Storing Hay

[RichZ]

I am about to begin preparing about 50 acres for growing hay. Obviously I will need a place to store the hay. I will be producing square bales. I have a 200 year old wood barn, that my horses and goats live in. It has two large hay lofts. My concern is I have read that if the hay has any excess moisture in it, it can begin to decompose, and can become so hot that it can spontaneously combust. To add to my worry, my neighbor is active in the local volunteer fire dept., and he told me a neighbor's barn burned down last week, from exactly what I am worried about. John Miller and I have been considering car ports to store our hay in. I'm worried about storing it in my barn, and John just needs more storage. Is spontaneous combustion a real danger? How would a car port work for storage?

Thanks!!

Rich

 

[MikePA]

Hopefully cowboydoc will chime in. I can only speak from the perspective of the purchaser of hay. We have opened bales that were so hot you couldn't keep your hand inside the bale. We count on the farmer we buy from to not bale the hay when it's too moist. We also keep the hay loft door open when we put up new bales.

 

[EarPlug]

I spoke with one of our local hay producers and they use a thermometer with a log probe to keep check of the internal temp of the bales.

Jack

 

[Bird]

Rich, when I was a kid, Dad bought the square bales and we stored them up in the hay loft of the barn and never had a problem, but of course Dad had been a farmer and done enough hay baling himself that I guess he knew what he was buying and knew the guy doing the baling. HOWEVER, I've actually seen the spontaneous combustion happen in a barn full of hay bales, and I've also had a little experience with fighting hay fires (that stuff's hard to extinguish), so I think you're right to be concerned.

Now hopefully someone who knows a lot more than I can tell you what to do about it.

Bird

 

[Phred]

Rich,

I am planning on a similar project. The key appears to be keeping it dry. While I can't claim expereince in this area, I will share what I have learned.

I am toying with two ideas: to store it outside covered with tarps or with a very basic pole barn structure much like a car port.
Tarps would be the easiest but I suspect that some loss would occur due to leaks, etc.. Old tires can be used to secure the tarps, and the hay is stacked on skids to prevent contact with the potentially wet ground.
In my area I have seen a number of steel storage sheds for round bales that are basically a roof to keep rain from falling on the bales. I would think a steel or wooden structure could be built at a relatively low cost.
These approachs could minimize the fire issue since you would not loose your barn or animals in the event of a fire.

The idea of a Thermometer or thermocouple to check the bale temp sounds like a good one.

Fred

 

[rf33]

I would have to recommend going the pole barn route, as nothing can sour an evening like findong out that half of your hay is moldy, and no longer of horse quality. Tarps will leak more times than not.

rf33

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[Bird]

Fred, I agree with rf33. I have a rancher neighbor who decided to put tarps on his hay quite a few years ago. He says he'll never do that again. Apparently condensation and mold got it and he lost a lot of hay. I think the steel storage sheds, or open pole barn, is the best idea.

Too bad I've never made a picture of the big steel storage shed about 5 miles from here. Biggest, nicest one I've ever seen, closed on one side and one end, but open on the other side and end, but a couple of young drunks from town set fire to the hay one night about 2 years ago and melted a good part of it. I don't think anyone knows why they did it, but they're serving their 20 year sentences for it.

Bird

 

[Youare]

I have stores hay in my barn for the last 15 years without a problem. There are two concerns you can take care of by following some basic practices when putting up and storing hay. Not only should you be conerned about the fire risk but there is a health concern for your horses from hay that is not processed and stored correctly. Hay that is baled before it is properly dry in the field and not picked up quickly enough after it has been baled is the main problem for both barn and horse safety.

Too much moisture in the hay is the key issue for both fires and mold growth in hay. Horses can develop deathly health problems from moldly hay. Moisture is what causes hay to get hot to the point of combustion in the barn. All hay will go through a heat cycle after it is baled, the amount of mositure in the hay determines how hot the hay will get. Of course warm damp conditions are the ideal environment for mold growth also.

Hay storage is a factor also. The ideal place will be dry, well vented, and no direct sunlight. That is one of the reasons hay was stored in the upper portions of barns. The hay was up off the ground, hay on the ground can pick up moisture from the ground. The siding on old barns was not all that tight allowing the barn to breathe. The upper area of a barn did not recieve direct sunlight which can bleach out the nourishment in the hay.

When you purchase hay stick your hand down in between the flakes you should be able to feel if there is too much moisture in it. Pick up the strings of the bale, wet hay is heavy and the string tension will give you an idea how heavy the bales are. Unless the bales are not packed that tight, you will kow how tight they are when you try to put your hand down into the bale. Look at the field, is the ground damp or wet. Did the hay come from the outer edges of the field where maybe tress shaded the outside egde. Around here, New Hampshire most fields a surrounded by tress, the outside windrow is usually the last baled because it dries the slowest.

If you put up your own hay, or have someone else bale it for you make sure the hay is properly dry before you bale it. Grab a hand full and squeeze it into a ball it, should not even think or staying in a ball. make sure the hay is baled well after the morning dew has dried off of it, and baled and picked up before the evening dew has started to settle.

There are as many ways to pile hay as there are people who store it. My favorite is to pile the hay bales on edge cut side up. Make sure you have good ventilation, air flow through the hay storage area, any hay is bound to have some mositure in it that will dry out over the winter when the humidity level is generally lower. Placing hay under tarps may increase the chance that the remaining mositure in the hay or from the ground will condence on the cool inside of the tarp and the hay will start to mold.

The requirements for dairy animal hay is different than horse hay, so pay particular attention to hay processed for dairy animals. When I put hay in the barn and come to a bale I think is questionable it gets put a side, only the best gets into the loft. The first few days I will go and put my arm in between the piled bales to see if I can detect any warm areas. These are just some of my experiences.

Hope this helps,
Randy

 

[cowboydoc]

Good replys guys.

Fred,
Don't use tarps. More than one person has had their entire hay crop ruined from tarps. Tarps do a couple of things. Since the tarp is on top of the hay it will actually start to "cook" the hay because it gets so hot. This will cause molding really quick. Also the tarp doesn't let the heat escape as it rises off of the hay. All hay will "cure". In this curing process it will release heat. Even under the best circumstances you will have this. The cure releases any extra moisture in the hay and will allow it to be stored for many years. The tarp will not let the hay cure at all and will mold it all the way through.

As far as hay storage in a big barn it all depends on how the hay is put up. Yes it will spontaneously combust if it is put up wet. The hay will literally self combust. Even under the best of circumstances hay will heat up to some degree and then cool off as it cures. Now with that in mind I would certainly not let it prevent you from storing hay. Most hay fires are from bad practices. First of all you have to make sure that the hay you put up was baled right. Baling with too much moisture in the hay will cause the hay to be too wet and it will never cure. Even after the hay is dry in the field the next day it may not be dry. You can't bale hay until the condition of the hay is right EACH day. I see that mistake made alot. As anyone will tell you there are so many variables that you have to consider when putting up hay. You have to make sure every single one of them are right to put up good hay. Many times there will be rain coming and guys will bale too wet hay. Well then it molds or doesn't cure in the barn. Now if you have to put up some hay that is a little less than desireable you can put rock salt on each layer which will dry out the hay as well. Then you just need to keep checking it over and over until it's gone through it's "sweat". The sweat is basically the curing process and is when the hay gets rid of all of it's excess moisture.

To answer your question I would not worry about putting up the hay in your barn. Just make sure that you put it up right and check it often until it has gone through the cure and sweat process.

 

[jdkid]

Hi ya
I'll side with ya on this one but will add this i have never seen hay go moldy during storage ,i have seen it turn to compost tho, like cowboydoc said the baleing and cureing is the key .if baled to green it will heat ,maybe get mold or go on fire bigger the bale the harder to cure infact more likey to get moldy hay from big squares than bricks .work on this the mold spores are on ya grass or in the air all the time ,to get there life going they need 2 things damp and warm (poor baled bales ) now take one away, well dryed hay or alowed to cool fast will stop this try this old bale that ya don't want pour water on it or leave it out side ,what happens??? it rots why?cos it's cold!!and also with beeing dry the mold spores may have died .yes storage is worth the money any kinda cover will do shead car port etc etc remembour it may be wet or frozen when ya come to feed it out but get the baleing right and that will cover 90% of the probs
catch ya
JD Kid