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Grass hay round bale storage idea

WI Dan

WI Dan

Well-known Member
Location
Northern Wisconsin, Price County
I have to stack my bales outside, under a tarp. I want to elevate them off the ground. Someone suggested pallets, but I don't want to deal with old rotten pallets and nails...
I have a million small poplar (aspen) trees to cut and clear. Ranging from 1" diameter to 8" diameter. I'm thinking of using those as poles. Lay down the large diam ones, 2-3 feet apart. Then lay smaller diameter trees perpendicular across, spacing 6-10" apart.
The bales are big: 1,100lbs or so. I'd like to stack 2-3 high.
The ground is heavy clay, slightly sloped.

Do you think this will work?
 
off hand cannot think of why it wouldn't.

certainly better than the ground regardless, especially with clay holding moisture.

the gaps in the logs/sticks will give you some air spaces like the pallets would

used plastic pallets would work but may be high $ to get.
 
My cousin used to lay down old tires on the ground,
and stacked his bales on the tires. The tires kept the
bales from contacting the ground and picking up mud
or freezing down .Also no problem driving over old
tires during the winter, as they dont break or have
nails to damage the tractor tires. And they arent too
heavy to move around either.
 
If you want to retain quality, the do not stack bales. That has been proven to be the worst way to store large round bales. You will loose more quality by stacking the bales than you will by setting
them on the ground. Further the most favorable way to preserve round baled hay is to row them north-south tight against each other. That way the bales get equal sun on both sides and less
air/water between the bales.
 
I laid some larger car and truck tires
down and stacked the bales on them. Found
out single stacked worked better than
double stack. Also if you drove over the
tires during winter it didn't matter and
not to big of mess to pick up come spring
as I had poked a single hole in the side
wall of the tires before I had laid them
down.
 
+1. You might also consider bringing in some 1-2 inch rock and making a 6 inch high pad to store the bales on That would allow any water to drain away and minimize losses from ground contact. It's cheaper than building a barn.
 
I'm with Tony and Jerry on this one. If you can't get them inside, don't stack them. I've been rolling round bales
since 1979. For a few years in the late 80s I tried stacking and covering. I'd buy blue tarps, 40x100, lay them
down amd put the west row of bales on the tarp, go three high, three on the bottom, two then one. I still had rot
between the bales.

If you line them up, not touching, flat ends to the north and south, not under any trees, so the sun makes a
complete pass over the entire rounded part of the bale every day, You'll be amazed at how little waste and
spoilage there is. I know, if you saw how mine that aren't in the barn are sitting, you'd ask me why I don't
practice what I preach and I'd just have to say do as I say, not as I do. Mine sit in fence rows wherever it's the
most convenient to sit them off the field.
 
Assuming you are tarping them as you say and they are dry hay to begin with, sounds good to me.

Paul
 
You're still going to get rot on the bottom. It will get wet and will be the last thing to dry. In theory you will have less rot, but it won't be enough difference to justify all the work you're going to do. I've tried all sorts of things, its just a fact of life that the bottom is going to rot some.
 
I've tried pallets and feel they increased
the rodent problems large and small. If you
dont have to store more than a few months
it would help.
 
your idea is good,.. just do not stack them if not tarping. the water running of the top 2nd and 3rd rows is just more water to run onto the
bottom row. everytime i see stacked rounds i say that's just a big funnel for the bottom. lol. these are unstacked bales i am referring to.
to stack them u need some good tarps or the water runs right through them cheap ones. even if a person had old rail road ties for the bottom
then put your poplar on them. long as the creosote smell would not get into the hay . cows sure can sniff out something wrong. how many
bales u talking?
 
Just make single rows so one end is on the lower side of
the slope. Not across. Dont put anything under and you
will be better off. Clay soil sucks moisture out extremely
well. Ask the guys who pour concrete. If they dont soak
the ground first the cement dries so fast they have to
fight with it.
 
There have been a couple of replies regarding tires. I have done this for over 20 years utilizing 10 x 20 truck tires spaced so the bales are tight end to
end. All bales are net wrapped and spoilage is minimal usually 4 patches where the tire makes contact with the bale. We farm in the lee of lake Huron in
southwestern Ontario so see a fair amount of precipitation (usually)
 

I stack 2/300 4x5 rolls outside under tarps, I made a pad of 3-4 inch stone 4-6 inches deep around 18 ft wide
The stone keeps the hay off the ground and allows any rain water or snow melt to drain thru the stone, rodents don t like digging thru stone that size
Use a good quality hay tarp to cover the stack, I ve used Inland traps but ones made by MyTee, 25x54 works good on 5 ft dia bales, 6ft dia need 28-30 ft wide
With stone base and good tarps my outside hay is nearly as good as my barn kept hay
Hoping to be able to build another barn and stop using tarps, I ve lost a couple to wind storms and climbing the stacks to put on tarps is a younger man s job
 
Storing all your hay in one confined area
is a bad idea. If ever they catch fire, the
entire pile will be lost. No putting a hay
fire out. Stacked up in a pyramid, the fire
will spread faster than you can get the un-
lit bales moved away from the ones on fire.
And you don't really have much of a shot at
that anyways, unless you are right there
when the fire begins. IF in a single line,
you can atleast shove a couple bales in the
middle of the row out of the line so the
fire don't just go from one bale to the
next on down the rest of the bale line.

If untarped or tarps become leaky, any rain
water that gets to the hay, will absorb
into it someplace if stacked in a pyramid.
Even if it's net wrapped. Net wrap
basically don't function to shed water if
bales are tight against each on the net
wrap.

In my area, there is not much weather waste
if bales are net wrapped and used up in
less than a year. 2 or 3 years, different
story. Mainly ground rot. But, in my
opinion, no need to carry hay over until
its 3 years old. If your doing that, then
you are also likely feeding 3 year old hay
most of the time. Bad idea in my opinion.
 

No different stacked under a trap than stored in a barn, if something lights it off it s all most likely going to burn
I don t have room the lineup 500 rolls in single rows
I ve got about 100 rolls under tarp left over from last year
It ll be the first to be feed out is winter
 
Location is everything south east US and Eastern US is much wetter than the Plains and will rot bales much faster than on the Plains. So now if you live in the midwest to south if they set out you will have waste/rot from moisture. IF you live in the Plains or western states other than Western WA and OR they will keep much better due to much less rain and snow. Believe what you want.
 
i made a long pad of crushed limestone with a taper in middle not much but nuff
to not pool water. id set 25 bales make 2 bale break n set another 25 bales. hay on
bottom turns dark but cows eat most of that
 
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