Wet Hay

[BarnyardBlast]

I'm a bit annoyed this morning... A neighbor down the road asked me if I wanted to purchase hay bales (square) at a great price. He had a number of bales loaded on his trailer and didn't want to unload them and re-load them. I've used his hay before - sometimes directly from him and sometimes purchased from the feed store in town. My only problem was that I wasn't sure where to put them. I was going to store some of them in our feed building - it's insulated with working a/c and heat. He wanted to drop them off yesterday morning before church so I had hubby meet him next door and unload the bales onto our trailer. It was around 40 square bales.

I went next door briefly to say hi as they were unloading and then went on to church. We had all talked about rain for a few minutes and agreed that we would probably see some but hopefully not a lot as we're still drying out from Nate.

About 3 am this morning, I woke up hearing pounding rain - definitely way more than we anticipated. Plus, our normally sunny weather is expected to give way to cooler temperatures today and lots of clouds this week. I mentioned something to hubby about being glad the hay was taken care of and he told me that he couldn't locate a second tarp, so only part of it was covered.

It is still completely dark outside but should lighten up a bit in about 30 minutes. The hay was tightly packed onto the trailer (which is on a bit of a slant) so I'm hopeful that only the top part became wet. Is there any way to dry this out? I can move about 15 bales inside our feed building and then properly cover the rest - but I worry about mold. (I also worry about it heating up and catching fire but I'm not sure how often that really happens?)

I have been thinking about buying a dehumidifier for that building since we have horrible humidity here (Alabama). Would that help at all?

Incidentally - I did try to google for an answer and all I'm pulling up is marijuana sites...

 

[alsea1]

Man. Thats a bummer.
If it was me I would unload and put away the the bales that are dry.
The bales that got wet at all i would feed out asap.
I would not put damp or wet bales inside a building you care about. As it warms it will generate heat. It is amazing how much heat.
If your feeding cows then a little mildew or mold may not be critical. other animals are more sensitive. I would not risk feeding hay that may be moldy.

 

[greybeard]

The bales that got wet at all i would feed out asap.

Probably what I would do as well. It won't take but a few days for it to start molding tho, if it's like round bales.
I lost a lot of hay in my barn in the flood and by the time the ground dried out so I could get a tractor in there less than a week later and pull it out, it had already started molding and it was HOT! I moved it out in the middle of the pasture & burned it, but some of it was almost completely submerged for 20 hours. I didn't think it would ever all get burned tho.

 

[farmerjan]

I agree. Put the dry inside, feed out the wet. If you have to, open the wet bales up and spread. The animals will pick through them. If they are on pasture, can you pen them in a smaller lot, so they will eat the hay before it molds much, save the pasture for a couple of days, and not take too much of a loss on the hay. Probably only the top layer got really wet and the ends of the ones that were on the sides.
Don't put wet hay inside.

 

[mysunwolf]

Load dry or damp bales inside and put plain salt down between the layers, that helps suck the moisture out (plus makes anything that got damp tastier to the animals). Feed out wet bales ASAP or you can spread them out, let dry a few days, and put up as loose hay. A dehumidifier wouldn't hurt at this point.

 

[confederatemule]

The wet bales will dry quicker if the cut edge is down with space between bales and not flat on the ground for air circulation. On pallets or some other means to keep off the wet ground.

Do not put wet or damp bales in a building. They will create internal combustion and burn from the inside out.

 

[Hippie hollow]

Yes I would agree take the dry ones and store them as quick as you can but the wet ones when I run into this problem I just lay tarp on the ground open up those bales and spread them out. And feed them that first. Before it gets moldy. Thank God I’m around because according to my husband he doesn’t see any reason goes can’t eat moldy hay. He says the guy at his work does it all the time. And I’ve seen that guy’s goats and do things I preferred to keep my healthy goats

 

[RollingAcres]

I realize it's an old post....I just had this happened to me today.
A couple of months ago DH bartered some ammo for some round bales of hay. They finally contacted us yesterday evening around 7:30pm and said they were bringing us the hay yesterday. They didn't show up until around 9:30 last night and we couldn't find any tarp around the house to cover up the hay bales. Well this morning I woke up to down pouring rain!
I 've read all the suggestions above however I'm pretty sure all the bales are wet by now(there are 6 round bales). @farmerjan suggested spreading out the hay but it's going to rain the rest of this week, so not sure what I should do. Should I still cover them up? They are currently on the trailer. I am at work and DH is out of commission due to foot surgery. I'd go get tarps after work if I can still cover them up. Also if I were to open up the bales and spread them in the pasture and the cattle lay in hay, will they still eat the hay they laid in?
Ugh I just hate to think about all 6 bales of hay getting moldy and going to waste.
Please help.

 

[RollingAcres]

Just went out at lunch time to get a big tarp that way I have it and can cover up the hay if I can.

 

[RollingAcres]

I had the hay tarp for now since we'll be getting more rain.