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Salvaging Wet Hay

L

Loren in MN

Member
Any suggestions on what would be the best use for small square bales of grass hay that have had a heavy rain on them? I (alone) tried to get the hay raked and baled yesterday in high heat conditions here in central MN. Just as I finnished baling, a large storm brewed up and dumped too much rain! About 350 bales are now junk. I can't seem to find any one with cattle that may use it. About 200 bales are still setting in the field. I had gotten about 95 bales loaded onto a wagon and covered, but the tarp blew off while I was out trying to get more off the field. I was hoping to find someone to buy it to cover my costs.
 
Check with the folks that use it as cover on construction, road projects. There is only mulch value left in it.
 
Set them on edge and let them air dry. They might not be in as bad of condition as you think, it's worth a shot.
 

Loren
Back in my youth when sq bales got rained on in the field I made a teepee of 3 bales each to let wind blow through and have the least area of bales touching the ground. This method does require sunshine.
 
You may be surprised at how little way the rain penetrated. open a couple up and look. You may get someone who has floor space to take them to set to dry for a few days.
 
Not as many bales as I thought. Counted about 270 total. I'm near Mora,MN -I'd like to get $135 for all. I did put a listing on Craigs List this morning. Overall they don't look too bad and may dry out fine, but I still don't like selling them for horses. I've been rolling those still in the field.

Thanks for all suggestions!
Loren
 
We never had that much get wet, but setting it on its end is about the only shot. Like several said, they may not be as wet inside as you think.

Gene
 
First thing to do is randomly pop open a few of them and check how bad they are. If they are wet pretty much from one side to the other about all they are good for is garden compost. If not all that wet maybe roll them on there sides then a few hours later roll them again. Or the 3rd option would be to brake them all and then rake and rebale them
 
I hate to think of how many thousand bales I dealt with that way. Pretty hard work! It seemed like we never got through haying without it raining on some of the bales. Usually a few days standing up dried out the hay well enough for us.

We barn stored most of our hay and I remember how we sometimes spread rock salt between layers of bales if we thought they might be too wet. That barn is still there 40+ years later, and the beef cows seemed to eat the salted hay just fine. We never sold any of that salted hay and only fed our dairy stock the best hay we had.
 
tURN THE BALES ON EDGE WITH THE CUT SIDE DOWN THIS WAY IF YOU GET MORE RAIN IT WONT PENETRATE AS MUCH AND MOISTURE WILL DRAIN OUT
 
(quoted from post at 02:15:53 07/03/11) tURN THE BALES ON EDGE WITH THE CUT SIDE DOWN THIS WAY IF YOU GET MORE RAIN IT WONT PENETRATE AS MUCH AND MOISTURE WILL DRAIN OUT
Click to expand...
eez you dont have to yell at the guy!!!
 
I had similar problem. Advertised as hay suitable only for mulch. Had a taker - turned out to be the son of one of my classmates. They brought a gaggle of girls. They operate a home for kids that need a foster home for varying time. Wanted the hay for mulch in their large garden. Worked for me. Wonderful nice folks.
 
Depending on how wet they got just rub salt on them all sides would be best but even 2 sides would help. The salt draws the moisture to preserve them.
You will need to rub it into the hay some. Just pour a little on each side ,spreading it the length of the bale rubbing as you go.
 
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