Hi Renee, we've been feeding round bales now for a couple of years. We stack them on wooden pallets and cover them the moment they come home. Depending on where they are in the pile there may be some wastage, but overall they stay nice and green over winter (I should take a pic of the one we just opened). Our bales are about 1000 lbs and we need the tractor to move them to the feeding area, however, once we have two or three there we (meaning Kevin) can usually push them into place by hand in the exact spot that we feed from (but it's on a small incline).
Depends on the bale as far as how much waste there is. But we keep a separate pile for anything moldy and pic through the bale fairly carefully. Most bales don't have much mold - but we have a hay guy that's just excellent. We also pull bales from the part of the field with very little alfalfa...mostly grass...so that's a bonus. We love them, and probably wouldn't go back to square. Wanda
