We still have about 400 big rounds of hay barley left to haul. They've been sitting out in the field since July.
Normally we would have them off the field shortly after baling but this year we have been fighting mud and soft fields. Too slick to haul them now so the plan is to wait until next week when it freezes up again.
Seems like every time it was dry enough to do anything we were busy doing something else....
On our alfalfa fields we get the bales off ASAP because if you leave bales out for too long it will create dead spots under the bales, that and the alfalfa will start growing up around the bales and I hate to drive on nicely growing hay. And if it's dry we are usually in a rush to start irrigating the fields.
As for quality and rain I actually think the rounds do better unstacked. As was mentioned the rain will only soak in a little and then it rolls off. If you put them in a traditional triangle stack that creates little crevices and catches rain. Some guys do the flat side down on the bottom row and then set a bale round side down on the top row. Which works fine if you have the time and room to stack them like that.
