# Got a reminder why tarps don't work here for hay storage



## slowzuki

Last week we had snow up to my waist, then we got a couple inches of rain and very cold temps. Have been fighting with tarps that will not be able to be removed until April.

Talked to a few folks with round bales, they can't get the tarps off due to about 40-60 lbs per ft2 of ice and snow loaded on the tarps, they have to feed so just tear it apart with the loader but it destroys the tarps.

The only guys without problems are feeding balage, the plastic doesn't seem to stick to the ice and rain runs off it well.

I had been thinking of tarping 2000-3000 small squares next summer but I've got no interest in that now. Pole barn or tarp building.


----------



## Guest

I tarped 7000 small squares and 150 rpunds this year. My goal every year is geting all tarp piles hauled b4 fall harvest is over. This year i got it all hauled except round bales. But sence the squares were movin so well it freed up barn space for the rounds. It seems no matter how much storage you have you always gotta tarp! Which isnt a bad problem to have


----------



## ontario hay man

How do you guys get the tarps to hold? I used one last year and most of the tie downs ripped off the tarp. One day in February it looked like a big ass parachute. I had to take it off. The tie down are not stiched on good enough for this part of the world anyway lol.


----------



## rjmoses

I've found the key to tarping is to keep the tarps from flapping. As soon as they start to flap, the wind can get under them and put more pressure on the tie downs.

I used to tarp all my round bales but I haven't done that since I built the hoop building.

I used a 1/4" or 3/16" nylon rope under every round bale tier (bales were stacked in 3-2-1 configuration) and an extra rope about 1' in from the end tiers. I would put a knot on each end of the rope, then use J hooks going into 1" clamping straps. The extra ropes at the ends where used to catch the overlap of the tarp on then ends so that the very ends of the tarp could be tied down over the bales.

About every two weeks, especially after wind storms, I would go and tighten the straps.

Again, in my opinion, the real key to tarping is to keep the wind from getting under the tarp.

Wish I had some pictures I could post, but I don't. Hope I made the explanation clear enough that it helps.

Ralph


----------



## Guest

I use inland tarping system. Its a great tarp that can withstand pretty high winds. It has a pocket with pvc piping in it that the tie downs are tied to instead of metal eyelets that will tear out. And the tie downs hook into the bottom bale string and sinch up in seconds. Along with what rjmoses said The key is to pyrimid your stack. Standing water on tarps are just as damaging as high winds. This is a straw stack.


----------



## ontario hay man

I did the 3 2 1 stack and it just didnt work. 1st and last time I used one. Now im all small squares. I was just curious for future reference if I decide to try again.


----------



## JD3430

I'm going to have to become an "expert" very quickly on stacking round bales under tarps because I can only store about 150 in a barn right now. Need to find a way to store 150-200 outdoors.

I like the 3-2-1 on pallets because pallets are somewhat portable. Cant do stone.

Need to purchase some really tough tarps that dont sweat when contacting hay on the inside and can be staked down without concern about eyelets tearing out.


----------



## ontario hay man

Maybe I should have used skids. I had nothing to tie down to so I got 2 foot plastic tie down pegs almost like oversized tent pegs. They did alright til the wind storms.


----------



## Guest

JD3430 said:


> I'm going to have to become an "expert" very quickly on stacking round bales under tarps because I can only store about 150 in a barn right now. Need to find a way to store 150-200 outdoors.
> I like the 3-2-1 on pallets because pallets are somewhat portable. Cant do stone.
> 
> Need to purchase some really tough tarps that dont sweat when contacting hay on the inside and can be staked down without concern about eyelets tearing out.


Inland tarp would be good place to look. For there round bale system they have seatbelt straps that get laid on the ground first. Then u stack on the straps. When finished you put the tarp on and the straps hook into the tarp. They have a few good instilation videos on youtube. Just search inland tarp


----------



## slowzuki

Problem with laying pallets is unless you lay rock down, they freeze to the ground, then when you lift them with the loader the bottom boards pull off leaving nails sticking up. We already had that problem in the machine shed that we stored some hay in. End up driving over the pallets and smashing them all up and cleaning up in spring.


----------



## JD3430

slowzuki said:


> Problem with laying pallets is unless you lay rock down, they freeze to the ground, then when you lift them with the loader the bottom boards pull off leaving nails sticking up. We already had that problem in the machine shed that we stored some hay in. End up driving over the pallets and smashing them all up and cleaning up in spring.


This would be primarily warm weather storage. 
Lets say I cut 400 rbs in June. 150 best will go in barn, 50-100 other very good bales will be delivered within about a week. I think I will let the higher moisture reading ( 17-19%) sweat under the tarps. After the best 150 in the barn are sold, I will mover the sweated 17-19% bales from under tarps into barn. 
Process will be similar with 2nd cut in September. If I can get 150 in the barn by October-November, that should last me about 15 weeks into early spring with current customer demand.

Clear as mud?


----------



## rjmoses

My outside hay storage area is a base of 4-6" CA6 (waste rock) covered by 4-6" of 3+" rock. I've found the CA6 gives me solid foundation so that the big stuff doesn't sink into the dirt with tractor traffic. The 3+" rock gives me a lot of drainage and breathing under the bales so I usually only have maybe an inch at the very bottom of a bale that may go bad.

My thinking is that the 3+ gives me lift off the ground similar to pallets but without the extra work.

I usually run over the pad when all the hay is off with my arena groomer set to reach about 2" to loosen it back up and re-level it. (Sometimes, moving the hay around causes a tractor wheel to dig a hole or raise a slight mound.)

Ralph


----------



## Bob M

I have used the inland tarps that bbobs is referring to. They are not cheap but they do work , I have a stack of 4000 bales that has been out for almost 2 years and couple hurricanes, and the tarps are fine. Go on line and watch videos, and build stack and put tarps on the exact way they tell you to!!!!! I learned the hard way and thought I was smarter than them. You must build an A framed "roof" and do not pull tarp down very far on front and back. Can't keep it tight enough when you pull way down on the front or back and it flaps in the wind. Flapping in the wind is not a good thing. I have used these inland tarps for several years and would highly recommend them if you have to stack outside.


----------



## S10491112

I just loaded out last load of hay, small squares I had tarpped. It had snow on it, I had to climb on top and remove snow. Had to do this carefully so I wouldn't fall off the stack. The tarps I use were made in Canada by Norseman and I got them from American scientific out PA. but there out of business. They have a long pocket down each side. I slide a piece of rebar in them and I use plastic twine to tie from rebar to bottom string on bottom row of bales. I wish I could get more of these tarps because they where like iron. I have had these tarps for years. I still have one new one but I guess when I have to buy more they will come from Inland tarp co. I did buy 3 new tarps from a man in Indiana, said they were the same and had a pocket down each side but they were junk!! I called Norseman but they knew nothing about them, they finely said they were made by them but that's all they knew. But I knew that much, because they had a patch on them with there logo and address on them. The stack had about 6" of snow these picture are from a early snow storm.


----------



## Bgriffin856

We had quite a bit of extra hay this year so we bought a hay tarp can't recall what brand or from who just know it was a guy in PA. Tarp was made in India.... seemed light but is doing good. Has pockets down each side and heavy grouments on the ends. We put cut tires down and the placed pallets on top hopefully the pallets won't freeze down. Run half inch conduit down the sides and used tarp straps to secure the tarp to the pallets. Then took some temporary round steel fence posts and cut them to make some hay nails to put in the grouments on the ends. We also stacked some up and covered with agbag plastic we had. Didn't use pallets just set them on the ground. Used cut tires tied on with baler twine tied on to the plastic with some round stones under the plastic (golf balls would be ideal). Fed most of the hay under the plastic and its way better than just storing outside. The top bale was like it just came out of the barn and the bottom bales had just a small amount of spoiled hay on the exposed side and bottom. Very important to have good air flow through the stack. Do not cover the ends


----------



## Bgriffin856

We also covered some with agbag plastic that covers it all the way to the ground and is held down with cut tires places on the ground on top of the plastic. Have to see how bad it sweated on the outside of the bales next to the plastic


----------



## JD3430

Griff,

I completely forgot about used tires under the pallets! I can't lay down rocks on customers property, so that might be a possibility for me. Pallets on top of tires, then the good heavy tarps. 
Why are ends left uncovered? Won't you get a lot of spoilage? Maybe you leave ends open for access to bales?
Anyone want to buy some tattered Home Depot tarps??? Lol


----------



## somedevildawg

JD3430 said:


> Griff,
> I completely forgot about used tires under the pallets! I can't lay down rocks on customers property, so that might be a possibility for me. Pallets on top of tires, then the good heavy tarps.
> Why are ends left uncovered? Won't you get a lot of spoilage? Maybe you leave ends open for access to bales?
> Anyone want to buy some tattered Home Depot tarps??? Lol


Airflow


----------



## FarmerCline

I tried to tarp square hay last outside sitting on pallets and the inside of the stack was fine but everywhere the tarp touched the hay it was moldy/mildew like on the surface....the hay was dry when baled. I have been told that you have to use a special hay tarp that allows the bales to breathe....I don't know if it is true or not.

I wonder how straw would do being tarped? I hate to take up valuable barn space with straw when I don't have enough room for all the hay.


----------



## Bgriffin856

somedevildawg said:


> Airflow


You are correct somedevildawg its important to let the hay breath and keep it from sweating and molding th bales on the ends get weathered some just on what's exposed. On a day when there is a good breeze you can feel the air flow between the bales through the holes between the bales.

FarmerCline,
We have the same effect in the haymow in the quanoset section of the barn when the hay is stacked next to the tin roof. Lack of airflow to prevent sweating. Not sure how tarps work on squares


----------



## Bob M

When we stack squares large or small, we make a peak and then at the top of the square part of stack we move the outside bale out like an eve. This will shed rain a little better, but also creates more air folw channels thur the a frame.


----------



## Guest

FarmerCline said:


> I tried to tarp square hay last outside sitting on pallets and the inside of the stack was fine but everywhere the tarp touched the hay it was moldy/mildew like on the surface....the hay was dry when baled. I have been told that you have to use a special hay tarp that allows the bales to breathe....I don't know if it is true or not.
> I wonder how straw would do being tarped? I hate to take up valuable barn space with straw when I don't have enough room for all the hay.


Ive only ever tarpes round bales of hay which have net wrap. I never had issue with it but i think the netwrap protected the hay from the tarp. I however leave a hay stack uncoverd for a few days to allow the hay to go through its sweat.

I mainly tarp straw. Straw has no issue of molding. Ive even tarped piles that got rained on b4 i could get a tarp there. Let it dry a couple days then put the tarp on.


----------



## slowzuki

So it sounds like you have days without rain after baling? For us the round bales may end up being out a month or two through multiple rains before we get a week long dry spell so it usually best to get them under cover asap. Guess thats where a GFC style air barn would work.

Was thinking a piece of 12" perforated drain tile with a fan on the end laid on top of the stack before tarping might work ok to move some moisture out.



bbos said:


> Ive only ever tarpes round bales of hay which have net wrap. I never had issue with it but i think the netwrap protected the hay from the tarp. I however leave a hay stack uncoverd for a few days to allow the hay to go through its sweat.
> 
> I mainly tarp straw. Straw has no issue of molding. Ive even tarped piles that got rained on b4 i could get a tarp there. Let it dry a couple days then put the tarp on.


----------



## Guest

slowzuki said:


> So it sounds like you have days without rain after baling? For us the round bales may end up being out a month or two through multiple rains before we get a week long dry spell so it usually best to get them under cover asap. Guess thats where a GFC style air barn would work.Was thinking a piece of 12" perforated drain tile with a fan on the end laid on top of the stack before tarping might work ok to move some moisture out.


Not always but sometimes you get lucky and get few days after baling. Doesnt always work perfect. Had a lot of blaes get rained on. Just gotta let them dry and sweat b4 i tarp. And dont get me wrong i have pulled out some moldy bales every once in awhile.

Barn is by far the best option. It just seems like they always get full no matter how big they are lol. Maybe us being hay balers just need to learn to say no! LOL


----------



## slowzuki

Our barn doesn't get too full but its an old dairy barn, can't take equipment inside. Terribly inefficient.


----------



## ontario hay man

I used to roll rounds in 3 high by hand. Is that an option. How big is your barn slowzuki. Mine is 55x80 I can get 450 in doing it that way. But it holds 20000 squares = more money. :O


----------



## S10491112

I stack all hay and straw outside under tarps. I only make small squares. You have to make a peek at the top of the stack and leave the ends open so the stack will breath and so the tarp doesn't touch the flat surface of the bale. I have read in some articles about pushing the top row out so you make a eave and the tarp doesn't touch the side of the stack I tried that one time too hard to do and I have had no problems with the hay molding on the side of the stack. I stack directly on the ground because I'm coming off block stacker. The bottom row gets a little bad depending on how long it's been there it either sold or blown back on a field for green manure them disked in. Straw bottom row you can fluff up and air dry in sun and ship for landscape straw, it will run though a straw blower


----------



## JD3430

slowzuki said:


> Our barn doesn't get too full but its an old dairy barn, can't take equipment inside. Terribly inefficient.


Me, too. Low ceilings, lots of compartments.


----------



## FarmerCline

S10491112 said:


> I stack all hay and straw outside under tarps. I only make small squares. You have to make a peek at the top of the stack and leave the ends open so the stack will breath and so the tarp doesn't touch the flat surface of the bale. I have read in some articles about pushing the top row out so you make a eave and the tarp doesn't touch the side of the stack I tried that one time too hard to do and I have had no problems with the hay molding on the side of the stack. I stack directly on the ground because I'm coming off block stacker. The bottom row gets a little bad depending on how long it's been there it either sold or blown back on a field for green manure them disked in. Straw bottom row you can fluff up and air dry in sun and ship for landscape straw, it will run though a straw blower


 When I tarped square hay I did make a peak at the top of the stack to prevent water from standing but the tarp still touched hay that made the peak and coming off the sides. The sides did not mold as bad as the peak but it did get too much to sell. Our climate here is very humid so that may have something to do with it.

As far as stacking on the ground if I did that here the bottom bales would mold within a week and within a month or two the whole bale would be rotten.

I am going to try to stack straw outside on pallets next year and tarp it and see what happens....just can't justify keeping in the barn at this point and a little mold isn't the end of the world on straw.


----------



## slowzuki

Ours is about 40 x 65 or so but the mow is something like 40 ft tall so it can hold something like 10-12,000 bales. Just a lot of work to get them in and out. It was designed to feed out to the animals below from the middle.

Looked at filling in the basement and removing the floor but there are sheep down there right now.



ontario hay man said:


> I used to roll rounds in 3 high by hand. Is that an option. How big is your barn slowzuki. Mine is 55x80 I can get 450 in doing it that way. But it holds 20000 squares = more money.


----------



## somedevildawg

ontario hay man said:


> I used to roll rounds in 3 high by hand. Is that an option. How big is your barn slowzuki. Mine is 55x80 I can get 450 in doing it that way. But it holds 20000 squares = more money. :O


How high is that building that you can put 20k squares in......?

And.....how do you roll in rounds and stack three high by hand......you been takin them steroid things?


----------



## ontario hay man

Its about 35 or more at the peak and 20 at the eaves. As for the bales 3 high I roll the bales in then push them on their flat. I fill up the whole barn then dad brings the bales for the next row. I roll them back and flip them on flat to. Then put in 3rd row and leave them on the round part. I would go 4 high but tractor wont lift high enough . You gotta watch those holes lol. It wasnt the easiest but it did the job and kept me in good shape lol.

Slowzuki. Can you run an elevator out a door to make it easier to load. I make a tunnel through my straw mow and run the elevator out


----------



## Guest

^ I used to do the same thing on a mow. Like ontario said its hard work but its less work then puttin small squares in a mow and if ya got the space its a way to use it


----------



## Bgriffin856

ontario hay man said:


> Its about 35 or more at the peak and 20 at the eaves. As for the bales 3 high I roll the bales in then push them on their flat. I fill up the whole barn then dad brings the bales for the next row. I roll them back and flip them on flat to. Then put in 3rd row and leave them on the round part. I would go 4 high but tractor wont lift high enough . You gotta watch those holes lol. It wasnt the easiest but it did the job and kept me in good shape lol.
> Slowzuki. Can you run an elevator out a door to make it easier to load. I make a tunnel through my straw mow and run the elevator out


Exactly how we put round bales in our quanoset mow except only two rows high then 10 or so layers of squares on top of that. Holds 152 4x5's and 2000 small squares. Really makes the floor joists sag when its completely full. Have had some break and fixed. The bank barn mow holds 100+ 4x5's Stacked three layers high plus room for a gravity wagon of shell corn. Gotta use what you have. Would like to take some old grain bins out of the bank barn mow to stack more in there. The rest get stored outside


----------



## slowzuki

We can't roll rounds in as there is frame work everywhere inside between the 4 bays, it was built as a centre unload for loose hay and threshing in middle bay.

Its built into a bank with the 4 bays parallel to the slope. bay 3 was drive through for horse originally. Bay 4 also could be accessed at grade but there is a granary taking up 1/3 of that wall and other 2 sides are wall.

Bay 1 and 2 are 10+ feet above grade with a milkroom in the way on one side. The stair to the animals comes up in bay 2 but opens to bay 3.

All this to say, there is no clear shot to run an unloading conveyor. Contemplating knocking a hole in the wall in the above grade section to throw hay down onto trailers but the side with best access has the old milkroom in the way.
















ontario hay man said:


> Its about 35 or more at the peak and 20 at the eaves. As for the bales 3 high I roll the bales in then push them on their flat. I fill up the whole barn then dad brings the bales for the next row. I roll them back and flip them on flat to. Then put in 3rd row and leave them on the round part. I would go 4 high but tractor wont lift high enough . You gotta watch those holes lol. It wasnt the easiest but it did the job and kept me in good shape lol.
> 
> Slowzuki. Can you run an elevator out a door to make it easier to load. I make a tunnel through my straw mow and run the elevator out


----------



## Bgriffin856

That does look like alot of work


----------



## slowzuki

To remove 300 bales and stack the trailer and strap takes 2 people 3+ hours if they work hard. I did it once on my own and it took nearly 5 hours. When the barn is nearly empty it doesn't plug up so bad at the bottom throwing hay down but you have to carry farther.



Bgriffin856 said:


> That does look like alot of work


----------



## Bgriffin856

Just alittle time and labor inefficent. Gotta use what you have though.
Makes me like our setup. Its not the best but works good for what we do.


----------



## slowzuki

Yeah the time part is the problem. I work full time and have a young family. Spending 8 hours to deliver a load every weekend gets in the way of other stuff.



Bgriffin856 said:


> Just alittle time and labor inefficent. Gotta use what you have though.
> Makes me like our setup. Its not the best but works good for what we do.


----------



## ontario hay man

We load with 3 guys. 1 throws out of the mow 1 puts them on elevator and 1 stacks on truck. You should find a couple local kids that dont mind working. Oh wait do they exist anymore lol.


----------



## slowzuki

Average age within 10 mile radius of me is probably 70+ years old. Very very few under 60. All their kids moved away.


----------



## ontario hay man

Then get the seniors out there to keep their ticker ticking


----------



## NDVA HAYMAN

Slowzuki, I love those hand hewn beams in your barn. Awesome !


----------



## Bgriffin856

I feel lucky we had two neighbor boys help us this past hay season. They are 15 and 17 and they work. Tell them to do something and they are off running to do it and if they don't know how to do something they actually use their brain to figure it out and get it done. I was surprised how well they listened and paid attention to how i showed them to stack a wagon usually takes a couple tries with most "help" sure was nice to have the round baler and square baler going at the same time. Better than trying to square bale by myself....btdt. Plus they have helped with a few other tasks. Key to keep help is to pay them well if they work hard especially in this case since these kids come from a rough home.

I hope the girlfriend likes to help lol


----------



## Bgriffin856

ontario hay man said:


> We load with 3 guys. 1 throws out of the mow 1 puts them on elevator and 1 stacks on truck. You should find a couple local kids that dont mind working. Oh wait do they exist anymore lol.


Have a 15 year old neighbor kid who was all gung ho on working on the farm and all. Well after we put two round bales in the quanoset mow he was complaining how much work it was and it was hot and blah blah blah. He stuck it out for the day...might as well did it myself and took the money my dad paid him and put in my pocket. He wanted to help this year so he came to help me stack squares in the mow. After half of the first load he was tired and just sat and watched me finish that half and another load. My dad paid him and he hasn't been back and got all mad that we had the other neighbor kids help. One day while i was servicing a tractor he came down and was complaining how we had those other kids helping instead of him. I just told him I wasn't paying someone to sit and watch me do the work. Haven't spoke since....glad i don't have regular employees to deal with


----------



## slowzuki

NDVA HAYMAN said:


> Slowzuki, I love those hand hewn beams in your barn. Awesome !


A few more pics of the old girl, another thread on here has some better pics too. Built in 1850 ish, moved to Drummond area of New Brunswick sometime, then floated down the river in 1940ish about 200 miles are reassembled here to replace the original 1850's barn that burned.

We believe the gambrel roof was retrofitted at that time as it uses nails and was in vogue vs the original single pitch roofs on the first generation of barns here.


----------



## ontario hay man

Bgriffin856 said:


> Have a 15 year old neighbor kid who was all gung ho on working on the farm and all. Well after we put two round bales in the quanoset mow he was complaining how much work it was and it was hot and blah blah blah. He stuck it out for the day...might as well did it myself and took the money my dad paid him and put in my pocket. He wanted to help this year so he came to help me stack squares in the mow. After half of the first load he was tired and just sat and watched me finish that half and another load. My dad paid him and he hasn't been back and got all mad that we had the other neighbor kids help. One day while i was servicing a tractor he came down and was complaining how we had those other kids helping instead of him. I just told him I wasn't paying someone to sit and watch me do the work. Haven't spoke since....glad i don't have regular employees to deal with


I used to pay the little pecker heads $10 a load. We can do 3 loads an hour on an average day. They complained they didnt get paid enough. I said go flip burgers for $8 a hour then. Where will they get $30 a hour at 16. Now I dont bother me and dad do it all. We can do 1500 ourself on a good day.


----------



## Bgriffin856

ontario hay man said:


> I used to pay the little pecker heads $10 a load. We can do 3 loads an hour on an average day. They complained they didnt get paid enough. I said go flip burgers for $8 a hour then. Where will they get $30 a hour at 16. Now I dont bother me and dad do it all. We can do 1500 ourself on a good day.


Yep my dad and i do most everything ourselves. Another reason we invested in a round baler. When things go right we can get six loads a day square baled load three wagons unload them the fill and unload again for the next day. All while milking and feeding cows can make for some long days


----------



## Bgriffin856

That's a neat barn Slowzuki never saw one like that


----------



## ontario hay man

Lol it looks like a weird mow setup. I should take pics of my barn tomorrow. These type of barns are very common up here.


----------



## FarmerCline

Very neat barn with a nice old fashioned rustic feel but it doesn't look like it would be fun to fill that thing with hay.


----------



## ontario hay man

FarmerCline said:


> Very neat barn with a nice old fashioned rustic feel but it doesn't look like it would be fun to fill that thing with hay.


Ya thats what I was thinking lol.


----------



## Bgriffin856

Amazing how those guys built things back then. Must have worked great back in the day


----------



## ontario hay man

They built them to be alot of work. They didnt care they had 10 kids to help lol.


----------



## Bgriffin856

Plus had all day to do things


----------



## JD3430

And no I-phone distractions.


----------



## slowzuki

It used to be great with loose hay, you pulled inside, the hay loader unloaded the wagon in a few minutes and the team was back on its way while the kids tramped the mow.

Feeding out you just pitched down the face into the hole going downstairs.

This type of barn was main kind of barn here. The other type doesn't have animals below and comes with or without a raised wood floor. The ones with a wood floor I think were used to store the shocks of grain. Early barns had a heavy threshing floor where they threshed themselves. The later ones didn't as the mobile threshers would travel around.


----------



## Bgriffin856

Starting to feed out of the stack that is covered with plastic all the way to the ground. Im surprised it didn't sweat and mold on the bales where the plastic touched must have had good airflow. Also very little if any spoilage on the bottoms of the bales on the ground


----------



## Itsalwayssomething

Just as I'd hoped, there's a bunch of good info here on tarping hay - how to and how not to. We're losing our leased buildings across the road and will need to tarp our round bales. Our customers are horse owners so we can't have the hay getting moldy. I've tarped before, when we had excess hay, with poor results. The hay was moldy where it contacted the tarps. Was it because we used cheap tarps? Or because we covered the endsd? I've got to do it RIGHT this time so any advice is very much appreciated.

I'm going to check out, and probably order, the Inland tarps today. I like the useage of the old tires under the pallets. I hadn't considered that the pallets will definitely be stuck to the ground til like July, if this winter is as they are predicting - as rough as last winter (MI).

Who would have thought that I'd regret finally getting rid of all those old tires this last Spring.

Thanks, in advance, for all input.


----------



## slowzuki

A thin layer of rock lets you pickup pallets with minimal stuff stuck to them.

I've been putting together a few things to try a little experiment. I've got an old furnace fan I'm planning to connect to the end of the tarp to run for the first week or so after tarping. Most of the damage seems to happen during the initial sweating contacting the tarp and condensing back on the hay at night.

I did some tries at removing tarps daily then reinstalling them at night fall the first week of storage this summer and the inside stays dry vs the ones I left on there was some water damage on bales with the tarp against them. I think even a small solar cell powered fan could move enough air to keep venting.


----------



## JD3430

Say you run 3 long 2x4's then put small 2-3' long cross pieces nailed to them making almost like a long pallet, then stretch tarp over them?


----------



## Bgriffin856

Well since I moved some pictures around photobucket and no longer show up. Here is one from last week of one our hay stacks. Only additional thing we did was tie on a tire to the gussets that are on each side of the top bale where the "tunnel" is on each side to hold it from getting wind under it.



Have another stack the same size covered with a piece of agbag plastic anchored with tires


----------



## slowzuki

No pictures but we gave a try at storing 5 round bales outside untarped, single row, ends spaced 6" as we found they develop white mold between the ends about 2-3 days after rain when touching. Baled late July, perfectly dry. They looked terrible within a week on the exterior but thought oh will be fine. Fed the first one this week, complete garbage. Dust all the way through. The ones we put inside from that batch are fine.


----------

