, to see what they do - but I store outside, would be hard to let them sit out in a rain if you store inside....

--->Paul

JDseller · Jun 30, 2011

Your hay should be fine. You did everything you should have and the break test was good. I am willing to bet that it is just going through the curing process. This is usually done in about a week to ten days. If the hay is dry a solid core is alright for hay. If you have ever smelt curing hay it will have a good smell, not sweet but not musty either.

I would just wait until it seems to be cool. You can make a hay coring probe easy. Take a one inch diameter piece of thin walled pipe, 18-24 inches long. Weld one end shut with a washer with a 1/2 bolt welded in the middle. Sharpen the outside of the other end. Chuck it into a cordless 1/2 drill. You can use it to bore into the hay and get a good sample of what it looks like on the inside.

bison · Jun 30, 2011

get yourself a moisture probe if you have a hard time judging if hay is dry enough so it'll keep.
15% is about the max for a round bale.
I store them outside.

Ken Macfarlane · Jul 1, 2011

Round bales need to be a couple of points drier than small squares to keep ok. They don't vent much moisture at all.

I remember reading one fist sized clump of green wet hay can start a fire if its buried in deep.

hd6gtom · Jul 1, 2011

Steve I leave mine sit out at least 1 week. Sometimes I can smell them and 99% of the time they are ok. Let them cure and put them back in the barn

kyhayman · Jul 1, 2011

Time in and of itself means nothing as far as curing. Heat, wind, sunlight, relative humidity, and ground moisture all affect curing. Small squares are actually pretty forgiving of going in a little damp. Its easy to adjust the bulk density of the hay bale with a small square, we loosen the cranks on the back and can judge to a degree by the weight of the bale when its right to where it will keep. With round bales its a lot harder. The bulk density of the bale is higher in rounds than in small squares, and the mass of the bale is larger so heat and moisture have further to go to escape. Big squares have even higher bulk densities. Use the rule of 2's if you are storing inside. Rounds need to be 2 pct lower in moisture than small squares, big squares need to be 2 pct lower than rounds. Thats why we dont see big squares around here much. For us thats means getting hay down below 15 percent in the field.

first try at large round bales

steve in wi

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retired farmer

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Tony in Mass.

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JDseller

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M Hoffmann

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steve in wi

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LAA

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flying belgian

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farmboyWI

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Pair-a-dice farm

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paul

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