# Will Wrapping Save the Hay



## lacamo (Aug 15, 2008)

For years I've been rolling dry grass & clover for feed, but due to storage requirements and the stress of dealing with New England weather, I'm thinking about getting a wrapper. Recently, my last drying day was cancelled due to approaching rain so I baled and prayed: no barn burners and mostly usable, but not the sweet-smelling, dry hay crop that I'd hoped for. My baler will plug on anything that's real wet, so I will be wrapping at around 20-25% moisture. From my understanding, this is too dry for ensiling process, but the question is: will wrapping preserve the hay until I break it open and feed it out, or will it continue to deteriorate? I plan on wrapping immediately after baling.

Thanks!


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

you might experience some mold growth due to inadequate moisture for ensiling.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

You're talking about what a lot of members refer to as "sweet hay". There are some threads on it you might want to read until one of them comes along to help.


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

It will work like a charm. I wrap hay all the time that is not fit to bale dry and not "wet" to ferment. Hay is great and feeds well. I don't have any mold on the bales. I actually tend to have more mold on wet bales that ferment. The diamond and econowrap wrappers like pretty good at 5K new...


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## CaseIH84 (Jun 16, 2013)

I agree with PaMike. I went to making all "sweet hay" last year. It was first year we had wrapper. I baled hay at all different moistures to see the results for ourselfs. I can tell you for the best bales we opened the moisture had to be around 30 to 35 percent. These bales when opened were lightly brown colored on outside, only the outside inch or so. When you peeled that layer off it was the color of the day it was baled. It was fantastic stuff. We have beef and my wife has horses. We fed to both with no trouble. The animals love it.

One other thing we are finding is my wife would have bale open for four or five days in winter and had no trouble with bale molding being exposed to atmosphere. Stayed nice but not sure it would being open for that long in this humid weather we are currently experiencing.

Also wrapped dry hay 14 to 16 percent. Bales turned out nice also. They were not as nice as hay baled at 30 to 35 percent but feed was ok. Hay baled at 20 to 25 percent was good also. Only bales we had any mold trouble were bales that had gotten a hole in them for what ever reason and the occasional wet spot. Some of the things I found were people saying dry hay that is wrapped will have layer of slime on outside, I never experienced that at all. We put four wraps of plastic on with individual wrapper and will not open bale for two monthes after baling. Hopes this info helps you out.


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## lacamo (Aug 15, 2008)

Many thanks for sharing your experiences. I'll be ordering the wrapper (probably the Diamond) and be all set in time for second cutting. My wife will be thrilled since she won't have to listen to me cursing the weatherman.


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## lidaacres (Oct 11, 2014)

I agree with PAMIKE and CASEIH84, Some of our favorite hay to feed is wrapped hay that gets put up around 25-30% moisture. It's soft, smells great, and the animals love it.


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## CBarM (Mar 1, 2015)

If you have a newer Deere baler you may look into the new B Wrap and its feeds just like net wrap through your baler just a different monitor setting it works pretty good


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

CBarM said:


> If you have a newer Deere baler you may look into the new B Wrap and its feeds just like net wrap through your baler just a different monitor setting it works pretty good


Just curious. Are you running the B wrap?


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

If you need to get down to 20-25% moisture, you could be using a hay preservative product. I would consider 25% to be the upper limit, but I have been impressed with how well proprionic acid works. Just an option.


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## slvr98svt (Jan 18, 2011)

I figured I would ask this here instead of starting a new thread, so can anyone tell me if it is worth it to wrap dry hay that was made a week ago in black plastic....after it was rained on?

Without much RB storage I couldn't get all of them under cover so my plan was to wrap them all in black but didn't have a chance before the weather hit. Is this a viable option or should I chalk it up to not worth it and wait till the next cut?


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## CBarM (Mar 1, 2015)

No I'm not using B wrap at the moment myself, I've got some friends using it and like it. I may use some on our second cuttings but with our wet spring I'm not through our first cuts yet. We've been averaging 4-9 round bales per acre on our first cuts, it's been great this spring as a custom guy.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Gearclash said:


> If you need to get down to 20-25% moisture, you could be using a hay preservative product. I would consider 25% to be the upper limit, but I have been impressed with how well proprionic acid works. Just an option.


25% on a product like Hayguard, I have baled thirty percent hay with acid and it kept, however an experienced buyer can tell something is up. That and its a little nerve wracking knowing your storing hay that wet.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

CBarM said:


> If you have a newer Deere baler you may look into the new B Wrap and its feeds just like net wrap through your baler just a different monitor setting it works pretty good


I can't envision how is JD B-wrap going to keep the air from the bales that contain 25% moisture similar to total wrapping so it will be sweet hay??


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

mlappin said:


> 25% on a product like Hayguard, I have baled thirty percent hay with acid and it kept, however an experienced buyer can tell something is up. That and its a little nerve wracking knowing your storing hay that wet.


Me,too. I've baled 30% with acid. It takes a lot of acid at 30%--and it's expensive-16 lbs/ton at $1.05/lb. And a lot of Tums to neutralize my stomach acid because of worrying!.

Ralph


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## lidaacres (Oct 11, 2014)

I think with the amount of $ spent on a hay preservative product at that wet of hay wrapping will likely be even money or cheaper. If not cheaper you would probably have something better in the end. Especially if you are feeding it your self.


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## Dill (Nov 5, 2010)

The wrap is a better deal than a preservative in my opinion. Why? Cause then you don't have to worry about storage. Plastic isn't cheap and its a pain to deal with. But you don't have to build a barn, or pay taxes on it. With our weather in New England it just doesn't make sense to leave round bales in the open.


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

In my area dry hay sells well, wrapped bales dont. If preservative works I have a sellable product. If I have to wrap the hay I have to feed it. I only have so many steers...


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