Hay storage question

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

I don't have a barn to store my hay in so I have just been covering the bales with a tarp. I'm not very satisfied with this method though and was wondering how other barnless folks store their hay. Does anyone use those portable instant shelters for storage? Any other methods to protect hay from the elements? Thanks for any info you can provide.

-- Barb (rosemontfarm1@aol.com), December 19, 2000

Answers

One cheap & easy solution comes to mind. Why not build a hoop house for it? Make some bows from pvc pipe & put your tarp over it or use heavy guage plastic for a cover. Put plastic on the ground, then stack your hay on pallets. You should get excellent air circulation, which is the key to good hay storage.

-- Dan G. (stagecoach@hotmail.com), December 19, 2000.

For a fairly cheap storage building consider either a cargo trailer (the over-the-road kind pulled by semis) or cargo ship freight containers. Both are very well built and relatively inexpensive.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), December 19, 2000.

Thanks guys for the ideas. I have built a small hoop greenhouse with pvc pipe and connectors, but found the pvc gets brittle and breaks in the cold weather. (Is there another kind of flexible plastic that could work better?) Tarps are only lasting me a season before they develop small cracks that let water in, but perhaps the heavy guage plastic would work. The cargo trailer sounds ideal for storage, but I don't know if I could get used to looking at it everyday in the field. I guess I could paint a nice landscape on the side of it!

-- Barb (rosemontfarm1@aol.com), December 19, 2000.

I've heard of some people putting roof and siding on those cargo trailers to make them look like a real barn. Even making them larger by putting two together. Maybe you can't afford it now but as time goes on, you could spruce it up a bit.

Someone in my neighborhood took down their metal shed. I salvaged the panels and used it for roofing. Worked great.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), December 19, 2000.


I talked to a guy who placed two storage trailers side by side with ten or twelve feet between them. He put them up on railroad ties for a level "foundation." Then he put trusses across them and roofing. Presto, a barn with three sections!

-- Laura Jensen (lauraj@seedlaw.com), December 19, 2000.


Wow - neat ideas for the cargo trailer! Thanks everyone.

-- Barb (rosemontfarm1@aol.com), December 20, 2000.

Storage trailers would be fine but keep in mind as hay lay in storage it still has moisture and that has to go somewhere so you need venting and cross ventilation. I store hay outside using poly tarps, they are goo for a year. It rains a lot here in the winter and my largest problem is getting the hay out from under the tarps and into the feed bunks without exposing the rest to the rain. I can't throw 120# bales around too handily, I drag and load them on the rear forks on my tractor. I could live with just a tarp over the top and let the sides take the weather, cows will eat the hay anyway. At the end of the season I never have more than a few bales left and I use then for compost.

-- Hendo (OR) (redgate@echoweb.net), December 20, 2000.

Could you use those cattle panels, wired together on the long ends, and set up on the short ends. Sort of in the same formation you would pvc? ( Sort of an upside-down U.)There was something like this in the magazine a while back. In the spring you could take the cover off and plant stuff up the wire. Should already have mulch in place ,too. I was thinking of putting my rabbits in one of these this winter and moveing them and planting in the spring. Could plant stuff that needs shade in hot summer inside and other stuff over the top like beans or gourds or something. Well it might work for hay, what do ya think? These things are 14 or 16 feet wide and you could make it as long as you want it depending on how many you wire together. Good luck.

-- Bonnie (josabo1@juno.com), December 20, 2000.

Thanks for all the good suggestions and ideas everyone. Knew I could count on the good folks of this forum! Happy Holidays - Barb

-- Barb (rosemontfarm1@aol.com), December 21, 2000.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ