Storing hay can be quite the task. However, what exactly do you need to do in order to make sure that all the work you did during the year growing the hay doesn’t go to waste when harvesting?
Among the most expensive parts of forage livestock systems is producing hay and feeding. There are specific practices that are necessary in order to keep the quality of the hay high as well as minimize its loss during storage, transportation, and harvest. By using large round bales as the packaging system, it only requires a single person to do all the work. This reduces labor compared to using rectangular style bales.
However, round bales do have a few disadvantages. Namely, due to their shape, they don’t stack well for transport making it impractical for long distances transport. In addition, they have a higher risk for moisture and heat degradation causing the hay quality to go down.
When harvesting using a round bale system. There are several factors to consider such as what type of baler you will use, size of bales, wrapping method, and power requirements. All of these factors depend heavily on your particular situation.
Another important factor to consider in order to reduce field loss when using round bales is the moisture content of the hay. In general, hay with a moisture content above 15% has much less loss. Namely, the drier the hay, the more you will lose. In order to account for this, you must properly manage your hay through proper cutting, conditioning, tedding, windrow turning, raking, windrow formation, baler pickup mechanisms, and bale chambers.
Another area of hay loss in round bales is in their transportation. In fact, there is anywhere between 1-10% loss between moving them from the fields to storage sites. In order to reduce loss, it is best to schedule moving them soon after the baling operation.
While you might think that the cheapest and easiest way to store round bales is outside, in reality this method usually causes a high loss. This is mainly found in the bottom part of the bale where the moisture level is the highest and the airflow the poorest. In order to help minimize this, you can do several things including: making the bales dense, using plastic twine/tarps/plastic wrap/net wrap, store the bales in a well-drained location, and store them end-to-end. However, if you are planning on not using the hay for a while, it is best to place them inside.
To learn more about management tips for round bale hay harvesting, moving, and storage make sure to check out the original article.
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