Got yer hay in???

I do! 9 round bales of 2nd cutting alfalfa are all lined up on pallets. 4 of them are bagged in pallet covers and I will be getting the rest of the covers on Sunday or Monday. With my sheep and alpaca I go through a bale about every 3 to 4 weeks. When I have the spent brewing grains regularly it tends toward the 4 weeks.

I prefer to feed round bales for a few reasons. It is less work for me to roll a bale in once a month than to feed daily. It is easier for me to handle the round bales once than the big square bales since the flakes are so huge or the small bales with lifting and throwing one per day. The animals moderate their eating between the grain and bale and have gotten nice and big for winter.

I got my last of the bales today and then went to North 40 for a tarp. I ended up with the 20x30 since a 25x25 would have to be custom made, which isn't bad since it pretty well covers everything. It is a good 7 feet long on one end but that is tucked up against the base. Once I get the rest of the covers I will have to uncover to install them so I will be putting in panels to try and fill in the gaps between bales so the water and snow don't weigh it down so much. Where the two round sides meet there is a big valley that can be a serious pain in the ass mid winter. I hope to avert that this year.

All the bales are up on pallets, will all be covered in pallet bags, and covered with a tarp. I am really hoping to be able to better keep my hay through the winter with less spoiling and mold loss. It is awful and much more difficult to roll a slimy round bale across the yard and into the pen plus the animals aren't big fans of the slimy hay.