When large round hay bales came along, those of us who had cut our agricultural teeth on stacking small square bales thought we’d never need to put hay bales in a stifling hot barn again.

Nowadays a lot of farmers use round bales of hay. They’re huge. Some of them can weigh over a thousand pounds. One of the perks is they take less time to dry between cutting the hay and baling it.

As snow falls and winter descends, a lot of agricultural work is slowing down. But for farmers with livestock, they’ve got to make sure their animals have enough to eat through the long cold months.

Arlan Kurtz is wondering how he will feed his 100 head of cattle this winter after his barn, full of hay bales, was destroyed by a fire started by spontaneous combustion Saturday afternoon. While ...