I’m sure this has been discussed before, but a search yielded no results. I have two horses and need to store 3 types of grain at any given time. I’m only buying one bag at a time, so don’t need huge bins. Trash cans waste so much space! Has anyone tried the Bergen Stack n Store? Anything else you love?
White plastic stacking recycling bins from Ikea with hinged lids.
https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/sortera-waste-sorting-bin-with-lid-white-70255899/
They take a 50 lb bag of grain poured in. I have not had anything chew a hole in one yet. They keep out mice. They stack nicely.
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[I use these, and have been quite pleased with them.
I use the rectangular rubbermaid ruffneck cans, and they usually hold two bags. Maybe still more than you need, but the shape is a nice footprint and they store nicely next to each other–much better than round cans.
My bin may be too big (its approx 24" X 24" footprint), but it will hold 4 bags of feed, with the bags standing up. Or 5 bags if divided in half with plywood (there is a channel specifically for this). Then use 1/2 the bin for something like alfalfa pellets poured out and stand up two bags on the other side.
I’ve had mine for 17+ years. Love them. Easy to clean. Sturdy. No critters to date have chewed them or gotten inside. Not sure where you buy them theses days - I think I got mine from State Line Tack (but that was in 2002).
https://www.behlencountry.com/product/multi-purpose-storage-container/
Are you putting the whole bag in there, not dumping the contents into something?
That is what our vets recommend, feed directly out of bags or supplement containers.
The reason is, easier to keep any container clean, just throw the bag out and more important, if there is a problem that may be related to the feed, you know exactly which sack it came from and it is quicker to test to see what the problem is.
Now, some use freezers for that, standing ones you can open the door and stick sacks in there and open it to dish feed out of each sack.
Horizontal ones, you have to lift and drop the sack in there, but also easy to just dip contents out by lifting the lid.
Freezers tend to be rodent proof, if properly closed even coon proof.
Of course, if you have a critter proof feed room, then sacks neatly stacked in their spot don’t need to be in anything.
That is what we have.
After years of using old aluminum cans and all other kinds of feed bins, it was nice to be given permission to just keep feed in the sacks it comes in.
If you want somewhere to dump contents into, then others have already provided containers to consider.
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I use the larger size Gamma Vittles Vault. Holds a 40-50# bag of pellets no problem.
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@Ghazzu, do you dump your food or keep it in the original bag? How many bags can you get in this container? I have looked at these several times but haven’t gotten my nerve up to buy.
I get the reasons for wanting to keep feed in bags but it’s so damp where I live that any paper tends to attract mold and mildew.
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Looks like the closest thing to the Behlen feed bin is this one… https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=065B51DE-B27C-4473-BEB6-0C62AA612E63
I was hoping High Country Plastics had something, but theirs is huge and sits on a stand.
There are 50 lb and 80 lb versions of the ‘vittles vault’ that have a small footprint:
https://www.amazon.com/Vittles-Vault-Outback-Airtight-Container/dp/B0002DJOP2/ref=pd_sbs_199_img_1/142-3655567-7814218
I second the Vittle Vaults, I have a 50lb upright one and a 60lb stackable one.
LetItBe
Second this, with the extra note that you can put them on top of a shelf. Not only do you get extra storage space under them, but it’s SO much easier to make feed without bending all the way down. And the bins are small and light enough that it’s easy to dump them completely/clean them before refilling.
I have 3 that I bought over the years (the current price is well above what they went for then!) that have held up extremely well. In 2, I dump bags of beet pulp and alfalfa pellets.
Can get ~100 # of shredded BP, or ~ 2–250# of alfalfa pellets in one bin.
In the 3rd, I have bagged feed, and can manage to fit 3 50# bags.
There’s a less expensive but likely equally functional one here–https://www.statelinetack.com/item/h…d-bin/E002437/
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These: https://www.amazon.com/Vittles-Vault…gateway&sr=8-4
80# Vittle Vault, with Amazon Prime because unless you have a local pet or feed store that stocks this size, the freight will be more than the Vittle Vault itself.
Currently $58.74 with Prime.
We use these at our stable and they are great! Take up MUCH less floor space than trash cans, have a gasket that keeps the contents very fresh, holds a full bag of just about anything, and they are (nearly) rodent-proof.
Have worked great for us-
If you have a resale license, you can buy them by the pallet-load from the manufacturer near San Diego… but you’ll only save a few bucks over the Amazon Prime price.
I third the Vittles Vaults. Got mine at the local Petsmart, does the job just fine. If they’re stacked, sometimes the lids don’t want to seat quite right, but I could always get them closed with a little patience. (Or closed-enough without patience!) Unstacked, the lids seat fine.
I’m not sure we’re talking about the same thing…these would be awfully tall on a shelf.
I use these.
http://www.rubbermaid.com/en-US/30-gal-roughneck-non-wheeled-trash-can
You guys are awesome! Thank you!
I actually have Vittle Vaults that I had previously used for dog food. I tried them for horse feed and didn’t like them. I found them hard to fill, since the opening is relatively small. Balancing a 50 pound bag of food and trying to fit it into that opening wasn’t easy, and I sometimes had spillage. A 3 qt feed scoop is hard to get in/out of the narrow opening. I also found the tops to be fiddly. I’m not sure why they never bothered me when I used them for dog food, but in the barn I felt like I had to spin the thing multiple times to get it to seal.
Just my two cents worth, for anyone interested.
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I was on a product review committee back in the 1990s when Purina Mills was owned by British Petroleum (they had bought it from Ralston Purina in/about 1986?) They really had no idea what to do with the company, as they saw horse ownership in the as declining.
One of the things they were looking into was decreasing the bag weight. This was being driven from their studies of horse owners 1) aging 2)primarily being women
They considered 40 pound bags and 25 pound bags
BP sold the business in 1993(?) or thereabouts
When using plain sacks and dipping out of them, as they are getting very low, so as not to have to bend over so far down, I have some of those orange hardware buckets I turn over and set the half empty bags on, for easier reach without need to reach so low.
Once we are down to dregs, I may pour those in the bucket itself to finish feeding that sack out.
That also lets you be sure that last feed is clean, doesn’t has fines and odds and ends you rather discard than feed.
Now if you have rodents where you keep the feed, then you need to protect that feed in rodent proof containers, if in the sacks or poured into those.
