# Round bales standing in water



## umpire52 (Oct 26, 2011)

Had some round bales in a low area that normally does not hold water. After rain we got over the last 2 weeks the 4 inches we got today was enough runoff to flood areas that normally does not flood. I had about 100 4x5 round bales with water about half way up. Figure the hay is ruined. Is there any saving them? Is fire a concern? Hay was baled dry and all was baled 50-60 days ago.

Any advice is appreciated.

Jeff 
NW Arkansas


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

They will turn to shit to the water line.

I had a couple one time and used a 2 prong fork at water line and cut the net the bottom fell off and fed the rest.This was after they sat awhile and the bottom rotted some.

Put them on Craigslist and sell cheap******


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Only other option is to unroll them and try to ted it out then rebale, Not a great option I know but unless you do something similar they will go south in a hurry like swmnhay pointed out.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Well I've heard of horse people soaking hay.You could sell it as pre soaked hay.*******


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## umpire52 (Oct 26, 2011)

Unrolling, tedding, rebaleing is not an option 40% chance of rain or greater everyday in 10 day forecast. Don't normally put hay here but ran out of room. It held water 4 times in the last 25 years and never in the summer or fall. Hay only had water standing for a a couple hours but that's long enough. Took a risk and it looks like I'm SOL

Main concern is do you think there is any chance of fire or not since the hay has already reheated? 
Jeff


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

not if left outside and not stacked together.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Fire would be a good thing at this point. Problem solved!


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Just got done enjoying the same catastrophe youre going through on June 31. River backed up and flooded about 50 bales up to about 2-3 feet up. I set them on stone and let the bottoms drain out. Believe it or not, they did dry out. No fires, not even any excessive heat was observed. As long as you didn't have green stem moisture to begin with, they should dry out with no fire drama. However, the river flood water fills them with sandy, gritty, muddy trash water. I don't think you'll want to feed them. Luckily, I was able to sell them as mushroom hay. I'm not sure if you have an outlet to sell bad bales to.

It sucked because the day after they flooded, I flew out to Arizona and took the family to Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I was 2,500 miles from my soaked bales back in PA, 9&3/4 miles down at the bottom of the biggest canyon in the world, unable to watch over the bales I was sure would overheat. Buddy of mine checked on them periodically while I was away and nothing happened. Shipped them on July 30th and they were just like ordinary bales with a little more spoilage on the wet parts.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

This year will be one we talk about for a long time.

A neighbor told me he had a bale by a creek bottom that floated away. The land owner saw it and told him he would be one bale short.

I can offer no opinion on how to work the soaked bales. I remember JD posting about his bales in standing water and what he did.

What ever you decide, please let us know what approach you took and the outcome. We all can learn from the experiences in uncharted waters.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

If you don't have stone available like JD had you could set a pallet under each one.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Umpire52,

One other thing. Please don't take what I said as advice to stick those bales in a barn.
LEAVE EM OUTSIDE!


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## umpire52 (Oct 26, 2011)

The bales will stay outside lol

Going to try and get them moved to higher ground and a place to dry out. Dont have a lot of gravel so will probably end up spreading out to let it dry out.

No mushroom growers around but will try and get some sold to hwy dept. or county road dept to use as erosion control.

Never thought we would flood in August we are ussually praying for rain. It's been an interesting year trying to get hay put up.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

I had some baled a few years ago go under water about a foot durning spring run off. I just happend to be there at the time. I moved them out of the water and than flipped them over so the wet side was on top. They did dry out and didnt spoil as much as I thought. But than again this was spring time and the temperature was below freezing for half of the day. If your worried about them heating up use a bale fork and poke some holes in them. Having little vents helps the heat escape a bit.


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## hayward (Jan 26, 2012)

Just chiming in to say even down south geting hard to put up hay to, cut July 22nd rained 23rd, was gona try bale 24th got bite on foot by a black widow spider (farming in my flip flops) sick for couple days, rained again on 26th, finally raked on 29th, soon as I dumped first bale it started sprinkle, said heck with n kept on baleing lol. Sun popped bk out in twenty min dried back out so not wet, Ended up being 120 rolls. Got 20$ per roll out of it. Better than geting one roll per 2ac like last yr I guess? Sorry to hear bout your soaked hay, don't no what to do in that situation? Hey jd, I got to see some of the grand canyon to, went to Vegas for week July 11th, it's a dry heat lol, drove over to death valley cal. Car we rented was reading 122 degrees


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

umpire52 said:


> The bales will stay outside lol
> Going to try and get them moved to higher ground and a place to dry out. Dont have a lot of gravel so will probably end up spreading out to let it dry out.
> No mushroom growers around but will try and get some sold to hwy dept. or county road dept to use as erosion control.
> Never thought we would flood in August we are ussually praying for rain. It's been an interesting year trying to get hay put up.


Umpire, how's about updating your profile to include location, before we give you the "heave ho" .... Lol, be fun to give the ump the thumb....I've certainly had my share dealt...

Good luck on the soaked bales...


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## umpire52 (Oct 26, 2011)

Thought I had done that!

It's done now lol

Location is NW Arkansas.

Jeff


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Welcome to Hay Talk.
Most helpful people I've ever been around!


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## umpire52 (Oct 26, 2011)

Just an update got all the hay moved that was wet to higher ground looks to be drying out quicker than I thought it would. Glad I got it moved because its flooded again this time bales would be COMPLETELY under water. Road department is suppose to come look to try and fix the problem. I'm now stuck at farm because my only 2 ways out are now impassible because of high water. Never would have thought we would have 10 inches of rain in the first 8 days of August.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Glad they are drying out.

Do you think they will make feed quality?


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