Why Covering Your Hay Makes You Money

Innovations in fabric coating technology have made it possible to manufacture Hay Tarps that are highly UV stabilized, durable and extremely cost effective. Farmers all over the country are realizing that it always makes sense to cover their Hay Bales with a tarp they get a maximum return on their investment and hard work. Ideally you should store your hay in a shed, however if that is not possible then tarp it.

We are going to walk through some simple calculations to show why you should cover your hay and how you can make money while doing it. All the numbers below are a conservative estimate.

1. Studies have shown that Hay Bales stored outside lose 10 - 20% more to water damage as compared to Hay under a tarp.

2. Hay stored in a shed or tarp sells at a premium of $5 - $10/Ton because of its consistent quality and higher relative feed value, when compared to hay stored outside.

3. For calculation purpose, let us assume the cost of Hay to be $140/Ton. This could be different in your region and depends on weather you are baling straight alfalfa or a mixture of grass / alfalfa.

4. You could stack at least 40 Tons of Bales under a 28'x54' Hay Tarp. That is Hay worth about $ 5600

5. Money lost due to spoilage by storing hay bales outside: 10% x 5600 = $ 560

6. The cost of a 28'x54' Hay tarp along with stakes etc is less than $ 300.

7. Net Savings in Year 1: 560 - 300 = $ 260. So your cost of tarp is saved in the first year itself.

8. Hay Tarps should last you 3 - 5 years which puts your total savings to approximately: $ 260 + $ 560 (Year 2) + $ 560 (Year 3) = $ 1880

As you can see that this is an extremely conservative estimate. In all likelihood your individual savings would be much more.