# Stacking Sq bales wrong



## swmnhay




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## BWfarms

Is it wrong if nobody told you it was wrong?


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## Vol

BWfarms said:


> Is it wrong if nobody told you it was wrong?


I guess it depends....if the stack is laying in the floor somewhere, other than where it was stacked I guess one could assume it was wrong even if not told so. :huh:

Regards, Mike


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## rjmoses

If it stays stacked and uses the least amount of space possible, it's stacked right. If it falls over, or uses a lot of space, It's wrong. Period.

Ralph


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## slowzuki

I have that feeling watching people try to load their trucks. They will only get 10 bales on a 6.5 ft box and still lose a bale.


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## PaMike

I had two guys come one Sat morning to get hay.First guy rolls up in a Ford Kind Ranch. I threw 10 bales up on and he goes "ok, that might be close to a load". He put the 10 in the bed and I convinced him to put a few more on as a second layer in the middle. He had no straps. Two hours later a guy rolls up in a little 2 wheel drive S10. He says "I can usually get 42 bales on it". He had it down to a science, all I had to do was keep the bales coming to him and he got them up and in place... He even had specific straps for certain locations on the truck...

I was over at the neighbors the other night and I noticed that their hay is stacked in the mow on edge as normal, but their straw is stacked "flat" with the strings down....Is that normal for straw? I have never made small squares of straw, so I wouldn't know....


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## Thorim

We always used to place the first layer of sm sq hay bale on there side the all the others courses string down for the most part...


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## Vol

Thorim said:


> We always used to place the first layer of sm sq hay bale on there side the all the others courses string down for the most part...


That is frequently done here in this part of the world. But, we always have a few here that insist on stacking everything on edge. I always said if it is baled "right" there is no need to stack all of it on edge....just the bottom(ground) bales.

Regards, Mike


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## slowzuki

Yup if it goes in the stack too wet the only thing saving you is a drying fan or preservative that was applied during baling.



Vol said:


> That is frequently done here in this part of the world. But, we always have a few here that insist on stacking everything on edge. I always said if it is baled "right" there is no need to stack all of it on edge....just the bottom(ground) bales.
> 
> Regards, Mike


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## PaMike

Everyone I know here always stacks hay on edge in the barn. Thats just how its done...


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## slowzuki

Unless you live in an area where everyone stacks flat like here. Some butting of heads when my father in law helped haying, he's from one of those stack on edge areas.



PaMike said:


> Everyone I know here always stacks hay on edge in the barn. Thats just how its done...


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## IH 1586

Starting to load more and more of customers trucks. They come in and ask how many can I get on or how many you think will fit I usually get 20 on a load. I tell them a short bed is good 40 and long bed is good for 55 with no straps.

Had a beef guy hauling 500 bales with 2 pickups. His one guy has a long bed with a rack on it. Put 70+ bales on it stacked every which way, straps going in every direction. I loaded the 2nd truck per owners request. Short bed I think had 44 bales no straps. He takes it home and tells the other guy look no straps. The both show up and the rack is off long bed and he is proud of how many he got on even though he had to make 2 trips to get the twenty some bales he lost on way to the barn. I loaded the rest of the bales that day.


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## r82230

Stacking straw on edge (as we did with hay), there seem to be less broken strings in MY area. Seems there were a few mice involved in the broken bales however. They would chew on strings between top and bottom, more than those on the side.

Larry


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## slowzuki

With the long power tailgate on our longbox super duty giving about 12 ft of length in the bed, we have had over 100 bales on it. This required lots of straps and a ladder to get down. It also was never repeated for a delivery because it handled so poorly. (single rear wheel truck)



IH 1586 said:


> Starting to load more and more of customers trucks. They come in and ask how many can I get on or how many you think will fit I usually get 20 on a load. I tell them a short bed is good 40 and long bed is good for 55 with no straps.
> 
> Had a beef guy hauling 500 bales with 2 pickups. His one guy has a long bed with a rack on it. Put 70+ bales on it stacked every which way, straps going in every direction. I loaded the 2nd truck per owners request. Short bed I think had 44 bales no straps. He takes it home and tells the other guy look no straps. The both show up and the rack is off long bed and he is proud of how many he got on even though he had to make 2 trips to get the twenty some bales he lost on way to the barn. I loaded the rest of the bales that day.


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## VA Haymaker

Right, wrong or indifferent, this year we stacked cut side up, which for us is on the edge, strings on either side. The reason is - cut side up, we think, allows moisture vapor to vertically escape somewhat easier with the barn heat, i.e heat rises and warm vapor does too. We also think that as the bale settles out and/or gets smashed with bales on top of each other, they will fatten into the strings, retaining a tight bale shape. Haven't thought to notice, but some say that cut side up makes for better walking on the bales - kind of makes sense as you are walking on columns of stems and if anything, mashing the bale into the strings as it tries to fatten out under the weight of your boots.

Knock on wood - we have had zero dust this year. Also - can't prove any above is the reason for zero dust, in addition to favorable weather and a mower conditioner, but it's no extra effort for us to stack on the edge and for now - I'm a believer.

YMMV

Bill


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## mlappin

Always stacked ours on edge, if you had a tough spot in a bale they tend to breath better and on edge by time you got to the peak in one of those old bank barns, the ones on bottom held their shape better on edge.


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## slowzuki

So I found the numbers for the resistance to airflow in a stack for designing dryers. This isn't the actual airflow just the resistance to airflow for forced fan design.

-Blowing through the stack through the edge direction is 69% of the resistance as blowing through a stack through the strings. (this was before inline balers)

-The density of the bale causes an exponential increase in resistance to airflow through bales. IE a small increase in bale density (tightness) can double the resistance to airflow through the bales.

Both these assume uniform tightly stacked bales. Even a 1" gap in the stacking allows more airflow in the stack than ever can go through the bales. This is important for driers as dry air bypassing the bales isn't helpful. In a stack it can be quite helpful to keep air flow up in the stack without a fan.



mlappin said:


> Always stacked ours on edge, if you had a tough spot in a bale they tend to breath better and on edge by time you got to the peak in one of those old bank barns, the ones on bottom held their shape better on edge.


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## Hayguy

Can you tell us where you found this info? Seems to me like the air would only have to pass through 14" of compared to 18" of hay stacked on edge. On the other hand the area of bale exposed to the airflow would be larger for the hay stacked on the flat side.


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## slowzuki

It was in a french paper on solar hay drying - I see if I can get the original reference.

The equation was not based on bale units but rather per foot so the bale dimensions don't matter.


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## r82230

Most likely study was non-inline baler. When you open a bale usually most stems are cross ways (side to side, when strings are on top/bottom). IDK, what an in-line baler's flakes/stems look like. But with cross-way stems, seems air flow would be better. And I have read somewhere about the use of drying in Europe is used a lot (seems they build special sheds even).

http://www.haydryer.com/

Larry


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## Waldo

The days before stack cruisers and accumulator we picked the hay up with a truck and side loader.there was a father and son team that could put 2000 wire tired bales in the shed ever day.you could put straight edge up the side of the load and not a bale out of place they whent 3 tier on the edge cut side up knots out.we never had bale throwers here.


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## slowzuki

The study referenced something like parallel to the flake stem orientation and perpendicular to the flake stem orientation.

Work referenced was "Hall CW, Drying of Farm Crop, AVI Publishing, Conn., ( 1957)"

Haven't found a copy of it yet.



r82230 said:


> Most likely study was non-inline baler. When you open a bale usually most stems are cross ways (side to side, when strings are on top/bottom). IDK, what an in-line baler's flakes/stems look like. But with cross-way stems, seems air flow would be better. And I have read somewhere about the use of drying in Europe is used a lot (seems they build special sheds even).
> 
> http://www.haydryer.com/
> 
> Larry


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