Sunday I finished hauling in another 30 round hay bales for the cows’ winter feeding. This hay was made just down the road by a guy that’s been making hay a long time and doesn’t have cows to feed anymore. It’s really good hay, despite having been left out in the weather until now. Even the spring hay is in good shape, and the girls are loving it. I’ll be back for more, I think, to make sure we have plenty well into April, so I don’t have to start grazing too soon.
I hustled up to the pasture yesterday morning to get it covered before the predicted rain hit, and finished just as the first sprinkles started. It didn’t rain much, but I wanted it covered before it did. This next spring and summer I’ll buy it from him early and haul it out of the field right after he gets it baled, put it up on logs to keep it off the ground, and cover it before it ever gets any rain on it at all. Lots of hay goes to waste by leaving it out in the rain, although it’s pretty common around here; you see a lot of hay lined up on pasture edges like this, without any cover.
A barn with hay storage will be nice, when we get to that point. And as time goes on I’ll be able to manage the paddock rotations better and graze longer into the fall and winter, which will reduce the amount of hay needed. Meanwhile, it’s about keeping the redheads fed and healthy.
Thistledog's Farm 
Hay rots from the ground up and not much from the top down so a barn is nice but pallets are better. Anything to get the hay off the ground…
Something else…if it’s going to be AWFUL weather, a lot of farmers will roll out a bale so the livestock can lay on it for warmth. That’s especially important with little ones.
Sandra, so true… keeping the bales up off the ground is really important. I cut fence-post sized logs as bolsters to set mine on, it is not a perfect system but it’s better than nothing. And the last batch of hay I bought had several no-good rolls in it – spoiled or put up wrong or whatever – so I’ll use those for bad weather beds, great tip.