# Mold on round bales



## georgiahayman (Aug 14, 2011)

Hello all. I round baled 2 fields about 3 weeks ago, one was baled a 14% moisture and the other was baled at 12.5% moisture. Niether were rained on and put in the barn dry and stacked on pallets. The grass is fescue/ orchard mix and baled in 4x5 rounds with a Vermeer baler. I checked them yesterday and they have a little mold on the outside. I unrolled 1 and its still nice on the inside. I've baled hay for 10 years and have never seen this and have used this same barn that whole time and never had a problem. Question is could all the wet weather we've been having be making them mold? Rain cannot get in the barn but the ends are open so could moisture in the air be making them mold? Never had this happen before but never seen a year as wet as this either! Thanks in advance.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

georgiahayman said:


> Hello all. I round baled 2 fields about 3 weeks ago, one was baled a 14% moisture and the other was baled at 12.5% moisture. Niether were rained on and put in the barn dry and stacked on pallets. The grass is fescue/ orchard mix and baled in 4x5 rounds with a Vermeer baler. I checked them yesterday and they have a little mold on the outside. I unrolled 1 and its still nice on the inside. I've baled hay for 10 years and have never seen this and have used this same barn that whole time and never had a problem. Question is could all the wet weather we've been having be making them mold? Rain cannot get in the barn but the ends are open so could moisture in the air be making them mold? Never had this happen before but never seen a year as wet as this either! Thanks in advance.


Yea I think if they were rolled at that level (kudos to you during this monsoon season to get hay at 14%) you would have to be experiencing mold from the humidity levels, I've seen mold in places I have never seen mold before so I'm bettin on that being the culprit....our relative humidity has been 95% or higher for almost 3 weeks in south ga...what did the mold look like?


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I agree with somedevildawg....I have seen that happen several years ago when we had alot of prolonged moisture....its just part of the country that we live in......and it seems to be more common with fescue.

Regards, Mike


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## georgiahayman (Aug 14, 2011)

It's a white/ light green dust.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Do you feed this hay or sell it? Perhaps digging into one might yield more answers, but I think you'll only find it on the outside of the bale. If it was just white dust and persisted throughout the bale you might want to check that meter....btw what kinda meter was that, chamber or probe? Probably just on the outside....good luck.


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## georgiahayman (Aug 14, 2011)

I sell all my hay and the one bale i opened up looked fine on the inside. The meter that use is a probe type that John Deere sells (forget who actually makes it). Do you think closing up the ends of the barn would help or make it worse?


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

georgiahayman said:


> I sell all my hay and the one bale i opened up looked fine on the inside. The meter that use is a probe type that John Deere sells (forget who actually makes it). Do you think closing up the ends of the barn would help or make it worse?


I don't think it would help at all, unless you are real tall and getting alot of water under the cover, that unit is made by agritronix and it's a good one from what I've read and heard, I have one and it seems to work ok, I just have a hard time trusting it....let me say this, if it don't pass the field twist test, I don't even bother with the meter.....not even sure why I have one, sorry, two.....I guess because I'm a damn gadget freak.....but if you don't have any mold inside I would not worry too much about it....you might experience a problem when selling however, most cow folks aren't going to care anyway, I am assuming this is your primary market for these rounds?


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## georgiahayman (Aug 14, 2011)

I sell to mostly to horse folks. Most call a day or two ahead of time and I run them a couple rolls out and put them straight in the pasture. Most don't have storage or equipment. I thought I'd just keep an eye on them and may have to blow them off with a leaf blower as i sell them.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

georgiahayman said:


> I sell to mostly to horse folks. Most call a day or two ahead of time and I run them a couple rolls out and put them straight in the pasture. Most don't have storage or equipment. I thought I'd just keep an eye on them and may have to blow them off with a leaf blower as i sell them.


That's what I would do as well, do you use net or twine and do you take it off when you deliver? If so I thnk I'd skip the blower part and drive a lil faster...


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