Hay options in garden

I have six bales of hay that I need to use somehow. They were an archery target, but now are soggy and I want them gone. I am planting a zone 2 FF in the backyard, so how should I incorporate the hay. Was thinking of a hugle core, or just as mulch. Or using as an under layer in sheetmulch. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks. Blayne:)

Hey Blayne, do you have any areas where water runs down hill, that you were thinking of building a swale on?

There was a post a couple of days ago, where a permie had dug a swale , stuck slices of bales into the swale and then buried them back up, leaving about six inches sticking out of the ground.

I thought that was a great idea.

Mulching is always good too!

Thanks for the reply. I will probably do a combo of the two uses for it. Time to design the space!