# Straw Round Bales Tarps



## mulberrygrovefamilyfarm (Feb 11, 2009)

I expected to have lots of oat hay this year, but with the weather this spring I missed the window and now I have lots of straw. Problem is that my building is running out of space quickly. Anybody have success putting large round bales of straw under tarps outside?


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## nwfarmer (Jun 16, 2009)

Inland tarp makes tarps especially for round bales. I have used their tarps for more than 6 years. Very good quality and hold up under 100 mph winds around here. You can find them on the web.


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## mulberrygrovefamilyfarm (Feb 11, 2009)

How about picking up moisture from the ground? I'm worried about the quality of the straw sitting out. Not familiar with straw round bales so I don't want to do anything that will ruin them. Anybody leave them out untarped? I assumed that straw bales will not hold up to being left uncovered.


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## UpNorth (Jun 15, 2009)

I think this question has come up before in another thread farther down, but that one was more focused on hay. If you have to store them outside ideally you would have some railroad ties or heavy pallets on 4 in of rock to help with drainage and then some form of covering. With pallets there might be some concern with rats, so keep that in mind. You should check out some of the links in the article "Getting the Most Out of Round Bales" Getting the Most Out of Round Bales | HayTalk - Hay & Forage Community Scroll to the bottom and click on "Round Bale Storage" It's a pretty good extension paper out of Penn State.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I've stored oat straw round bales under tarps before. Stacked em on pallets with the bottom row being my beef cow hay. Didn't have any problems with rats or mice. Oats were cut with a Massey rotary, have stored regular wheat straw this way as well.


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## nwfarmer (Jun 16, 2009)

We are in a much dryer area in WY so most store hay on the ground. Indian word for high dessert plains is WY. The ground bales look bad but once opened they haven't absorbed that much. We discount our ground bales. We do small bales. However this summer we'll see just what happens. It has rained almost every evening. Sure unusual for this country. The ground is so dry the big square and round bale people set them on the ground and never even cover them. If the climate is wet, like east of the Mississippi I would set them on something.


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## Heyhay..eh (Aug 7, 2009)

I have never had the luxury of covered storage so I have tried pallet and they were a pain ... way too much work. Then I lucked into some used bridge decking 3"x12"x16'. I laid them out a in 2 ribbons so the outer edge of the ribbons were just inside the tire span of the tractor. First bale down was on the butt the next was on top on the circumference and so on. Then a tarp over the length of the row. The rows can be run parallel leaving enough room for you to maneuver between them (tie down the tarps etc.) You can get a lot of hay under effective cover that way. When you retrieve your bales for use just peel the tarps back and tie them down you keep doing this until you get 1/2 way then take that leading edge of the tarp and peel it back until it gets to the end, back to the leading edge and so on. The tarp should be near ready to fold when your last bale comes off ... in a perfect world.

Setting the stage for your storage area takes some thought. The highest point on your landscape or some place where water does not accumulate. Your spoilage should be next to nothing. Put a few barn cats on patrol adn mice are at a minimum. Never did have rats!

Now that I have a baler that makes tight tight bales I just put them on the ground in the open. Long rows with walking space between. Loss per bale is about under 1% over the entire crop.

Take care


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## nwfarmer (Jun 16, 2009)

Barn cats catch mice, that is a plus, but they also P on the hay and that is a problem.


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