Help! Foul smelling hay

14 years ago

I just don't know what to do. I live across from a chicken farm and the owner recently got some cows.

I can handle chicken smells, cow smells and have been for a year with no problems.

A few months ago the farmer brought in these HUGE round hay bales and put them near my property line.

They small really really bad. Like your standing in the middle of the local dump. A real sour smell. I'd hoped the smells would go away at some point but they have not.

I'm thinking of selling my house.

Is it normal for round bales of hay to smell so bad? I mean REALLY REALLY bad? Is there any info I can pass on to the farmer? Is he buying bad hay?

He has them wrapped in white plastic.

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Comments (8)

marlingardener
14 years ago
Sounds like the hay is rotting. If it was baled while it had a high moisture content, then wrapped in plastic, that can happen. At the least you can ask him to move the hay farther from your house. If the farmer bought the hay and put it on the fenceline, and hasn't visited it since, he may not know of the stench, or the cause of it.
lavender_lass
14 years ago
If the hay was bailed wet, it could be a fire hazard. Damp hay can smolder for months in the middle and then start a fire. I would let the farmer know immediately and make sure he checks on the hay and hopefully moves it. I would think he'd be responsible for any fire damages. That might encourage him to do something right away.
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fancifowl
14 years ago
Sounds like haylage to me. Silage made from hay is riolled up a bit damp and ferments for cattle feed. It shouldnt smell that bad tho?? maybe he poked holes in the wrap moving them and air got in causing ther wrong kind of fermentaion to take place. The smell should ease up soon.
mikes100acdreamfarm
14 years ago
It would definitely be haylage a type of silage made from hay bales. Regular hay is wrapped in either twine or netting. The plastic allows the moisture to be held to ferment it. It will have a sweetish sour fetid smell, somewhat unpleasant at first but it does diminish after a while. Maybe time to plant some aromatic vines on your fence row if it is too overpowering and he plans to store it there in the future.
jean001
14 years ago
It was said "Maybe time to plant some aromatic vines on your fence row if it is too overpowering and he plans to store it there in the future."

Why?

Just explain the problem to the farmer and ask him to please move the stuff. Surely there's somewhere less bothersome to put it.
yakimadn
14 years ago
Best way in the world to get rid of nagging/undesireable neighbors.........
Maybe the farmer's not the problem????
dreamgarden
14 years ago
yakimadn-Best way in the world to get rid of nagging/undesireable neighbors.........
Maybe the farmer's not the problem????"

Are you implying that the OP is the problem and should just get used to living next to a stench pile? How helpful is that.....
yakimadn
14 years ago
just offering another viewpoint........... I'd make sure my yard/concience was clean then have a talk with the farmer.
Are you implying that everyone should just jump in and coddle the OP cause he/she decided to buy a house next to an established farm?? Let's keep an open mind.

Dave