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Proper hay storage means increased value, less loss

 

By DOUG GRAVES

Ohio Correspondent

 

HILLSBORO, Ohio — When it comes to corn and soybeans, producers take special precautions in storing these lucrative cash crops. When it comes to tending to cut hay, though, producers seem to be more lax.

"Producers who follow the proper techniques for hay storage will find their crops will retain more value and suffer fewer losses," said John Grimes, beef coordinator for The Ohio State University extension and a member of its Beef Team. "Considering that hay production is very costly, producers may want to take special care to store hay correctly to ensure it retains quality."

According to the extension 2013 enterprise budget, at three tons per acre, grass hay costs $112.77 per ton to produce. Alfalfa, at four tons per acre, costs $133.02 per ton, Grimes said.

"Hay is an expensive crop to harvest, and storage losses can be significant," he said. "Much like corn and soybeans, hay is a valuable crop and should be treated as such. Hay is an asset, and with the current hay prices, you can’t afford to have losses. If you are losing hay at 10 to 20 percent, those are real dollars that you are losing."

Ohio farmers produce some 1.12 million acres of hay annually, he said. "At an average of about 2.5 tons per acre, this yields a total production of 2.7 million tons of hay used to support several types of ruminant animals, including beef, dairy, goats, horses and lambs," he said.

"Over the years farmers have gotten complacent. Plastic covers are okay, and these modern wraps do the trick, but there are many ways to cut down losses – and I’m finding between 5 to 35 percent in losses each hay season."

Grimes said farmers should treat hay with the respect they treat their other valuable crops. For starters, keep the bales out of the elements with the use of hoop barns or pole barns.

"If a farmer would just make an initial investment in some hay protection, they would easily pay for themselves," he said. "If they must keep these bales outdoors it’s best to even put them on a bed of rocks so as to get them off the dirt surface.

"From the first cutting to the last many farmers see their hay bales go to waste. As the hay dries out, it loses some tissue and it’s a difficult process. How we store hay is so crucial."

Grimes offers the following tips to avoid hay storage losses:

•Hay-to-soil contact is typically the primary source of loss associated with hay stored outdoors.

•If placing bales on the ground cannot be avoided, make sure a well-drained area is selected.

•Hay should be stored in an open area that can receive maximum sunlight.

•When aligning bales for storage, they should be placed so that the sides of the bales do not touch. An exception to this would be if you were stacking bales in a pyramid fashion for covering under a roof or with a tarp or other material.

•The flat ends of the bales should be firmly butted against one another, as this can protect the ends almost as well as if they were one continuous bale.

•Losses are kept to a minimum when hay is either under a roof or some other type of covering. The losses could increase when the hay is moved outside, especially when hay is stacked on bare ground.

"For example, hay loss is generally 4 to 7 percent when stored in a conventional shed, while hay stacked outside on the ground can see losses of 25 to 35 percent, according to a study by the University of Kentucky," Grimes said. The ideal storage for hay is in bales placed on a rock foundation stored underneath a structure with a roof.

"If you don’t have a protected storage, place hay on a layer of geotextile fabric cloth covered with rock to avoid bale-to-soil contact," he said.

"Another option is to stack in a pyramid covered with a tarp or other protective covering for outside."

When choosing a bale storage area, producers should consider ease of access to the bales during the next feeding periods for their livestock, Grimes added.

5/27/2015