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Baled Hay got rained on

K

Kirk Grau

Member
Neighbor dropped a wagon load of small (idiot cube) bales for me to stack into one of my buildings. Given it was a holiday yesterday, I was not home for most of the evening. Got about 15 bales stacked into the building last night and the skies opened up. Put the remainder (~90 bales) flat on the floor wet side up. Will these dry back out to stack without molding or do I have a bunch of worthless hay now? Bales are not soaked through, but might be wet an inch deep on whichever side was up.

Wife is livid since the neighbor had told me that he was not bringing anything by yesterday and wants me to call him up and have him pick the hay up. Hay looks great otherwise.

Thanks for your expert comments and advice.

Kirk
 
As far as mold, one rain isn't gonna ruin the hay, especially if you've got it laid out. It'll dry off better if you can get a breeze over it, but I wouldn't worry too much over it.

If you're worried about stacking it wet, and it gettin' hot and catchin' fire, that has more to do with the moisture in the hay itself, not the rain that got on it, i.e. it has do do with the heat from decomposition that happens after the hay is cut. If it was simply mowed and adequately dried before baling, it should be alright. If it was taken down with a moco, all the better, the crimping helps to dry it.

Were it mine, I'd drive a hand down into a few bales and put it up as soon as the wet side that you've got up feels about the same for moisture as the bottom and not worry about it.
 
Lay it on its side so that the water will drain off rather deeper into the hay and it should be Ok a good tester right now would help also.
Walt
 
Only mistake I see is by placing wet side up gravity pulled water deeper into bales. Right or wrong I was told to place wet (rained on) bales on edge and not stack until they felt dry. I have heard of salting bales but know nothing about amounts some one who really raises hay will help.
 
Sorry for two post forgot this.
If its for horses I would break the bales open scatter it out then re-bale. If for cows don't get excited just let it dry good before stacking.
Walt
 
Thanks for input, pretty much confirms my thoughts, but it is always nice to have a second opinion. Hay is for our horses, but I don't really have ability to bale it again so will probably give it a couple of days to dry out and stack it up. Need to have the room back in my shed. I do have a large sliding door to open at the back of the building which will give some breeze, front of building is open.

Kirk
 
Another thought if the neighbor knew it was going to rain and he knew you were not home to take care of it then he should replace it if you have horses it could mold inside and be very bad for them. I would at least ask him.
Walt
 
Put the bales on edge and don't let them sit in the same spot for much over a day. Its the same as hay in the field. It won't ever dry out completely if the ground below it is damp. My 2 cents.

I've never tried it but I heard of guys putting slug bales on the drying floors of grain bins.
 
Good job. Open that other door and let the draft run over it all. If them bales are even half tight, the water never got more than an eighth of an inch into them anyway. You and the hosses and the missus will all be fine. ;8^)
 
Yep, this neighbor gives a good 75 lb. + bale. Had a perfect 3 days to put it up (at least for South Central PA) so I think I should be OK. It has been drizzly all day and raining heavy now so I have not opened the door, but tomorrow is supposed to be perfect day so when it stops raining I will try to get some air moving across it.

Thanks,

Kirk
 
I got it under roof last night (I was soaked to the bone by the time I finished). Shed floor is stone dust and stays dry from rain. Should I still be worried about rotating the bales? Don't mind doing it if I have to, but sure hate to be making work. Have enough to keep me busy already.

Thanks,

Kirk
 
Kirk, in my experience most bad squares are baled wet...it sounds like you hustled 'em out of the rain as best you could- it's not like they sat outside all day in a flood. Get the wet side on edge, get some air between the bales and you should be OK. A 75lb square should be packed pretty tight- you probably got wetter than most of that hay!
I've fed some round bales with pretty nasty bottoms in the feild in the winter- horses are pretty particular, they won't eat the bad stuff.
 
Had to brave the rain to get back to this shed an hour or so ago to grab some folding ramps so my FIL could borrow my lawn tractor. Hay looked just fine even if it has been raining/humid all day. Forecast for tomorrow is dry so I will open the door get some air moving and stack it up.

Thanks everybody,

Kirk
 
To all you Guys --- we always kept 6 or 7 of these cheap blue plastic tarps, of differnt sizes, around for things like that.....plus a large bag of bunge cords and lite rope.....

hay could have been covered and left untill another day.....the blue ones are light and easy to handle...we have even had to cover the bailer once.....Don
 
Sounds like you are doing right and it should be ok. A few years ago I lost a hay shed roof in a rain storm, had 90- 104 bale stacks in it. I got them moved and broken open down to dry hay. I used a 3 foot fan to get some air accross the hay. Ended up being all ok, no harm done and not hurt any worse on the outside than what dew gets on the hay. Some of it was in inventory 2 years and it all went to big name thoroughbred farms with no complaints.
 
Yep- i have a tarp big enough to cover a 747 waiting for just such an emergency!
After the tornado out here, you'd think blue poly was roofing material...
 
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