This was typically done at the ASB barns when I was a kid. It is a major pain to do it, but it really makes the stalls easier later.
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Interesting idea to bank the stalls with the extra bulk bedding.
I have to assume that for those that this worked for they must have had quite a few stalls that were on the larger size.
When I did bulk this would not have worked unless I wanted each of my three horses to be in shavings up to their belly.
I banks shavings and I have only three stalls. I guess it depends on how large a shipment you get at once. In my case, the stalls are their shelter so they aren’t closed up in there but during the summer they are parked in their stalls in front of the fans all day, so the stalls get mucked twice a day. During milder weather they are out more often so I can go longer than 2 months between loads of shavings. I bed generously because they tend to nap in the stalls.
I have been at barns that have an additional shed attached to.the barn for the shavings, large enough for a truck to back up and dump into.
Also, I have seen the 20ft shipping containers used. I am not sure how the shavings are loaded into that.
I hate the banking of shavings in a stall because there is always that one horse who thinks it’s fun to spread it all out and do business on it.
I’m in the northeast and our barn gets shavings in bulk. When the barn was first built, the owners built sheds suitable for fitting a tractor trailer trailer in them. Owner drove truck, so he was familiar with the size. For a number of years, they would have a trailer load delivered and left, and would work out of the trailer. A number of winters, the sawdust in the trailer would freeze and was really painful to hack out the shavings that were needed. Now they get shavings delivered by a live-bottom tractor trailer and just dumped. It’s also easier than having to go up a ramp into the trailer and then back down with a full load of shavings that you dump some of on your way down. There are 30 horses in the barn that uses this method now. We get shavings every month or so.
If you can get a shipping container, or dumpster (that you can then put a tarp over), and get a new container delivered periodically, those would get my vote.
We have a fantastic bulk shavings storage area at our farm. (it came with the place, so I can’t take credit for it)
When we moved here, we’d been using only bagged shavings, and planned to continue doing so. But the new farm came with the storage with some shavings still in it, and as we used them up, it ended up being so easy we never went back to bagged.
Our storage area is three sided cinderblock bay, about 12x15 with a ceiling height of maybe 7’. The front is two swinging doors that can open out all the way flat against the side walls, opening up the entire 12’ front for a truck to back in. The roof is slanted and made up of three sections, the two front/lower chunks attached to a chain, attached to a motor. Inside, you flip a switch, the motor engages the chain, and retracts the roof, the two front sections nesting under the back one. A truck can get all way in to dump the shavings in. The floor is concrete so there is no moisture getting in. It’s easy to open a front door to get in with a wheelbarrow, but no tarps to fuss with or blow around and it has lights inside for stall cleaning during hours of darkness. It’s attached to one side of the barn, so it’s super convenient, but since it’s accessed outside of the barn, there’s no increased dust or access challenges like you’d see using a stall.
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A friend built a three sided structure to hold shavings. he built a wooden roof at an angle, and installed an electric winch to raise that roof.
