Saving Hay that got Wet

In yesterday's post, we talked about getting the hay crop into the barn for storage until this winter, when we'll use it to feed our cows.  What we didn't discuss was a little bump in the road that ended up working out, but it reinforced to me the lesson of completely finishing a job.

Here's what happened.  After bringing the trailer loaded down with hay back to our property, we already knew that it was too muddy around the barn to back it up.  As we discussed, we moved the hay in smaller loads (6 bales at a time) from the trailer parked in the driveway to the barn.  The thing is, since it was Thursday afternoon, we didn't have time to finish the task in one day - and I had to go back to work on Friday.  In a Herculean effort, Benjamin and I did move 33 bales before dark.

We intended on moving another 33 bales on Friday afternoon and finish the thing up on Saturday.  I checked the weather and there was a slight chance of rain on Friday and another chance on Saturday. I originally thought that if storm clouds were looming, we could back the trailer in the garage, but the trailer was too wide and too high to fit.  There's always Plan B, though.  We have a big tarp - actually it is a billboard that has been recycled.  I threw it over the remaining 67 bales of hay on the trailer to protect it from rain.  There.  Done.  I thought about tying it down or throwing something heavy on top to keep the tarp from blowing off, but then discarded the thought.  I was dog-tired, hot, sweaty, and ready to go inside. Besides, the tarp was heavy enough to not be blown off, right?

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.  That's exactly what happened. The next day at work, I watched the weather radar off and on, zooming in on our road and straining as I saw "green" areas of rain nearing our property.  When the workday was over, I raced home, turned into the driveway to discover... the tarp had blown off and the top layer of hay was wet.  My heart sunk.

Not soaking, mind you, but damp.  I checked the rain gauge and it didn't even register 1/10th of an inch.  But wet hay molds and as I checked the Internet, some said to put it in a pile and burn it. Others said to stack it in pyramids of three bales standing on their ends in the sun.  That's what I did with the top layer of 16 bales that got damp and after a 1/2 day in the scorching sun, the bales were moist no more.

Fortunately, the hay didn't get really wet.  Aside from deteriorating the condition of the hay and affecting the quality, wet hay can spontaneously combust.  Many barns have burned to the ground because of this. I read that there are warning signs, including a moldy smell, condensation on the interior roof of the barn and steam rising from the surface.  Believe me, I checked for those signs for several days after loading it in the barn and saw none of it.  Whew!

The tarp that blew off the trailer of hay

So the story had a happy ending and all worked out okay in the end, but from now on, I learned to COMPLETELY finish the job.  Had I taken an extra two minutes and secured the tarp, I would have saved a lot of time, energy and worry.

A Job Half Done is a Job NOT DONE!