DMax82 wrote in post #19161572
Thanks for sharing this and the other pictures from this.process! Just one question that I have wondered when seeing similarly wrapped bales locally, is moisture an issue or are the bales somehow able to breathe?
Glad you enjoyed them
These bales are silage not hay. Silage is plastic wrapped to keep in the moisture rain out.
It actually pickles or ferments the grass inside.. The fermentation is due to microscopic organisms in the grass and conditions need to be right. Not too dry else it just bakes and is sour.
Following from a New Zealand science site
The plastic is used to create an anaerobic atmosphere inside the bale.
Removing and keeping out oxygen is a key part of making silage. This is because fermentation has to happen under anaerobic (oxygen-free) conditions, or the correct type of microorganisms won’t grow.
Silage also has a very characteristic odour. I love it but many detest.
In that last photo you can see hay bales in the background.
They're net wrapped and can breath. The grass is dried before baling, unlike silage.
They can survive rain, but the outer later eventually loses nutrients.
Ironically green (too moist) hay bales stacked tightly can self ignite and there's many an old barn and even these days a modern barn destroyed by this.
