cowtrek
Well-known member
Yeah it's a lot of work and can be inconvenient but it's better than nothing. We don't drag pallets around everywhere since we bring everything back to the yard to store it but it wouldn't be too bad if we did store on several different locations. I get the pallets loaded in the bed of my pickup with a forklift, then use the front end loader with bale spears to unload the whole stack. If it's a big stack I break it down into smaller stacks of about 6-8 and line the stacks up along where I'm going to make a row of bales, then pull them off the stack and lay them end to end butted against each other to store the bales. Not really that big of a deal if you break it down into manageable parts. I was spreading the pallets out since they're a bit smaller than a five by five or six bale but that turned out to be more trouble than it was worth. Sure that way it's one pallet per bale but if it is a bit off center it would touch the ground and get a bad spot, so we just lay the pallets out butted together or a couple inches apart at most and then put the bales on them. It takes a few extra pallets but it sure makes the stacking quicker.
Of course it all depends on a person's operation and what they want to do. I was just saying that, for uncovered storage, putting the bales on pallets or anything else to get it off the ground is the number one thing you can do to save hay. Of course barn storage is best but barns are expensive and not in everyone's budget. Tarping is a good alternative and better than just lining them up. It amazes me sometimes how people store their hay and then wonder what happened when it's gone completely to pot at the end of the year. I know someone who stacks them under big overgrown trees in a fenceline surrounded by tall weeds. He said that the tree canopy helps keep them dry. I've been under trees in rainstorms and you get just as wet as the water shakes off the leaves as you do standing in an open field, it just takes a bit longer. Plus, with the shading and lack of good airflow, it stays wet under a tree for a long time. He was telling me this as I was looking at a stack of rotted to the core bales that started out 5-6 feet in diameter and were down to 3 feet, sitting in the fenceline and so far gone as to be beyond hope of even moving let alone feeding. And they were stacked like beer cans in a case, side to side, which funnels all the water down into the 'V' and rots the sides out completely. And I see that done quite a bit. I learned that lesson the hard way one year about the time I graduated high school
Never repeated it though
Anyway, yall have a good one and take it easy! OL JR
Of course it all depends on a person's operation and what they want to do. I was just saying that, for uncovered storage, putting the bales on pallets or anything else to get it off the ground is the number one thing you can do to save hay. Of course barn storage is best but barns are expensive and not in everyone's budget. Tarping is a good alternative and better than just lining them up. It amazes me sometimes how people store their hay and then wonder what happened when it's gone completely to pot at the end of the year. I know someone who stacks them under big overgrown trees in a fenceline surrounded by tall weeds. He said that the tree canopy helps keep them dry. I've been under trees in rainstorms and you get just as wet as the water shakes off the leaves as you do standing in an open field, it just takes a bit longer. Plus, with the shading and lack of good airflow, it stays wet under a tree for a long time. He was telling me this as I was looking at a stack of rotted to the core bales that started out 5-6 feet in diameter and were down to 3 feet, sitting in the fenceline and so far gone as to be beyond hope of even moving let alone feeding. And they were stacked like beer cans in a case, side to side, which funnels all the water down into the 'V' and rots the sides out completely. And I see that done quite a bit. I learned that lesson the hard way one year about the time I graduated high school
Never repeated it though Anyway, yall have a good one and take it easy! OL JR
