horse hay question

[RockyToggRanch]

Quote:

I've never heard of salting the bales, but it makes perfect sense! Also stacking them on their side? 2 very cool ideas! Thanks.

Should we leave spaces between the bales? or between rows of bales?

 

[buck-wild-chick]

If you have goats or something you might can rinse it off and give it to them. My hay sets on wooden crates, so I give the goats what falls to the bottom.

 

[freemotion]

I would not feed moldy anything to any critter in my care. But I also was able to sell about 50 bales of moldy hay in the fall for decorating....couldn't believe it. I put it by the road a few bales at a time with a sign and a jar for the money, honor system. I got exactly what I paid for it, too. You might also sell it in the spring as landscaping hay, but likely for less than you paid.

I have a small storage area for my hay with a dirt floor. After some experimenting, I find that two layers of pallets set on one layer of bricks is perfect. Always sweep out your storage area between loads to reduce sources of mold, namely older hay bits.

Also pallets allow for the perfect place for rodents....be forewarned! Unless you have a good cat!

 

[beak]

Four dollars a bale. Those were the days, last time we had that price was about 6 years ago. Small bales are 9.00 ea now. We always stack on pallets but sometimes if the hay isn't completely dry it will still mold. I finally switched over to alfalfa cubes. I know exactly how much they're getting and the quality is always consistent.

As for your moldy hay. We stack the bales into a rectangle with an open space in the center aprox 2x4 ft. Fill halfway with dirt. Put some cut up potatoes in the dirt. When the stems start breaking the soil we add more dirt and potatoes and continue this thru the summer adding another layer of hay bales to make it two layers high. At the end of the summer you remove the bales and the dirt falls down with all the potatoes. You can also use them to raise your garden beds.

By the way you should where a paper mask when you're handling those bales. Mold spores in your lungs can't be real good for you.

 

[freemotion]

Really cool idea, Beak! I never planted sweet potatoes....will this method work with those, too?

 

[beak]

The wife says absolutely. Yeah it's a lot easier than digging up potatoes. Lot less stabbed potatoes too.

 

[patandchickens]

Once hay is cured I am not sure how much if any good salting it will do; that's more something you'd do when putting it up green, as much so it doesn't heat up too much and burn the barn down as to prevent mold.

Pallets can be cut in half to fit into the back seat of any car. TYpically you will just be sawing through 2-3 2x4s to do this, not bad. Keep saw in car at all times

Best thing IME is to put a tarp down, then pallets over it, then your hay up on that, making sure NOT to stack the hay against the walls, especially not towards the bottom of the stack -- you want a foot or more of space there to encourage air movement. Not a huge deal in a vast hay mow but in a small storeage space it is VERY worthwhile, even though yes it does marginally decrease the amount of hay you can store there.

And yes, as everyone says, don't feed moldy hay to horses unless the alternative is starvation. Soaking/rinsing reduces respiratory problems but does not change the possibility of colic one iota.

If you compost the moldy hay for a few years (just pile it somewhere out of the way, in a flat-topped stack, and ignore it) it will make EXCELLENT mulch, and a year or two after that it will become EXCELLENT soil amendment to improve your garden

Sorry you had to learn this the hard way, at least it's not the *most* expensive hay year ever in which to learn it

Better luck next time,

Pat

 

[Appytaz]

Check the road sides for things that you can use for a "pallet" also. I found a metal something (not sure what it was) that is just the right size for 2 bales of hay and then stack up from there. I also found regular wooden pallets on the side of the road also. You can check construction sites also for them. Good Luck!

 

[buck-wild-chick]

What if you sprinkle baking soda under the pallets? hmmm maybe it would kill the mold.

 

[bheila]

Sounds like everyone has given you some great ideas. We sell hay so when we run across moldly bails we put them to the side and then sell them at a lesser price to cow people. I would much rather sell them for a lesser price then just throw them in the compost. Besides moldy hay isn't going to hurt cows. Atleast some of our customers claim that it's like putting molasses on their hay. They seem to like it better.