Learn Me Shredded Wheat Or Giant Hay bales

I have seen the giant bales of hay or straw at farm usually wrapped in plastic. These seem to sit in a row at the farm for years and line of them just gets longer. What on earth are these for?

They usually get sold off to other farms and used as feed.  Depends on what plant was actually harvested.

Plastic wrap causes the bales to ferment. Good feed for cows.

Net wrap is for horse feed or straw bales.

You need to reach deep inside for your inner Neal Young......

The plastic is basically a mini silo.  The old way of doing it (and still used) is to use a grain elevator to top load a silo.  The tall and skinny construction does two things:  Prevents oxygen from getting in while it ferments, and the skinny profile prevents too much heat from building up.  It's a surface area-to-mass ratio thing.

You'll often see wrapped bales catch fire if they're wrapped with the wrong moisture content.  If you don't have enough moisture, the fermentation can runaway and make enough heat to burn it.  If you have too much moisture, it will mold before it can ferment.

Just a week ago they had to close the highway because a trailer full of those bales caught fire.  They were probably on the edge and the wind sealed their fate.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Hay!  When did you become an expert in yet another field? 

ShawnG said:

Plastic wrap causes the bales to ferment. Good feed for cows.

Why do you want them to ferment?  Are the cows happier when they're drunk? :)

In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :

Not a cow farmer but from what I understand, it helps the cows get the maximum amount of nutrition from the grass.

Come to this thread thinking it was about cereal, come away for cow food.

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

ShawnG said:

Plastic wrap causes the bales to ferment. Good feed for cows.

Why do you want them to ferment?  Are the cows happier when they're drunk? :)

 

Yes they are. I worked on a farm as a kid and the cows broke through the pasture fence to get at the silo. The silage was fermenting and leaking out around the base. You ought to try herding drunk cows back through a hole in a fence.

We are continually learning ways in which fermented foods are beneficial to human life.  Little wonder that it works for cows.

https://www.webmd.com/diet/ss/slideshow-benefits-fermented-foods

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

ShawnG said:

Plastic wrap causes the bales to ferment. Good feed for cows.

Why do you want them to ferment?  Are the cows happier when they're drunk? :)

 

Cows are neat.  They are ruminants, which means they have a rumen (kinda a sac in line with the stomach)

Inside the rumen are little microscopic bugs and fungi and such.  These lil guys break down the cellulose and whatnot to allow cows to gain nutrition and mass from a bunch of grass.

Fermenting helps breakdown the cellulose before it gets to the rumen, making it easier to digest and pull energy from, as well as reducing waste in the :ahem: "undigested material"

I long ago learned that if farmers are doing something, its generally to increase yields of their products. 

alfadriver said:

Come to this thread thinking it was about cereal, come away for cow food.

Same thing. 

1988RedT2 said:

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Hay!  When did you become an expert in yet another field? 

Growing up on a farm with two farmer parents?

Ask me about my 150 pet chickens that reverted to chicks every spring.  Mom and Dad never explained how that happened, but we always had chicken for dinner.

Did you hear that the FDA banned the round bales effective next year?  They were concerned that the livestock wasn't getting a square meal.

Ba da bump... tsssss

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

ShawnG said:

Plastic wrap causes the bales to ferment. Good feed for cows.

Why do you want them to ferment?  Are the cows happier when they're drunk? :)

 

The alcohol content isn't very high.  Same reason people in the days before fridges fermented grapes and grains.  It doesn't rot as quickly.  Fermented feed doesn't rot, but raw feed will rot and mold very quickly.

Mr_Asa said:

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

ShawnG said:

Plastic wrap causes the bales to ferment. Good feed for cows.

Why do you want them to ferment?  Are the cows happier when they're drunk? :)

 

Cows are neat.  They are ruminants, which means they have a rumen (kinda a sac in line with the stomach)

Inside the rumen are little microscopic bugs and fungi and such.  These lil guys break down the cellulose and whatnot to allow cows to gain nutrition and mass from a bunch of grass.

Fermenting helps breakdown the cellulose before it gets to the rumen, making it easier to digest and pull energy from, as well as reducing waste in the :ahem: "undigested material"

I long ago learned that if farmers are doing something, its generally to increase yields of their products. 

It's kinda neat to watch them vomit into their own mouths to chew their own puke.  Not really.

I knew that someone on GRM would have the answer. 

They are very wasteful. The plastic garbage usually winds up in landfills and there are tons and tons of it from every farm. 

DeadSkunk (Warren) said:

You ought to try herding drunk cows back through a hole in a fence.

For some reason when I read this I hear that Queen music in the back of my head......."Fat Bottom Girls....you make the rockin world........."

They catch fire quick when accidentally catch on fire too....

My neighbor across the street lost about half of 96 bales probably from a leaf fire sparked by a discarded cigarette.

David S. Wallens said:

alfadriver said:

Come to this thread thinking it was about cereal, come away for cow food.

Same thing. 

Frosted maxi wheats

In reply to gearheadmb :

Hmmm? I remember my Grandpa using his silo for corn stalks . It would ferment and supply his cows food in the winter. The barns top half was used for hay.   

When my grandkids would see the wrapped bales, they would shout "There's the marshmallow farm!" 

Looks like a giant store bought loaf of cookie dough .

....mmmm....cookie dough.