A road I travel frequently has two fields of stooked bales of hay sitting in the tall grass. They have been sitting there since last summer. When the hay was baled, the stooks were dumped whenever the stooker was full, including low swampy areas of the field. That’s fine if you’re going to pick the hay up right away, but the dampness of the low ground will soak into the bales. And low swampy areas of a field will be water filled after a heavy rain.
This particular farm had a lot of hay sitting in water this spring. I can’t understand why someone would cut, rake and square bale hay and then leave it there to rot. One field is about 10 to15 acres from what I can see. In order to harvest this year’s hay crop, which is tall, the well spoiled stooked hay will have to be moved. A lot of forage will be tramped down and flattened.
Every year I see a few fields of stooked hay that just stays in the field. I’ve seen where they just drive around stooked or round bales to cut the new crop. Last year was a great year for selling hay. There was a good demand for hay as it was a dry summer and hay was scarce and very pricey. So why did I see so much hay sitting in fields in the Pembroke area?
I frown when I see pyramids of hay stacked in a field (three bales on the bottom, then two and one on top) and they’re not covered, or the cover has blown off partly. If stacked bales are left uncovered, rain that lands on the top bales of the pyramid runs down between the bales into the middle layer and down to the bottom layer. The hay will rot. Why go to all that work to let it rot?
Waste and carelessness don’t seem to bother some folks. Hay is best when it’s stored inside, but if that’s not possible there are ways to store it outside that work well. I made and stored a lot of hay over the years. This is my rule of thumb for making and storing hay: to reduce storage losses, make the bales as tight as possible (when dried properly) and evenly formed. This encourages rainfall to run off rather than settle in depressions and soak into the bales. Store bales on a well-drained site preferably a slope with at least three feet between the rows. Do not stack any kind of bales unless they are covered with tarp or plastic.
Move bales to storage location as soon as possible after baling. Put the bales in long north-south rows. Butt the bales end to end — tightly! End to end bales will thatch as a single roll and reduce the loss on the ends. The space between the rows allows the hay to dry out after dew or a rainfall.
Do not store hay under trees. Trees prevent drying. And finally, make sure bales are not in areas subject to flooding. And if you’re making hay, don’t drop the bales in wet spots in the field. Drive up to higher ground and let it out there. Use common sense!
