With all the rain and snow last winter, the bottoms absorbed a lot of moisture from the ground and that was where there was the most spoilage.

As far as stacking and tarping - where I stacked bales not tarped it seems like they rot faster where the bales touch each other. Water just collects at the joints and soaks in. Tarping with large plastic tarps just does not seem like a high probability of success with keeping them on. Maybe if I bought some of the very heavy ones the wind might not destroy them...

I'm hoping the weight of the bale will keep the plastic from blowing with the slit on the bottom.

Does your brother feel the partial covers helped enough to be worth the effort? Must be some benefit if he's used them for 10 seasons?

I don't have a lot of bales to do this way. I just don't want the waste and mold dust I had last year.

As far as having them covered by the baler - that's an idea I'll discuss with my supplier. Do most balers offer the solid plastic wrap in addition to twine or netwrap? I was not aware of that if they do.  I've seen full bale wrappers as a separate operation but not in the round baler on the outside only.

Jim at Dawn