# Round bale tarps



## Jody2 (Nov 14, 2010)

Anyone know of a product to use on my huge round bale tarps to recondition them? The summer sun has made them start to flake and become brittle, and now they are starting to leak. Thanks!


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

A match:rolleyes:

The plastic is breaking down from the ultra violet rays in sunlight.It might not of had enough UV in it when it was made.Or it is just the life of them.


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

Sounds like it's time to buy some new ones. That's part of the reason farmers need to get a good price for their hay


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I bought some from the local Farm & Home about 6 years ago AND LOST THE ENTIRE cutting, 1500 sq bales of very good quality OG, because the were cheap Chinese made crap that didn't last 3 months! (As you might notice, I'm still a touch PO'd about it!). They were so bad that I could put my hand right through them.

I have been using tarps from ADM Alliance for the last 5 years and am very happy with them, except when they changed the tie down straps. I went back and got the older style. The tarps work great. I've had as many as 250+ bales under them at one time. ADM provides a roll of patching tape to fix small holes (and their tarps are woven to prevent tears from spreading.

For me, the keys are to:
--make your bales fairly tight and a consistent size
--let them sweat a couple of weeks before stacking
--build a good, tight stack to keep them from moving and animals from getting into them.
--keep the tarps tight all year round (I check every 4-6 weeks)
--get your ends to hang over about a foot so that the wind can't get under them.
--put them on a rock pad with good drainage
--AND DON'T MESS WITH CHINESE CRAP! (Just venting)

Ralph


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## Ridgerunner (Jul 10, 2009)

NDVA HAYMAN said:


> Sounds like it's time to buy some new ones. That's part of the reason farmers need to get a good price for their hay:cool:


Farmer's set the price of the hay. The price you set for your hay depends on how many other farmer's are willing to under-cut you. Too many people are selling hay at a loss, for fun I guess.


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

Ralph, The last tarps that I used came from Inland Tarp Company and have been great. They are holding up well as long as you do as 
u said. Good pointers. They also make some good tiedowns to go along with their tarps.

Ridgerunner, A couple of the reasons that people sell their hay too cheap is because they don't have a clue what their real costs are. In other words, they are bad business people. They don't take into account the price of fertilizer, lime, twine, maintenance, depreciation and costs of their equipment, labor, rent, etc. There are also those that are just trying to unload a bunch of crap onto people that don't have a clue as to what they are buying. The lists go on and on. If you make good hay, you should get a fair price for it. It takes time to make a good reputation for yourself and have repeat buyers. You will always have those that undercut you but most of those folks are just passing thru for a short period of time and don't stay in business. Quality will usually prevail. I could go on and on about pricing hay but I will give it a rest. Thanks, Mike


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

NDVA HAYMAN said:


> Ralph, The last tarps that I used came from Inland Tarp Company and have been great. They are holding up well as long as you do as
> u said. Good pointers. They also make some good tiedowns to go along with their tarps.
> 
> Mike


I've heard Inland tarps are good. I know ADM doesn't make their own--but I don't know who their actual supplier is--might be Inland. Good tarps usually have a cross weaving and lots of UV protection!

My production costs over the last couple of years have been running about $100-140/ton--depending on the price of potash, DAP and urea. When potash was $8-900/ton--that HURT! $600/ton this year isn't sitting too well with me right now either!

Hay buyers seldom realize that hay takes a lot of nutrients out of the ground. When they see Jimmy-Joe down the road selling hay for $2.00/bale and I'm asking $4.50 a bale, they think only money--not quality.

Then they go and buy Jimmy-Joe's and that's OK with me--they usually come back after the have health problems, wasted 50% of the bale and ended up spending 3 times what they would have spent on me. If they don't come back--that's OK too, because a bad customer is worse than no customer at all.

Ralph


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## Jody2 (Nov 14, 2010)

I've been crop farming for 14 years, with the last 5 years mostly in high quality hay...and reputation is EVERYTHING!!! These cheap tarps are ruining my business this year...I convert my round bales into small squares (I have a round bale unwinder) as I need them, and the losses this year is awful!! It's hard to justify putting up even a temporary building on rented ground...land rents are shooting up, fuel costs, fertilizer is up, twine (rd and sq) is up; and parts for my JD discbine - wow!! But I set my price for delivery, and stay with that price, and it's worked out good. Most of my customers are repeat buyers - I sell the whole package; delivery, stacking, and covering the piles from the pigeons if they need it...and the check is always hanging in the barn!


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## satheeia231 (Sep 16, 2011)

My husband is using Hay Tarps for our farm and I assume that this tarp is really great .These hay tarp covers are Super Heavy Duty. I think this Hay tarp is the best and it's compatible for serious farmers who need to cover hay bales.
I'm gonna share this link to you where you can find great tarps:
Hay Tarps


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Tarps are okay in a pinch or for temporary storage, but if you plan on being in the hay business long term, invest in some buildings.

The day you get your stack done and get ready to cover it will be the hottest day so far that year. Trying to get hay out from under them with two foot on snow on top also in a word...blows.


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

1. A 4 inch deep bed of rocks under a hay stack will pay for it's self the first year in Hay Saved.

2. A Quality Tarp will pay for it's self in three years by Hay Saved.

3. A pole barn will pay for it's self in seven years by Hay Saved.

This is only looking at hay quantity lost not quality. Nothing like a round bale rotted to the center core to reduce total dry matter fed.

This is for hay used by the grower, with hay for sale the numbers can be different.

The lose of hay on the outside of a round bale stored in the weather is more difficult to measure. I have to take the word of our University Friends that they have weighed a bale after baling and weighed the same bale when fed.

Not mentioned with a tarp is we get to buy a replacement tarp in 6 years, if it is a quality tarp, You get to buy a replacement for one of those blue things every year.

For my farm a Tarp is just not practical, as it is just Me, Myself, and I working with that monster. A super PIA.

Not all *HAY BARNS* are equally useful. Oh how I hate a Chicken Coop *hay barn*. but dearly love my pole barn, where I can back right up to the stack to put hay in or take hay out. My barn will also work for a squeeze or a grab. I pickup hay and stack in the barn using a NH Stackwagon. I have visions of using one of the newer self propelled Balewagons.

Not all barns will allow RB's to be stacked on their ends.

The ideal barn is cool, dry, and dark. I know where ONE, just one, is.

I may put benches in my hay barn and hold a camp ground revival for the collection monsy


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

hay wilson in TX said:


> This is for hay used by the grower, with hay for sale the numbers can be different.
> .....
> For my farm a Tarp is just not practical, as it is just Me, Myself, and I working with that monster. A super PIA.


When storing hay for sale a building pays for itself much quicker especially in years when their is a surplus of hay. Every little thing helps sales and most of the time if it's a good building the hay will come out looking as good as when it went in. In _our_ area I've yet to ever have hay come out from under a tarp looking as good as it went under.

Most of the time when it's time to cover the hay, the help pulls a Houdini. I've fought em by myself and it never fails, it's either windy or the hottest most miserable day yet that year. The wife was helping me the one year, just had one side fastened and a freak storm come up, got a 3/4" in about 10 minutes. We were both standing out in the rain holding the tarp down, she wasn't happy to say the least.


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## mytarps (Jan 25, 2012)

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## Texasmark (Dec 20, 2011)

Ridgerunner said:


> Farmer's set the price of the hay. The price you set for your hay depends on how many other farmer's are willing to under-cut you. Too many people are selling hay at a loss, for fun I guess.


Not down heah. I bought 4x6 net wrapped Fescue/Rye this past Spring for $40 a roll and thought that was high. In August the same bale was selling for $100. Hay producers around here were selling everything they could roll, I mean everything, to West Texas Ranchers and that put us in a pinch here in addition to driving the price way up and our pastures were under a drought as well. I noticed several new Diesel 4wd pickups pulling hay wagons around....

I'm growing my own this year. As I type this, the pool/pond (water storage) is just about at spillway, after nearly going dry last summer. We have already had 4" hard rain after numerous small showers that made run off from this possible. There is another 4" on the way and the county is under a flood alert.....YES!

My hay patch is Houston Black Clay and I had it all tilled up so most of this rain is going in the ground where the clay will store it for me to use next summer. Hay prices will probably drop, but not much if the W. TX. demand remains high.....just be more new PU's next year....but that's ok.

Mark


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