Chances are real good he farms and produces his own hay. Doubt he is going to find a person to deliver round bales and then bring a tractor to stack them for him. He lost virtually no value from storm damage to the hay. It's net wrapped and tight as bark on a tree! Virtually no water gets beyond the wrap.
Not exactly correct.
Net wrapped bales when stored horizontally, absorb little moisture (hay or straw) but when stacked vertically (like he has them), the rolled ends become huge sponges and wick in moisture causing the baled material to mold.
The ONLY time I store rounds vertically, is when I store them INSIDE the hay barn. If outside (which is rare), always horizontally, never vertically. So... In essence, his rounds are soggy wet and if they are forage rounds, they are no good as feed. if straw, they are still viable for bedding or hammer miller with other additives like DDG for cattle feed.
Even net wrapped bales stored horizontally experience a degree of material loss, usually the outer 1-3" of the circumference of the bale is junk and that loss accelerates the longer the bales are stored before using them.
The density of the material inside the bale has little to do with water ingress and the resulting material loss., however, a loose bale (low density) will absorb moisture faster than a high density bale will but they both absorb moisture none the less.
Remember, I'm in that business so I know how it plays.