# Small wrapped bales gone mouldy.



## 128mpr (Oct 23, 2011)

A customer of mine who also buys from another supplier has called me for some advice. She bought about 40 small, wrapped bales from someone else which have gone mouldy.

The bales were made in early December (beginning of our hay season here) and stored off the ground in a ventilated shed through our summer.

Opening them now (Feb) she is finding they have white mould in them.

She has called me for advice because the person she bought them from has refused to provide a refund and says they have gone mouldy because they were stored in a shed rather than outside.

Any advice you can offer would be appreciated.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Wrapping small squares in incredibly rare in North America so you may not find the most advice on here. Indoors or out wouldn't matter, its what moisture they were baled at (wet enough to ensile) and how many wraps / careful storage to not puncture the wrap.

Given its on the edges I'm guessing not enough wraps or it got torn while handling and wasn't patched.

I'm trying to think of the small square wrappers that are popular there. Tawi Twins or something like that?


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Looks too dry to have been wrapped. What was the length of time between baling and wrapping. How tight were the bales made.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

If I remember white molds are common in the 30% moisture range that is the sort of "sweet hay" range of wrapping that horse folks like. That is barely wet enough to ensile so it has to be super airtight or you get spoilage.

How many wraps on it? Care to stick a moisture probe in one of the still wrapped bales?


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## bbos2 (Mar 20, 2015)

Not sure what she's feeding but my advice would be tell her to use it as bedding and buy good hay from you.


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## YODA (Oct 24, 2013)

Never - Never use moldy hay as bedding. You will kill a horse that way. First hand experience, They will still eat it and when walking on it the mold is kicked up and gets into their lungs causing COPD. If not caught early and treated heavily it is nu-treatable. You just manage symptoms, (very expensive)

My guess the bales were too wet to begin with before wrapping. I know folks will say Im craisy, but if I get over 12% moisture, I don't bale, to be sure no mold growth. I am in mostly grasses and being in SW Colorado helps with fast drying here.


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## bbos2 (Mar 20, 2015)

Should of been more clear on my above post. I have used moldy grass hay for bedding in my cattle pins before to get rid of a few bales. No issues. Was not trying to suggest it for horse bedding. The op didn't specify specie and neither did I. But one could assume they're feeding horses since its a lady. Thank you yoda


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

The picture would indicate a good wrap job .. No smalls wrapped around here but looking at it I would guess the all too common mistake in wrapping any shape bale ,,they waited too long to wrap after they baled .


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## 128mpr (Oct 23, 2011)

I'd like to answer the questions being raised here, but unfortunately I didn't bale or wrap these and the person who did isn't being helpful. They seller claims they made over 800 bales and that this is the only buyer who has complained. The seller is blaming the failure on the fact that the buyer stored them in a shed rather than outside, which sounds like rubbish to me.

The buyer intended feeding this to her horse with a new foal. She won't be doing that as she doesn't want to risk making her horse sick.

Any thoughts about feeding this to cattle ?


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## YODA (Oct 24, 2013)

Sorry to come on so strong, but a stupid mistake on my part cost us dearly. New to having our own horses and new to hay. Did not realize the bales were moldy until the horse started coughing. Vet caught the mold. I put 50 bales in a compost pile off of the horses, but things got worse. Vet came back out and discovered the mold was spreading in the wind, so I burned the pile, but it was too late. The horse spent a month in the hospital before coming home. Her lungs were already compromised to the point we could no longer rider her and her condition continued to gradually get worse. We were going to put her down, but her original owner took her back and put her out to pasture. She made it another year . Now I am very anal retentive on any mold and try to make sure I don't have any. Once a month or so I routinely spray the stalls down with a bleach solution and carefully watch each bale we feed


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Yoda is much depend on the breed of horse as we are in a damp climate with mold almost constantly around us except in winter. As long as we don't make the horses eat dusty hay inside we've never had a problem.

Manure/straw pile is nearby, again no issues.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

128mpr said:


> I'd like to answer the questions being raised here, but unfortunately I didn't bale or wrap these and the person who did isn't being helpful. They seller claims they made over 800 bales and that this is the only buyer who has complained. The seller is blaming the failure on the fact that the buyer stored them in a shed rather than outside, which sounds like rubbish to me.
> 
> The buyer intended feeding this to her horse with a new foal. She won't be doing that as she doesn't want to risk making her horse sick.
> 
> Any thoughts about feeding this to cattle ?


Cattle will eat, especially if used for bedding. I've unrolled some junk hay for bedding that sat outside so long there wasn't much net to take off, stupid cows ate most of it instead of laying on it. Now if you actually intended for them to eat it forget it.


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## skyrydr2 (Oct 25, 2015)

LOL yup stupid cows is spot on! I feed the crap hay and they gobble it up like its their last meal,give em good stuff and the dummies pull it out and lay on it? This really makes it easy to put them in the freezer..
Wrapping bales in humid weather is really sensitive at least this is something I have noticed. Here in New England it is a race against time and weather. Of which you need 90% luck to get it correct!


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

A local dairy guy mows in the morning, bales it that afternoon and wraps it at night, won't even let it set till morning.


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## skyrydr2 (Oct 25, 2015)

Same here for baleage mow early bale in the afternoon and wrap after baling all in the same day...if the weather is good. 
Wrapping a bale with the wrong moisture content I always thought was a huge no no ? Especially dry hay? I thought that stuff needs to be treated first while being baled then wrapped when dry dry like 8%-10% or 10-12% ?
Kind of pricey too doing small bales like that I would think?


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

Most of the baleage here is mowed one day and baled the next unless it's thin. I have some first that got baled by 3 PM and not wrapped until the following day by 7 AM. No issues. This year I finally get to feed mine so I can take notes to improve my quality. I do like mine dryer, closer to the 40% mark. The only bale I have come across that was not the best was over ripe oats/triticale in the new seeding. No solid mold just tiny white spots half way through bale then good.

Baleage is finally starting to move. Amish buying for their sheep.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

From my research when I was considering wrapping, baleage needs to be wrapped at 65% moisture. Less than 50%(?), it doesn't have enough moisture to ferment.

And it needs to be kept air tight. Once opened, it needs to be fed (local conditions being considered.) Any tears, holes, rodent holes, etc., need to be repaired.

I discarded the idea for myself because a round bale would be open for 5-7 days and, I thought that even in winter where the temperatures can get up in the 50's, I thought the risk of mold was too high.

Ralph


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

There is a wide range of moisture they can be wrapped at depending on plant sugars and density of the bales. The drier the bale the harder it is to compress and keep the oxygen levels low enough for proper ensiling.

The more oxygen trapped in the bale at wrapping the more important it becomes to exclude any new oxygen from entering.


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

http://www.midwestforage.org/pdf/512.pdf.pdf

There are people feeding wrapped bales to horses under the sweet hay which is 25%-35%. Some discussion on haytalk about that.

The bale I'm feeding right now is only being fed to 2 animals and we have not been below freezing for days and the highs have been 50's-60's. That bale been open for 2 weeks now and no issues and I don't mind saying smells damn good. It was oats/trit taken off perfectly. Wish I had more of that.

Moisture is only a small percentage of making baleage. I feel wrapping plays a larger role in the quality followed by maturity, timeliness of wrapping, and storage. Then there is the density of the baler. You can make the best bale you can but if you skimp on plastic whats the point.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Yup, if you watch the dairy guys here that have been wrapping bales since the mid 1980's, they have the bales wrapped within a couple hours of baling, they don't take shortcuts on plastic, they don't bother wrapping over mature hay and they patch tears in plastic asap.

They have learned how to make bad bales years ago, now they rarely lose a bale.


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

128mpr said:


> Any thoughts about feeding this to cattle ?


I recommend only feeding outside, I put mine on top of the manure pile (spread out), let them pick through and eat what they want. I have been told to not feed molding hay inside a barn with cows (or even in a round bale feeder there could be problems).

Larry


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## skyrydr2 (Oct 25, 2015)

Funny thing with beef,mine love dusty moldy bales to a washed out or rained on hay bale every time. 
I have seen white mold in our silt fence bales the were buried deep in the stacks but had gotten wet ever so slightly before being stored. It might have been from some broad leaf plants being baled? I know they can ruin an otherwise good bale under the best conditions.


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## 2ndWindfarm (Nov 11, 2014)

McHale makes a small square wrapper. Local Soil District rents one to area producers. I agree that it appears that the hay was wrapped late, too dry.

That's when I have noted a white mold. When the moisture content is above 50% (~65%) and the plastic is punctured, you'll get black mold, slimey black mold oftentimes.

I like to bale 2nd - 3rd day with % moisture around 45%.

Gorilla tape works very well to repair holes. More expensive, but it hangs on there - thru the fall and winter.


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