Round Bale Storage

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Hey everyone,

I was thinking of a way to store net wrapped hay outdoors, seeing if anyone had a slick way to store round bales.

The goal is to keep the bales as dry as I can, I would like to keep them off the ground and covered.

I was picturing two rows of treated lumber I had laying around 6x6 or 4x4 and layering that with pallets and stacking round bales on the pallets, this way the untreated pallets don't rot on me.

I planned on storing enough to last the winter so around 10 round bales, how high can I stack them pyramid style? Safely

Planned on tarps as cover, thanks

John

 

[unimog_jason]

I typically store 30-40 rounds in the yard to keep the horses fed over the winter. All I ever do is put a pallets on the ground to keep the hay off the ground and stop it from freezing to the ground. I put two side-by-side and one on top, throw a large tarp over everything and tie the tarp to the pallets.

The pallets freeze to the ground so I end up running over them with the tractor, some times they break, sometimes the survive for another year of service.

Usually the last bales end up lasting until May and I have found a little blackness on the top bale, but not enough to worry about. When I feed that bale to the horse I put the black part to the ground and they eat around it.

Jason

 

[Rustyiron]

I have placed parallel telephone poles on the ground about 3' apart and covered them with a 10' wide poly for the extra bales when the building was full. Not really practical for a large quantity, but 4 poles will get you about 15 bales off the ground and are easy to get to (and re-cover) VS a pyramid type stack. (4' bales on 30' poles)

 

[Farmer495]

For 10 bales?

Get 6 pallets, place them in a 2 wide by 3 long layout. Stack a bale on each pallet so the round edges touch on the "3 pallet wide side" and flat edges touch on "2 pallet wide side" Stack the remaining 4 bales on top on the "groove" Put tarp on all 10. You can empty your pile without driving on a pallet and having to move anything but the tarp.

Had about 200 stacked outside this year, rest were indoors. I don't use pallets since they freeze to the ground and I can't drive over them unless I want to gamble on flat tires

 

[Gary Fowler]

You should be able to go 3 high. SO put 5 bales on pallets or other support to keep them off the ground, then 4 on top of the 5 and then #10 on the third layer. You can put a tarp over it or just let it weather. The round bales pretty well self dry when stacked this way especially if net wrapped. You really don't need to cover the sides if you cover it, just pull the tarp over the tops. Actually where you are, you likely don't get rain in the winter like I do and snow /sleet wont hurt anything at all, so just forget the tarp.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Hey everyone,

I was thinking of a way to store net wrapped hay outdoors, seeing if anyone had a slick way to store round bales.

The goal is to keep the bales as dry as I can, I would like to keep them off the ground and covered.

I was picturing two rows of treated lumber I had laying around 6x6 or 4x4 and layering that with pallets and stacking round bales on the pallets, this way the untreated pallets don't rot on me.

I planned on storing enough to last the winter so around 10 round bales, how high can I stack them pyramid style? Safely

Planned on tarps as cover, thanks

John

For net wrapped bales, I lay them on the ground butted up against the each other. I tried stacking them two high, one vertically with one horizontally on top. What happened is that the water will run down the sides of the top bale and it seems to "stick to" the bale and run down into the veritcal bale, causing spoilage. if the bales are twine tied, this does not happen. Under no circumstances would I store them horizontally in a pyramid. they will rot at every point of compact. I would only stack them this way inside a building or under a good hay tarp.

 

[rustyshakelford]

Get some used billboard tarps. You can use them for the bottom and cover. Real thick and can be had for cheap usually

Brett

 

[powerscol]

I agree with the pallets. TSC has so good pricing on white tarps for covering hay bales.

 

[greggn]

Nine bales on 2 pallets high for the Minis

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

That's what I ended up with, I can do 4 on the bottom and 3 on the next tier, 7 stored plus one in the feeder should be enough to last most of the winter.

Just healed 6 more bales today for $20 a bale

 

[redman135]

In post #9 just stack the bales so they are not touching, this lets the rain run of without causing bale to rot at the contact point.
Find out if "shower hats" are still made for big round bales. They are a fitted black plastic "hat" with an elastic to hold the hat on the bale. You stand the bale on its end and fit the "hat" ,again bales should not touch other bales due to rot. They withstand high wind but not full on gales. I have not seen any around for years as everyone has gone to pit or wrapped silage now.
I don't remember what the brand name was.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Just got it all stacked today and covered with a big blue tarp. It will be all gone in 7-10 weeks by the way my cattle eat.

 

[powerscol]

John - if I may ask, where are you getting you bales? I ask as they sure look loose. Being that way they will spoil quickly as can be seen in the photo. If your bailing them yourself, check you tensioner.
Have a great new year,

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

John - if I may ask, where are you getting you bales? I ask as they sure look loose. Being that way they will spoil quickly as can be seen in the photo. If your bailing them yourself, check you tensioner.
Have a great new year,

I'm buying them from a local guy for $20 each to get me threw the winter, the cattle eat it just fine, there not very good examples of round bales but there cheap.

 

[powerscol]

At $20 that sounds like a good deal - especially if the cows eat it all

 

[holeycow]

just saw the thread. You may be OK like that as long as your tarp is taut and sheds the rain/melting snow.

In the future; as others have suggested don't stack bales so the sides touch. Put them tight end to end and separate the rows by a foot or two. On the ground is fine where I live, maybe not where you live. Net wrap bales shed moisture really well. Your climate is different than mine, but stacking round bales like that in my climate is about the poorest way possible because they gather rain and snow and the moisture has no place to go except into the bales.

Even bales placed randomly with air flow around them will keep well, especially net-wrapped ones.

If you insist on stacking bales one should go on edge and the other on its side on top. This isn't even acceptable with net-wrap, IMO. Only marginally acceptable with twine.

Make sure your tarp stays in good shape and you'll be fine this time.

I stack hundreds and hundreds of bales in rows every winter. I have tried several ways over the years. The worst luck I've had is in a "pyramid". I only did that to save space. Once. Ventilation and high ground is king. Unfortunately, we plan on 220 days feed a year around here because we need 210. Seriously. Unless your climate is very wet the bales can just sit out. Spaced out.

And tight bales keep a lot better, as already pointed out. 20 bucks is cheap hay. Cows need good food just like you and me. In fact better, cause we don't have babies. Hungry animals will eat anything if they are forced.

 

[Wagtail]

View attachment 493428

Just got it all stacked today and covered with a big blue tarp. It will be all gone in 7-10 weeks by the way my cattle eat.

I know that the OP doesn't have a shed to store but I couldn't resist posting a picture of the 34 rounds I've just stored in two bays of my shed... it would have been 35 if not for that pesky frame.

The local hay crop was huge this year! So much so that there're rumours about a second cut this year... except no one's got room to store it!

 

[RPW]

I did the pyramid with tarps. My main problem was I oriented them the wrong direction and the tarps are catching the wind and are ripping to shreds. We've had many of days with high winds this year. I had a bumper crop with 3 cuttings. Could have even for a 4th although it would have been a light one. As long as I can keep the hay covered it has kept it's color with little to no spoilage.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Here's an update, I never got a picture after I tarped it. it's been raining and super windy last few days.

 

[redman135]

Rpw, re your tarps, patch the holes or replace as needed ,then tie down with a net. This net over tarp system works well in high wind areas as well as a full gale. When you tie the weights to the net make sure the weights (I used old car tyres) are off the ground. This keeps the tension on the net and stops the wind from shredding the tarp under the net.