Hay

[rockllews]

How do you all store your hay?

For the past few years we've been fighting mold.... Last year we probably burned 1-2 tons of moldy hay. We get hay from various quality sources, so I think it's in our storage. Just found a flake coming on with mold today; we bought and stored it in September. This year we bought one ton of grass and one ton of alfalfa; we'll need more, but I figured it'd probably be cheaper to buy it in the late season than have to waste another ton due to mold.

We store behind our shop (so not a lot of sun) on good draining sand. On the ground, we put wooden pallets and stack the hay on that. Now, normally we stack on the tighter side, so this year, we stacked looser, making sure there were some channels for air circulation, especially through the center. We also stacked cut/stem side up. Between each layer, I spread salt- heard both sides of the argument that it does/doesn't help but heck, it only costs a few bucks.... Then we covered the stack with a new heavy tarp. It's covered almost to the ground on each side but loose enough for a breeze to get in there.

I know a shed/barn would be ideal, which we'll have this year when the horse shed is built (one stall we'll use for hay). But many people around here just stack on pallets and tarp it down.... I don't know if we're doing something wrong or if everyone who does this feeds moldy hay.... I suspect the condensation on the underside of the tarp is contributing... it's not real humid here and the rain can't get to it. Also, I felt the grass hay was a ever so slightly greener/uncured this year than I am used to seeing- perhaps its moisture was a little too much. Lastly... our alfalfa usually doesn't get mold; if it does it's much later in the season and generally less severe.

[hustonmc]

Hey Chelsea, how much mold are you getting?

We feed well over 400 ton a year to the cows, horses and mules and we don't tarp, at all. I broke into some sheep hay the other day that was baled in 2007 and it was in great shape. I mention sheep hay because they need the extra leafy, small stemmed high dollar hay. The mules and could eat molded thistle hay and get fat, the horse gets the lesser quality sheep hay.

We mainly sacrifice the top 2 tiers as cow feed, with the little amount of rain we get, and as fast as we feed the hay, the hay is protected until we get to the next harrel bed and feed the tops again. This can be done by stacking straw bales on top of your alfalfa and letting them take the punishment. I imagine your hay is on the East side of the shed as well and since 90% of our wind comes from that direction, I'm surprised your getting this result......... What cutting are you buying? I know we've had some wet cutting the past few years, especially in first and second. I don't think anyone in our country got up a dry first cutting this year.

To be totally honest I don't think it's a storage issue Chelsea, it sounds like a baling issue. I'm by no means saying you need to change who you buy your hay from but from what you described you have taken more measures then most in out area.

[pear]

I'd say without question your trapping moisture under your tarp. Not sure how breathable you trap is, if at all. Not saying the method of cutting and bailing is or isn't part of the problem, but the bottome line is your trapping the moisture. As for the salting, my opinion is that you'd be attracting moisture, be it from the hay or the air or the ground, your attracting it to concentrate in one area (the cut ends of the hay). Just my thought. ...."pear"

[wems2371]

To be totally honest I don't think it's a storage issue Chelsea, it sounds like a baling issue. I'm by no means saying you need to change who you buy your hay from but from what you described you have taken more measures then most in out area.

I would tend to agree with this. It's a lot about when it's cut, how long the farmer lets it cure, etc... I've stored hay under woven tarps, in a barn tightly stacked on pallets, in a fully enclosed horsetrailer, etc...and never had a problem with good hay. The big round bales I use to get from my neighbor were tightly plastic wrapped--and not a spot of mold in them. Are you taking your hay straight from the field or out of the farmers aged barn stack? Are you finding sporadic bad bales in the stack or does the whole stack go bad? I don't believe condensation would ruin a whole stack, but rather just the bales it comes into contact with. Like even if you just stacked your hay on the ground, with no pallets, the whole stack wouldn't go bad--just the bottom layer or two. Just my experience. Best test though would be to find someone else who has hay from the same cutting and see how their's has aged. Denise

[ezzy333]

I'd say without question your trapping moisture under your tarp. Not sure how breathable you trap is, if at all. Not saying the method of cutting and bailing is or isn't part of the problem, but the bottome line is your trapping the moisture. As for the salting, my opinion is that you'd be attracting moisture, be it from the hay or the air or the ground, your attracting it to concentrate in one area (the cut ends of the hay). Just my thought. ...."pear"

I agree with this and it also could be from being baled too wet. But if that is the problem the hay should have been moldy a couple of weeks after baling and not just starting now. Drawing moisture in from the air and then not letting it escape seems to me to be the place to look first.

Ezzy

[rockllews]

Thanks All.

In each of the last three years, we've bought hay from three different sources. (Admittedly, one source was my grandfather who has BAD hay- he's legally blind and really shouldn't be haying since he can't see what he's growing/baling.... We had to take some because he insisted, but threw out most of it and bought more from a feed store later.) Usually 2nd cutting. This has happened every time to the grass. Our alfalfa always holds up longer and can keep over a year. That said, we've even fed year+ old grass from the previous season that was still in decent shape... a little mold, but not more than I just saw in this new bale.

This last load of grass hay I thought was pretty green and felt a little moist/cool to the touch but I figured I was being paranoid. We picked bales off this farmer's stack, 2nd cutting, I don't remember how soon before our purchase.

The mold comes midway through our feeding season, in addition to our storage, I have suspected the baling though. I've read that mold will usually onset within a couple weeks of stacking, but we're only now finding mold (few months after the fact). This bale was on the top of the stack, but the mold is towards the bottom of the bale, heavier in the center. Prior to this bale, we'd been using top and middle/interior bales with no mold growth.

I don't think this is a breathable tarp... and I find moisture trapped in the mornings but it dries (or soaks into the hay :roll: ) part ways through the day. There is a bit of air flow under the tarp as I don't tie it down really tight.

As for the salt, I never even thought of it drawing more moisture into the stack; I've been told by our friend who has a horse farm (and a lot of hay) that it draws moistures from the hay. I've read, though, that in order for this method to be effective, it would take an unreasonably large amount of salt.

So... any tips for what's left of this stack? There's about 1 1/3 ton left, so I sacrificing exterior bales by removing the tarp (a good portion) wouldn't really be that economical. (It'll be raining a lot.) But then again, losing over half to mold wouldn't either. (At least it's not 400 ton... Gee, Matt.)

Boy, am I glad we didn't buy all of our hay at once.

And I'm looking forward to getting the hay under a roof.

And lastly... does any ever feed their horses slightly moldy hay with no harm done? I have always read and been told that that is a big NO so haven't risked it. It goes to the burn pile. And we buy more. $$

[wems2371]

And lastly... does any ever feed their horses slightly moldy hay with no harm done? I have always read and been told that that is a big NO so haven't risked it. It goes to the burn pile. And we buy more. $$

The honest answer here is yes. Grew up on a horse farm with 15-25 horses at a time and ran across some less than perfect bales over the last few decades. If there were a lot discovered coming off the rack, they went back to the farmer. If in going through our hay stack, we came across some later, then we had to make a decision. Ideally I would say toss them in the burn pile if you can. One persons idea of a little mold might be different than someone elses. What we would occassionally feed would just be a slightly dusty--but not white, grey, black discoloration. No major smell either. Most the time my non-observant dad couldn't even tell it was moldy...... We would shake the flakes out and mix them with some good hay, or occasionally water them down. That was during the lean years when either hay was short or money was short. We never had any ill effects, but as I said, we never fed anything with any major mold....and we never fed it repeatedly for any length of time.

Obviously, I would have to advise to avoid feeding it if you can. The worst-case risks would be colic or a more long term debilitating lung injury issue due to breathing mold spores. I know it's a hard decision to make to literally throw hay/money away, but potentially worth it in the long run. It's also a good argument to save the wasted hay money by putting up a lean-to building to protect it. Denise

[hustonmc]

With hay prices the way they are I wouldn't burn any moldy hay. If it's not the entire bale you could at least give it to someone with cows.......................I talked to the old man this evening after reading your post and he reconfirmed what I had originally thought, and that was that both first and second cutting got hit with rain this year. I spent every summer in highschool sawthing and baling hay, I even won an FFA State Profiency for Forage Production. In my opinion, that in this production first fast paced world most hay is baled to early, and with people trying to squeeze a 5th and sometimes 6th cutting in, you can expect some problems. I think I'd just feed it Chelsea.....................

[shags]

I wouldn't ever feed moldy hay - that is the fast track to heaves. Not all horses will have a problem with moldy hay, but there's no way of telling which one will end up sick.
If you've ever seen a horse go down with a mold-induced respiratory crisis, you'd never want to see it again.