Storing straw outside

just do it

What's the best way to store straw outside? I've the option of putting it on a concrete or gravel base each with an equal but not great amount of shelter.

Also what's the best way to cover it?

bob charles

just do it wrote: »

What's the best way to store straw outside? I've the option of putting it on a concrete or gravel base each with an equal but not great amount of shelter.

Also what's the best way to cover it?

on drainage gravel and use the top bales for bedding. stack as high as possible so. You would be surprised how little the straw up top gets damages. Im talking about big squares, forget about covering as it will just turn into a mess. All straw used before winter is out

dzer2

Round bales stack on gravel on the flat 4 high and wrap the top one.

yellow50HX

Stack on a pallet, keeps the bale off the ground and dry. Cover with and old silage sheet but watch for the wind.

Also you could stack the bales about 4 high and keep them as tight as you can for stabality and cap the top one with plastic.

reilig

I wrapped my straw when it came off the lorry. Put 2 layers on it and 1 roll (costing €60) covered 68 bales. Put a few slits in the sides to let the breathe. Some people reconed that they would sweat, but Ag Advisor advised that if they were dry when baled, they would be fine. Opening them these days and they are the same as they went in. Have wrapped hay in the past and it came out perfect. Its a lot handier than putting them on pallets and pulling a tarpauln over them and then worrying about the cover every windy night!

just do it

reilig wrote: »

I wrapped my straw when it came off the lorry. Put 2 layers on it and 1 roll (costing €60) covered 68 bales. Put a few slits in the sides to let the breathe. Some people reconed that they would sweat, but Ag Advisor advised that if they were dry when baled, they would be fine. Opening them these days and they are the same as they went in. Have wrapped hay in the past and it came out perfect. Its a lot handier than putting them on pallets and pulling a tarpauln over them and then worrying about the cover every windy night!

That sounds like a great solution as I've a particularly exposed site. I take it you got round bales

simx

reilig wrote: »

I wrapped my straw when it came off the lorry. Put 2 layers on it and 1 roll (costing €60) covered 68 bales. Put a few slits in the sides to let the breathe. Some people reconed that they would sweat, but Ag Advisor advised that if they were dry when baled, they would be fine. Opening them these days and they are the same as they went in. Have wrapped hay in the past and it came out perfect. Its a lot handier than putting them on pallets and pulling a tarpauln over them and then worrying about the cover every windy night!

Where did you get plastic for €60? Done you have own wrapper? Whars the usual charge for wrapping? €2/bale? Quite interestef in this now better uses for shed

reilig

simx wrote: »

Where did you get plastic for €60? Done you have own wrapper? Whars the usual charge for wrapping? €2/bale? Quite interestef in this now better uses for shed

Bought a pallet of wrap in Fermanagh last winter for €60 per roll. Each roll covers 34 bales @ 4 layers. Have my own wrapper. Have sheds, but find its a better investment to house the machinery than the fodder!

yellow50HX

reilig wrote: »

I wrapped my straw when it came off the lorry. Put 2 layers on it and 1 roll (costing €60) covered 68 bales. Put a few slits in the sides to let the breathe. Some people reconed that they would sweat, but Ag Advisor advised that if they were dry when baled, they would be fine. Opening them these days and they are the same as they went in. Have wrapped hay in the past and it came out perfect. Its a lot handier than putting them on pallets and pulling a tarpauln over them and then worrying about the cover every windy night!

seems fine idea for a small number of bales and if you have your own wrapper and have access to cheap wrap. wouldnt think it would be ideal if you were talking about having to store 150-200 bales a year.

reilig

yellow50HX wrote: »

seems fine idea for a small number of bales and if you have your own wrapper and have access to cheap wrap. wouldnt think it would be ideal if you were talking about having to store 150-200 bales a year.

Less than €1 per bale is very cheap storage IMO. You couldn't afford to build a shed for storage of bales alone. The payback in comparison would be far too long!!

locky76

reilig wrote: »

Less than €1 per bale is very cheap storage IMO. You couldn't afford to build a shed for storage of bales alone. The payback in comparison would be far too long!!

It suits you alright Reilig with the wrapper and stacker at home, I looked into doing it and my regular contractor only has fusions so can't wrap, my second contractor has no wrapper and my third contractor has no front loader so I couldn't see my self getting it done for less than €5 a bale.
Even at a fiver though it is hard to justify putting up a shed specifically for straw...

yellow50HX

reilig wrote: »

Less than €1 per bale is very cheap storage IMO. You couldn't afford to build a shed for storage of bales alone. The payback in comparison would be far too long!!

not disagreeing with ya, but most fellas down here have the straw in an old hay barn or shed that are 30 or 40 years old. Many of these do no have concrete floors. I know of people who would use about 200 bales a year (bedding and feeding) and have the bales inside. These sheds are only of use for storage anyway. The cost of putting in flooring and walls would make them too expensive to change use. Not sure of the cost of hiring a wrapper only but if i was to wrap and stack the 100 or so bales i have a year plus the extra film i'd say it'll be a lot more. if you have your own wrapper anyway then it makes sense.

2 rolls of wrap say €170
wrap and stack say €3/bale
Thats €470

For 200 bales thats nearly a grand. after 10 years you would have €10k, at current prices you would get a decent sized basic roof shed up for that.

I use the old silage pit and as the space frees up from taking out the bales, i can use this space as calving pens come jan, feb and march. The bales are stacked 4 high and only take up a bay and a half in the shed, they also provide excellent shelter for the calves as the back of the shed is open. When ever we have a good summers i make hay and store it inside.

wrapping straw bales is a great low cost and flexible solution for either small-ish numbers, for storing short term or if not being used every year. For those of us in tillage areas chances are we will be using bales every year so in the long term it would make more sense to have a basic shed for storage that will double for storing machinery as well. I would say the cost of wrapping the straw for me plus any savings from making hay in good years would pay for a shed in the long run.

reilig

There's a lot of if's in your post. If I had a shed, i'd put the straw into it. I don't have a spare shed, so I wrap it. It wouldn't pay me to build a shed to hold straw.

yellow50HX wrote: »

not disagreeing with ya, but most fellas down here have the straw in an old hay barn or shed that are 30 or 40 years old. Many of these do no have concrete floors. I know of people who would use about 200 bales a year (bedding and feeding) and have the bales inside. These sheds are only of use for storage anyway. The cost of putting in flooring and walls would make them too expensive to change use. Not sure of the cost of hiring a wrapper only but if i was to wrap and stack the 100 or so bales i have a year plus the extra film i'd say it'll be a lot more. if you have your own wrapper anyway then it makes sense.

2 rolls of wrap say €170
wrap and stack say €3/bale
Thats €470

For 200 bales thats nearly a grand. after 10 years you would have €10k, at current prices you would get a decent sized basic roof shed up for that.

I use the old silage pit and as the space frees up from taking out the bales, i can use this space as calving pens come jan, feb and march. The bales are stacked 4 high and only take up a bay and a half in the shed, they also provide excellent shelter for the calves as the back of the shed is open. When ever we have a good summers i make hay and store it inside.

wrapping straw bales is a great low cost and flexible solution for either small-ish numbers, for storing short term or if not being used every year. For those of us in tillage areas chances are we will be using bales every year so in the long term it would make more sense to have a basic shed for storage that will double for storing machinery as well. I would say the cost of wrapping the straw for me plus any savings from making hay in good years would pay for a shed in the long run.

yellow50HX

reilig wrote: »

There's a lot of if's in your post. If I had a shed, i'd put the straw into it. I don't have a spare shed, so I wrap it. It wouldn't pay me to build a shed to hold straw.

if's, buts and maybes.....

Muckit

A shed for straw/hay = girders and a roof.
It woulldn't need to be anything fancy I would think.
Concrete floors, walls doors etc are the dear parts of a shed.

Bizzum

We had occasion to leave straw out one winter, uncovered, in rows, with room between the rows for the water to run off them.
Devil a loss on them!
I couldn't believe how good they were.

just do it

Thanks for feedback lads. Ordered a load today and will give them 2 layers of wrap. Will work out a bit expensive but still worth it I reckon. €20 for good quality round barley straw delivered and €4 for lad to wrap and stack (that includes plastic). This is the best option for me given my set-up.

just do it

Muckit wrote: »

A shed for straw/hay = girders and a roof.
It woulldn't need to be anything fancy I would think.
Concrete floors, walls doors etc are the dear parts of a shed.

How much are you looking at for a simple hay shed like this. lets say 3 bay erected

dungfly

reilig wrote: »

I wrapped my straw when it came off the lorry. Put 2 layers on it and 1 roll (costing €60) covered 68 bales. Put a few slits in the sides to let the breathe. Some people reconed that they would sweat, but Ag Advisor advised that if they were dry when baled, they would be fine. Opening them these days and they are the same as they went in. Have wrapped hay in the past and it came out perfect. Its a lot handier than putting them on pallets and pulling a tarpauln over them and then worrying about the cover every windy night!

Thinking of wrapping dry hay stored in a barn.
How many layers?
How many slits?
What direction (horizontal/ vertical/diagonal) ?
What length of slit?

just do it

Reilig is long gone unfortunately. Was one of the best contributors on here

I said

Seen it stored the other day on pallets on there ends and covered with a taurpaulin

Genghis Cant

dungfly wrote: »

Thinking of wrapping dry hay stored in a barn.
How many layers?
How many slits?
What direction (horizontal/ vertical/diagonal) ?
What length of slit?

I saw it done, but never had ocassion to do it myself. The minimum amount of wrap to cover the bale. A couple of vertical slits with a stanley blade. Don't cut the netting! Don't get too worked up about the dimentions of the slit:)

49801

I said wrote: »

Seen it stored the other day on pallets on there ends and covered with a taurpaulin

Ya we put fert pallets under straw round here even in da barn. Great job. Always bugged me the mucky crap from bales sitting directly on concrete.

Reggie.

49801 wrote: »

Ya we put fert pallets under straw round here even in da barn. Great job. Always bugged me the mucky crap from bales sitting directly on concrete.

We do the very same as that. Do it with hay aswell. It's amazing the amount of damp that can be drawn up from concrete by round bales

Base price

We have a client that orders a load (68 bales) of barley straw every year. Half normal bales and the other half chopped. He gets a local contractor to wrap them for him and he stacks them outside.

DarByrne1980

Reggie. wrote: »

We do the very same as that. Do it with hay aswell. It's amazing the amount of damp that can be drawn up from concrete by round bales

we used to keep a pile of pallets for this job specifically from year to year. concrete creats that damp from like october onwards. destroys the bottom few inches of the bales

Good loser

Some years ago I rented out space in a hayshed for €1 per round bale.

Cow Porter

Looking for a bit of info on wrapping barley rounds, one lad I know wraps with 2 layers same as silage, talked to another who just uses 1 to cover bale and stack like a tin can and says no waste. Anyone else doing one layer and no complaints??

Sam Kade

Cow Porter wrote: »

Looking for a bit of info on wrapping barley rounds, one lad I know wraps with 2 layers same as silage, talked to another who just uses 1 to cover bale and stack like a tin can and says no waste. Anyone else doing one layer and no complaints??

He's actually putting 2 layers on them as you can't put 1 layer on with 50% overlap, silage bales have a min of 4 layers. I wrapped for a Neighbour one time with 2 layers he said they worked out perfect but he didn't do it since.