Moldy round bales and pregnant dairy cows

If you live in a dry area, you can stack them outside. Most that I see outside now are wrapped in plastic of some kind. You lose less if they are covered. Small squares are more suceptible to moisture -as in DO NOT get them wet suceptibility. I store mine in my barn. My dad used to make long stacks of small round bales - 30 feet long and 10 feet high and cover with a tarp but keeping the tarp down was a big job.

Most of the wrapped bales are wet bales high moisture content good hay but mostly for milking cows we use it some times in the mixer and it gets all ground up its kinda like an easy way to get away from the ag bag hay

And as far as what I use it all depends on price and what's there to buy I like small squares for the calves cause they don't eat a lot they seem to waste more than eat if I throw a round bale in there

For the bigger ones I use mostly round bales cause I have a round bale feeder and Ican just throw one in there and let them eat it

And big squares are good for both if cut rigt most of it will go in the round bale feeder or put it by the head locks but it takes too long for them to eat a whole bale and after about half is gone I have to push it up

But I have a huge 4 bay bank barn that I store all the hay in if it has to sit out side I like round bales because they shed water rather than soak it up

Also with bedding in case you want that info too I don't like straw that sits out side it always seems like there is more waste

But corn fodder bales can sit out side they don't seem to waste much of that they pick through it straw they don't

If someone had third cutting from a new seeding that was stemmy in a state had just experienced its greatest hay shortage in memory for give away, I'd be concerned.

Third cutting is generally so soft and leafy, you might think you could eat it as a salad. But yours is stemmy? That puzzles me.

Round bales are formed to shed water. Some mold might be there, plus the part that sat directly on the ground.

If you pealed the moldy layer off, it sounds like you'll have fresh smelling pure alfalfa. How will you get your cattle adjusted to this rich tasty feed, without them over eating?

He's not giving it away, he offered it to me for sale, but is willing to let me try it and pay him what I think it's worth. He's a neighbor and we've done business together before. We've already discussed a price but he's fair enough to let me get one open and see what's inside before he wants any money.

I don't know too much about round bales, but I do know good alfalfa should be soft and leafy, when you can find it. Can you even get that type of hay baled into a round bale?? Some of the small squares I've had literally fell apart when opened. This hay has plenty of leaf but also more stem than I like. It seems to be good hay just a little coarser than I like to see. Last year was terrible for hay like you noted and even the alfalfa wasn't in prime condition. These bales were covered but the wind blew the cover off and they got wet. They are not sitting on the ground. My original concern was how deep the mold might have gotten. I'll peel the outer layer off before feeding and I'll only give them a small amount to start with if any. I have to get one open and then decide. If I don't feed them, they're going to be mulch in my gardens.

My cows are on 2nd and 3rd cut pure alfalfa now. It won't be a switch for them.

Good questions though.

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~Carla~

We keep round bales outside and don't have a mold issue, but improper "stacking" can sure ruin them with mold. By stacking, I mean placing the snug against each other so that water can't shed. Butting them end-to-end is ok if you get them really tight, but I just prefer not to attempt it because one little change in the ground plane can create a V that will trap water. I just prefer to let them have plenty of free air all on all sides. It isn't picturesque, but who cares. They keep for several years for us like that. I imagine if I didn't have a bunch, laying them on tires or pallets and covering in a tarp would be as good as inside storage.

I have had a lot of hay in the past so just leaving round bales outdoors and losing 6" is no problem to me. Some I bring to the barn and put in rows, some get left in the field until I go get them with the tractor, and I have room for about 300 5' x 4' round bales inside that go in when the bales are a few weeks old when I'm not too busy. That barn is what I used to stack small squares in and is 82' x 36', open sided. I can put them up three tiers with the Bobcat with 33 bales to a row this way. Probably more than most people on here need or want. I get about 1000 bales off of this farm every year. Next year, however, I'll be down to about 300 bales because I've put 3/4 of my hay acreage into a NYS conservation program for upland birds. The money was more than I was making on the cows, so the cows are going to be cut back and I'll have a smaller herd.

Only put round bales up in the triangle shape outdoors in a wet climate if you can feed it fast or you can cover them. The rain will funnel down between the lower bales and never dry out and you'll lose a lot of the value. When you put them in the long rows, leave them 6" apart in the row and don't let neighboring rows touch. You HAVE to have air circulation around unwrapped bales or you will lose hay where there are cracks for rain to get in and not enough air to dry them out. Don't cover with a tarp to the ground or you'll get more mold that way as well. Round bales thatch well and keep quite well uncovered alone, but you need to be able to afford the waste. I figure the cows use the outside for bedding and don't worry about it. Plus, that's simply weathered hay, not moldy hay, so it's not going to hurt a cow if they nibble on it.

Good luck.

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-Northern NYS

I had bought round bales and through my stupidity, they got a little moldy. I pulled the moldy parts off and fed the rest to a newly pregnant heifer. I went back to square bales after that. I just cannot do round :/ but anyways, if it was me, as someone else who knows what trying to buy hay in MIchigan is like, i'd try the bales too. His heifer could have died from unrelated issues or just the fact of going on good hay too quickly and her tummy wasn't adjusted

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