# Wrapping rained on hay



## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Just got done raking yesterday and had some rain come thru, hazy and overcast today, high only in the low to mid 80's but a heat index in the mid to upper 90's, its humid, looks like another day or two of rain before having a few clear days. 7 acres at home, another 18 a few miles away, raked at home first, ended up at the 18, considering drive and raking time the 7 at home would have been mostly dry and the same with the 18 by time I got to it, a few spots might have needed some hayguard.

Father wants to just bale it now and wrap it and see what happens, I'm pretty sure since it was close to being dry it's not gonna ferment very well if at all, also pretty sure need to get the excess moisture out of it before baling or most likely it will mold instead.

Bought some wrapped hay from the auction once that I'm pretty sure was almost dry, got a rain, then they baled and wrapped, cows ate it, but weren't very happy about it.

I'm of the opinion get it as dry as possible, bale it, shove it in a row somewhere and unroll this winter and let the cows pick thru what they will and lay on the rest. We routinely unroll some every winter anyway so the cows aren't laying on frozen ground or in the mud if its one of those winters.

To those that wrap hay all the time, what say you?


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I should add, that I have plenty of wrapped hay for our own cows already, and we don't have much of a market here for it either. I've actually hauled what I thought was junk hay in to the auctions, sold it, turned right around and bought wrapped hay, paid the guy that runs the auction $20 to load it onto my truck and still turned a profit.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

mlappin said:


> I'm of the opinion get it as dry as possible, bale it, shove it in a row somewhere and unroll this winter and let the cows pick thru what they will and lay on the rest.
> To those that wrap hay all the time, what say you?


I think unless hay is dry when baled i wouldn't store butted up in rows but store it with space between bales to allow the bales to dissipate as much internal moisture as possible.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

On a farm in central Pennsylvania I would let that hay go and see what happens. We are not expected to have more than two days of instability and then a week without rain I am not sure about your weather forecast. The last of my second cutting I got home with


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Don't really have the space to store em separated.

More rain today, tomorrow, Friday, then clear two days and more rain next week.


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

Sounds like you got some bedding there Marty. Cows eat what they want and lay on the rest.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Yeah, what stack said.

Let it dry, bale it up, let it "sweat out" for about 3-4 days (move off the field to the edge if necessary) and then butt em up tight together in a line.

Unroll it and let em pick through it in the winter, and lay on the rest, call it good... (lemonade from lemons...)

Later! OL J R


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