Chasing hay bales in Central California
AGDAILY Staff ·
November 3, 2016
Hummingbird Aerial, a photography company operating in California’s Central Valley, captured this farmer chasing hay bales … and even made the task look easy. That farm sure has a nice stack for winter feeding.
Speaking of stacking square bales, here are some general recommendations from the South Dakota State University Extension iGrow:
- Not all hay bales are created equal. Keep extra-long or short bales out of the stack for consistency.
- Make sure the stack height does not exceed 1.5 times the shortest base dimension.
- Save loose hay bales for the top of your stack, or feed those bales right away.
- Small square bales should read below 20% moisture before stacking.
- It is a good idea to stack square bales on their sides with the stems of the cut hay running up-and-down.
- Using pallets, or at least a layer of dry straw, under the bottom row will reduce storage losses from ground moisture.
- Bale direction may need to be altered throughout the stack to prevent leaning.