Buying Round Bales of Hay that have been stored outside

ROFL, too funny! Maybe I should go see if any of mine have died yet? They never had anything but big round bales that have been stored outside! Shoot, my oldest is 11 next month, that's 11 YEARS of eating cow hay and never a sick day in his life. My new prego mare is happily munching on a big round bale right now, she actually PREFERS it over a small bale of straight alfalfa hay that has been stored inside.

ROFLMTO!! Gosh..how will they ever live! <rolls eyes>

Mine live the same way..and are healthy and happy.

I use round bales. I can buy 2000 lbs bales of hay for 35$, that is mixed Timothy/alfalfa/brome. My horses do very well on it. None have ever gotten sick from eating round bale hay.

My hay is stored outdoors in rows, single layer. I don't have a tractor so a friend comes over with his truck and we wrap a chain around it and drag the bale in.

I buy square bales of alfalfa for my goats- they are a pain because they HAVE to be stored indoors. Easier for me to handle for sure, but a pain to store.

We too feed round bales that are stored outside. Our's is wheat hay baled for horses. They will jump over alfalfa to get to the wheat hay. Only drawback we can see is keeping the weight off of easy keepers. The three horses eat about one bale every 2 weeks. It's pretty dry here so an open bale lasts well. If we do get rain the horses just pull off the stuff they don't want and sleep in it!
We've been feeding round bales for over 12 years without a problem.

Provided they are stacked properly and are not more than a year old there shouldn't be a problem.
Most of the hay here is stored outside , barn storage is rare . I have had outside stored bales over the last 5 years . You do have to remove the outside edge but after the weathered hay has been removed the hay inside is the same as barn stored hay.
They also store straw and lucerne ( alfalfa ) outside with no problems