Mark, why didn't you tell me that about the white/black a couple years ago??! ;)

Now that you mention it, I remembered that the bale sleeves that you can buy to slip over the outside of dry hay bales are always black.  I tried those but didn't like them because of the difficulty in putting them on large 5x6 bales that vary in diameter a bit when working by myself.

I've gone to an Unverferth "Roundabout" wrapper but have been using the white. Evidently I should find some black plastic.

I have seen the moisture thing you mentioned on some bales that were not quite dry but thought black would make it worse.  In fact I see that black may make it better.

So black it is this year. If I can find some black stretch plastic. As far as I can tell the only thing readily available locally is the white which is commonly used on the "tumblebug" type baleage full wrappers.

Thanks for the information.

Jim at Dawn