I’m looking for new SMALL hay tarps of good thickness. After years and years of struggling with gigantic heavy mfs, i want 30x30s. Looking online i’m getting a price (incl ship) of 105 for 18mil. I’m going to need about 10 of them so 10 or 20 dollars adds up! Our local MFA (missouri farm assn) store can’t get them in for less. Does anyone have a better source than: Amazon. I hate buying from them if i can help it…
Thanks! I’ve filed that away for future reference. So, i actually ordered from Amazon yesterday. They had the size and the strength and the price. How do they do that? They were more than a hundred dollars less (each!) than our local MFA coOp (missouri farm store). So i have 10 new ones on the way.
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I bought 10 of these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1489RTV/ref=pe_830720_114782560_TE_FOCE_n_id?th=1
I placed my order on 6/10 and they arrived 6/13. And today i am using them.
So this is for roundbales…net wrapped roundbales 5x5 and nothing separates the hay from the dry ground.
i just brushogged the sloping ground and let the sun dry the ground for three days (90+ degrees no rain or fog). Then i lay the windward side under -just enough to hold the tarp and stack 3-2-1. I add another tarp when i reach the end allowing about a 1’ overlap. i have a fenced area that allows 25 bales long if i need it. That’s a 150 bale stack. I just let the hay just dry in the stack uncovered. Day before expected rain (now it looks like 5 or more days out) i’ll pull the tarps over and lock them down on the leeward side.
EVENTUALLY i’ll run some long rods through the tugs and hang old tires every few feet. But that all is a Fall chore 
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tarpsnow.com is an excellent source. You can and will find cheaper, as you found! However, if you need weird or fire retardant, check them out. I found them when I needed a waterproof canvas, actual genuine canvas!, tarp. I’ve also found the quality of their tarps (grommets, and edge webbing, etc) is very good.
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Have you looked into this place? Might be drivable to pick up and save $$ on shipping.
Do NOT buy these! We did go and buy some one year and they ripped…right along the top ridge seam. They gave us a discount and we bought the next year…again rips! Expensive. The best thing they have are those patented twist stakes. Those things work GREAT! d
I saw those a few years ago and really wanted some but they were always out of stock, so my husband improvised and made me some. I love them! Makes securing the tarp so easy.
I got my round bale hay tarp from Mytee and it’s held up great (I’ve had it for about 5 years I think). It’s got grommets, webbing loops, and rope on the corners as options for securing, and has an orange tab marking the center that makes lining it up on the bales easy.
Mytee Hay Tarp
I had tried a used billboard but the material got WAY too stiff in the cold weather, and mine had a lot of pinholes in it so I didn’t want to use it for hay. I’m sure the shape they are in depends on your source, so others might have had good luck but I didn’t.
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Good to know!
Not the same supplier but we have used the individual slip on bale sleeves for years. We bought 2 boxes last year and when we went to use them again recently they just split as we tried to put them on . They have changed something in how they make them and I bet the same is true for tarps.
We have sleeves that are 4 years old that we are still reusing.
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i have used those also. I still have two rolls. WHat i did was buy a larger size, put them on while holding the bale up and tape the bottom tight. And that was a heck of a lot of effort. Maybe if there was another person…but for just one, hopping off and on…for like a hundred bales…LOL. too much!!
I mentioned that to my husband ( buying a larger size) and he was not at all supportive 
There is my daughter and myself putting them on and it is a workout!
have him try doing both. Want me to mail you one big one to try? PM you address and i will.
When they’re tight and you’re pulling, and there are any sticks of tough weed stems they can poke and even rip the sleeve.
Also, with the big ones, two is almost necessary on any day with much of a wind. I keep a roll of clear tape on my wrist and i put one in the middle (on the bottom of the bale) then one toward each end tightening them even better. Of course, you kinda have to bend the tape back on itself so you don’t have to try to unpeal it from the roll every time.
Thanks for the offer. He says they are too loose that way and will blow 1/2 off by the time you put it in line with the other bales. We are about done now with our hay and I have enough old sleeves but will keep it in mind.
If you find a good quality tarp supplier let me know.
ETA: we keep a roll of gorilla tape at hand for just such rip throughs. Makes me sick to see a rip or holes trying to wrestle those things on. They aren’t cheap.
I don’t know how you can do it alone…
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lol… alone… well, i have no choice.
I’m pulling over these new tarps this afternoon. (Sunday chance of rain and i want them to have a day to stretch in the sun before nailing them down securely.
They’re Made in China :(. Some of the corner triangle thingies were just loose in the package, not secured onto the tarp. And the rings are flimsy…and a few of those were not affixed either. AND they are supposed to be 18mil. I have an 8mil …a brand new one, that i compared the heft…the feel…to and these white chinese things are not as thick. So 18 mil is a lie. I do NOT mind a lighter weight to drag as long as they survive and keep my hay dry at least one year.
Alll remains to be seen. So far, i’ve not got a good recommendation except for cheap price and really quick delivery.
That is the problem. You don’t really know how they will do unless you try them first. Made is China is not something that instills confidence that it will be quality. I hope they hold up. I hate round bales that aren’t covered.
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I have enough this cutting that i’ll probably have some bales left over after winter. And they will be MUCH better leftovers if they stay covered. Plus, well…i’m with you, there’s no need to expose them to rain and snow if you don’t have to. I typically unroll a couple of revolutions to the cattle before taking a roundbale into the barn for horses. even covered there’s some waste, but geeze, at 35/bale i don’t want a third or a half a bale of waste come Feb/March.
That is what we charge for our hay. We have 1 hay customer who buys everything we don’t need, so about 250 bales a year. We put up 225+ for ourselves and I am glad I don’t put bale covers on the customers hay!
Unwinding 1/2 a round until you find usable hay is not my idea of a good time!
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well, cattle have to eat too. and when it’s cold…really cold i unroll a couple of whole ones at a time for them. I only have six Highlands left.
I pay a guy 35 to cut and bale for me. was about 7k this year… plus i fertilized, so another 4
Then i buy alfalfa in sm squares. Which are 10 to 12 this year i hear…!! yikes
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We have cattle ( angus/ hereford) and I hate to give them uncovered hay as well but they consume a lot of hay . My husband says that the animals will all eat uncovered hay if they are hungry and he is right but I don’t want to feed that to anything I care for if I can help it.
I’ve had horses too long. I expect to feed quality.
