Keeping round bale hay outside

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julie111

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Do you cover with taup or leave uncovered. I will put it on a pallet but not sure whether to cover completely/partly or leave uncovered. I don't want to put out in field for the pair of them to gorge on instead I will barrow some out every day. Unfortunately I don't have enough storeage to keep it inside. Thanks in advance :)
 
They do really need to be kept inside if you want them to keep, if you cover them with tarp they will go mouldy, and if you leave uncovered they won't be fit to feed to horses, only cattle.
 
There is no indoor storage at my yard so all the liveries can only keep their large bale hay and haylage outside. As long as you keep it off the ground (on a pallet or two) use two tarps and don't wrap the tarps too tightly (so there is airflow), you will be fine. I also use a little plastic plant pots or similar and put them on top of the bale so that there is increased airflow under the tarp and to prevent condensation from getting too close to the hay.
 
sidesaddlegirl said:
There is no indoor storage at my yard so all the liveries can only keep their large bale hay and haylage outside. As long as you keep it off the ground (on a pallet or two) use two tarps and don't wrap the tarps too tightly (so there is airflow), you will be fine. I also use a little plastic plant pots or similar and put them on top of the bale so that there is increased airflow under the tarp and to prevent condensation from getting too close to the hay.
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Thanks very much, great idea to put plant pots on top!
 
I keep mine on pallets under tarp, I only get a couple of months worth in at a time so it's not stored long, so far I've had no problems, tarp is loose so plenty of air can get in,
 
If they are round bales and net wrapped, far more water will wick up from below than will penetrate the top. The top will at like a thatch. I used to peel off the top layer from bales left uncovered outside but then noticed the ponies were actually eating that stuff in preference to the new! But they are Highlands which are a bit odd anyway.

Put bales on pallets and if you want, tie a sheet over the top 1/3rd. I'll maybe post some pictures of mine tomorrow if I remember. I have some inside, some partially covered, and some uncovered, all net wrapped and all off the ground on pallets or logs, even the bales inside.

If you do a Google, there are some sites with statistics on how much hay is wasted with various storage systems.
 
We have a field shelter on the yard and roll big bales into it (onto a pallet floor). Where we live it is just too exposed in winter to just cover them with taup.
 
We have 4 (2 horses, 2 ponies) and no indoor storage. It's a bit of a pain pulling it out but all last winter I simply opened the wrap by one quarter/one third (so it was still wrapped on the bottom) pulled it out layer by layer and when it got too difficult I opened the wrap slightly more. All of our bales are by a hedge so quite sheltered, but I didn't have any issues with it going mouldy, and one bale lasted 2-3weeks.
 
I buy 1-2 round bales at a time, keep them on their sides on top of pallets with a tarp loosely over the top (but tied down at corners) and a piece of wood (but I like the idea of plastic plant pots too) to keep airflow over the top.

To feed them, I have extra pallets on ground, one each side of the bale, then I just cut through the bale netting then pull off a layer, rolling bale onto either end pallet if I need to in order to unwrap enough hay. Retie tarp over.
 
Ive got a poly tunnel to store my hay in, mines actually 4.5m by 2m wide and in it ive got plenty of room for shavings storage in 50cm cubed dumpy bags, currently have 21 bags stacked at the back and then 2 round bales in front ( straw goes in first on its side, sat on pallets which are sat on plastic and the hay bale goes in next and rolls straw to where it goes. Ive got plenty of room to get to all 3 areas and is wide enough that my hay man can get his tractor tines inside. Ive fastened it down with extra heavy duty ground pegs as it does get very windy where I am and for what it cost if i need to replace the cover in spring its no big deal. I got mine on ebay for less than £60 and actually managed to build it all by myself.
 
I think a lot of people on here are mixing up hay and haylage. Our big bales hay comes in just netting, there is nothing wrapped around it otherwise, so you couldn't open and re wrap it. There is no plastic..
 
I asked my local man about big vs small bales and he said there is nothing in it so if you have the space for small bales get the small bales.
 
equi said:
I asked my local man about big vs small bales and he said there is nothing in it so if you have the space for small bales get the small bales.
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I beg to differ. The big round bales are a lot cheaper! Small bale hay £3-50 and a big bale hay £30. Even if small bales were only £3 you would be laughing as there are a lot more than ten small bales worth in a big bale!
 
Jnhuk said:
I beg to differ. The big round bales are a lot cheaper! Small bale hay £3-50 and a big bale hay £30. Even if small bales were only £3 you would be laughing as there are a lot more than ten small bales worth in a big bale!
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Depends on prices i suppose. Here a small bale is £2.50-£3 and a big bale is £35-£40
 
Yep. Very good hay though. We can get cheaper but it's not great hay. I don't live in an arable area. Good hay has to travel a fair way. That's why I buy big bales as they work out much cheaper (equates to £3/bale I think).
 
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I think a round bale equates to about 10-12 small bales, so £30 versus £30-36 (at £3) or £50-60 (at £5).

Small bales are easier to handle (also easier to nick).

Round bales can have some wastage in them.
 
Thanks again for your replies. Small bale hay is 3.00 and round bale 20.00 that's from the farmer I will be renting field from.
 
kgj66 said:
We have 4 (2 horses, 2 ponies) and no indoor storage. It's a bit of a pain pulling it out but all last winter I simply opened the wrap by one quarter/one third (so it was still wrapped on the bottom) pulled it out layer by layer and when it got too difficult I opened the wrap slightly more. All of our bales are by a hedge so quite sheltered, but I didn't have any issues with it going mouldy, and one bale lasted 2-3weeks.
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This is what we did last year....hay was always fine. BUT, it was just the pulling it out as opposed to being able to unwind it.Once we were 2 thirds in it was all loose enough to get out.
Thankfully on a new yard this year and I'm hoping we have better storage...
 
I've been on a yard where we've had to keep round bale haylage outside.

We put it on pallets and unwrapped fully, covering loosely with a tarp and weighing it down ontop with a pacing slab.

Worked fine for us, never went mouldy
 
I'd ask the supplier if they can wrap the bales. I store hay bales outside, and the farmer offered to wrap them (they now look like haylage if you didn't know any different), so entirely waterproof.
 
Here are some of the bales I could not fit into the barn. I have logs lying lengthways on a couple of posts which are laid crosswise, so the bales are kept off the ground when I ran out of pallets.

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These bales are on pallets with about 1/3rd of the top covered which seems to work best. The worst wastage if they are not covered occurs when there is lying snow and it melts. Then they don't get a chance to dry out and the water seeps down into the bale. But if they are left on the ground, expect to lose up to 50% of the hay!

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I got a hay knife which does a great job of slicing the bales lengthways, then the "leaves" cam be lifted off with a fork and fed to the horses. It needs to be kept razor sharp with a whet stone or it is hard work! Pulling round bales apart by hand is a pain in the butt!

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