Hay is a very common sight in every cattle producer’s operation throughout the country. It is used during the winter to provide supplemental nutrition when forages are lacking. However, with the extremely dry conditions we have been having lately, getting hay bales is becoming harder and harder. With this difficulty, producers are looking for ways to make their current supplies last longer.
Making the perfect hay bale will only do you much good if you store them properly. Keeping it properly will maintain its high quality later in the year. How you hold your hay bale can make or break what you will be able to get out of it come wintertime.
Properly storing your hay bales is easier than it may seem. It really boils down to storing them in a way that will keep them dry and out of the elements as best as possible. Here are five rules you can follow to ensure you store them the best you can.
It is all about how you pack them.
The first thing to do if you want high-quality bales for later in the year is to ensure that what is coming out of the baler is high quality. If it is not, then no type of storage will improve it in any way. The hay bale must start off right in order to feed high-quality hay later.
The bales that you make should be packed very tightly when it comes out of the machine. If the bale is too loose, moisture will get inside it and ruin your hard work. It only takes a little to lose the dry matter content. Depending on the size of your bale, just 2 inches of loss can account for 10% of its dry matter.
The first step in ensuring that your bales are packed tight is to ensure that the setting on your baler is set correctly. You may not like it, but reading the operator’s manual is required for this to happen. In order to do this, it may take a couple of bales to get it where it needs to be, but it is worth it in the end. I go into more detail in a previous post, “4 steps to the perfect hay bale”.
To know if the bale is tight enough, a good rule of thumb is to press down on the bale with the palm of your hand. If the bale goes down more than 1/2 inch, then the bale is too loose. When the bale is too loose, that means an increase in the amount of nutritional value that will be lost over time.
Store hay bale in a barn if possible
Now that you have a field full of correctly packed hay bales, you will need to look at how you will store them. The general consensus is that keeping them inside is the best option to go with.
Storing bales inside ensures that a significantly less amount of their dry matter will be lost. The loss of dry matter is because the outer parts of the bale are not exposed to the elements as they would be stored outside. A study by Oklahoma State showed that bales stored under a roof only lost 3-10% of their dry matter over 12-18 months versus 15-50% when they were just stored outside in the elements.
The problem with storing them inside is that not everyone has the financial or simple desire to build an entire building to hold their hay. If this is you, there is still nothing to worry about. You can get the same results by having some sort of roof or just using a tarp. They must be kept from the elements.
Keep your hay bale off the ground.
Now that we have the top covered, it is time to look at taking care of the bottom of the bale. Ground contact can account for almost over half of the dry matter loss that occurs. Being directly in contact with the ground will allow the bales to absorb the moisture from the soil. In the event of rain, it will also prevent wicking and drying out action that could occur.
Having your bale constantly absorbing moisture is terrible in the end, not only for the dry matter loss but also for the mold that will undoubtedly occur. Moldy hay is of no use to your animals. Would you want to eat something that is all soggy and moldy? The heat that arises from the molding process can also cause your bales to combust. Having bales catch fire will end up costing you even more.
It is unnecessary for you to build some large platform to store your hay on to keep them off the ground. You can get away with just having a bed of crushed rock is an option you can go with. When going with the crushed rock idea, make sure that the bed is 6 inches deep. Going with this depth is an excellent way to get the best drainage. What you are looking for with this option is something with good drainage. Good drainage is so the bales are not sitting in water for any period of time.
Pick the right spot to store your hay.
Where you store your hay bale is another essential thing to look at in order to reduce bale loss. Select a site that is not under a shade tree. Also, please select a location with good airflow to help with the drying-out process.
Stack the bales in a north/south direction with about 3 feet of space between the rows. The 3 feet of space will let the sun get good penetration and the airflow easier to keep any water from standing.
Use the oldest hay bale first.
When you are stacking hay, you need to stack them in a rotation. The need for rotation is because the older bales are towards the front of the stack. This rotation will reduce the amount of time that the bale is in storage. Less time in storage means reducing the amount of dry matter loss that will occur under normal circumstances.
Where you select to store them will be the determining factor on this one.
