Count hay bales in a stack from a photo

Counting round and square hay bales in a field or barn

Farmers count bales after baling to plan winter feed, contractors count them to bill by the bale, and buyers check a load against the sale note. The method depends on the bale. Round bales stacked in a row or pyramid show their circular faces, so photograph the flat ends square-on; small and large square bales in a barn build a wall of rectangles, so shoot that face straight on.

Bales scattered across a field after baling are easiest from above, with a drone flown along the field before collection. Wrapped silage bales reflect strongly in sun, and black or white wrap changes the contrast from bale to bale, so an example of each wrap color helps. Loose hay, net wrap tails and straw on the ground can earn dots; once an example is marked, raising Ignore small detections under Advanced filters the smallest ones. Bales at the back of a barn stack stay hidden, so count each accessible face and treat any depth multiplication as an estimate.

Record each field, stack or trailer load as its own row with the bale type in the label, and the CSV becomes a simple feed inventory. Hand-tied crops are handled on the crop bundle page, and the herd you are feeding can be counted with the cattle counter.