Thick as pig shite.

Mad rush to get hay baled when the weather is right.
3-4 weeks later bales still where the baler dropped them. Grass growing up around the base and soaking wet from all the rain we have had.

Can anyone throw any light onto why farmers leave 'good' hay out to ruin. ?
 
Yes. Don't tell me they wont spoil One guy fed his horses last year and the hay was black. There are 3 farms near me with bales still out after 4 weeks.
 

Stej12

Member
Mad rush to get hay baled when the weather is right.
3-4 weeks later bales still where the baler dropped them. Grass growing up around the base and soaking wet from all the rain we have had.

Can anyone throw any light onto why farmers leave 'good' hay out to ruin. ?

I left some out wasn’t quite there when we baled it warmed up so better in the field than on fire in the shed
 

hendrebc

Member
Livestock Farmer
I left some out wasn’t quite there when we baled it warmed up so better in the field than on fire in the shed
This. And if they get wet while waiting for them to cool down they need to be dry to stack. Ive never left bales out long because i normally have enough space to put them singly to cool without getting wet if its a bit iffy but i did get caught a few years ago when everywhere was full and nowhere to put them in singly. I had some bales out that had a bit of rain on them with thunderstorms forecast for the night so i stacked them as loosely as i could thinking they would dry seeing as they werent that wet. They were ruined and all mouldy when it came time to feed them they would have been better out even in the really heavy rain thunderstorm we had.
Im not saying they wouldnt be better stacked inside if its properly dry and not heating but i understand why people end up with bales out a long time. Not sure how squares or small bales would fare though not as well i suspect.
 
I normally end up at 3 different farms doing bale jobs and our own are last to deal with.. and this year with all the showers a lot of wrapped and hay bales would of been left out a couple weeks
 
I'm going to look at hay that's been baled as nice stuff but has been lying out in the rain since. Consensus is that they will be fine where they are (will run a lot of water off, I suppose) but would want to have dried off before going in my shed? Rounds, obviously.
 

linga

Member
Location
Ceredigion
I have often heard it said that its only an inch or two that gets spoilt if rounds are left out for a long time but if you work out how much that is as a percentage of the whole bale it makes you think.
Mind you its clearly preferable to having it catch fire in the shed
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 105 40.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 93 36.2%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 39 15.2%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 5 1.9%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.2%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 12 4.7%

May Event: The most profitable farm diversification strategy 2024 - Mobile Data Centres

  • 1,656
  • 32
With just a internet connection and a plug socket you too can join over 70 farms currently earning up to £1.27 ppkw ~ 201% ROI

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-mo...2024-mobile-data-centres-tickets-871045770347

Tuesday, May 21 · 10am - 2pm GMT+1

Location: Village Hotel Bury, Rochdale Road, Bury, BL9 7BQ

The Farming Forum has teamed up with the award winning hardware manufacturer Easy Compute to bring you an educational talk about how AI and blockchain technology is helping farmers to diversify their land.

Over the past 7 years, Easy Compute have been working with farmers, agricultural businesses, and renewable energy farms all across the UK to help turn leftover space into mini data centres. With...
Top