Salting the Hay

We got 6 tons of hay salted and stacked and the hay lady got all her hay into the barn an hour before it started raining. Very nice, sweet hay this year. All the big hay growers got through this season without major rain damage, but getting hay crews together is getting harder every year. Many of the small growers are still struggling to get their hay in and getting rained on.

The local stores had no clue why they were selling so much rock salt this year and ran out. Now that I know about salting hay, I will be going early to the Co op 90 miles away for rock salt like the bigger growers do.

We sprinkle about a handlful of mineral salt on each of our hay bales before it goes into the mow.

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Never heard of this, so you will pardon me if I wonder about how a handful of salt can draw all the moisture out of wet-baled hay. It seem you'd need more dessicant than that. But I won't argue with success.

I'd also worry about rusting the nails in my 70-year-old oak barn, as others have mentioned. It's humid here all year, so that residue would draw moisture all the time. I once stored salt blocks for a short time in a van we use for storage. Even though I removed them and quit, the van floor did rust through.

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Jim Steele
Sweetpea Farms
"To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." -- Robert Gates