I use a luggage scale, it hangs in the doorway of my feed room and it’s a 5 second thing to check a net on my way thru. You can see it here from when my cheeky mare decided to help herself.
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This is a great suggestion. I was wondering about “standard” heights, particularly because I’d like to have 16’ overhangs on the side of the barn as a run-in, and figured the way to do that is a higher roof line. (I’ve got an inquiry to some builders for how feasible that would be.)
But all great info, thank you!
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Totally fair question! Horse was feed with both a porta-grazer and small hole (2 inch?) nibble nets. But yes, sometimes after a ride I would just throw a flake on the ground directly so she could dig in (but most of the hay was indeed contained in some manor).
we have started putting all hay fed outdoors into hay pillow slow feeders, loss is greatly reduced to the point of nearly being eliminated.
We have one hay pillow that will accept a three string 130 pound bale which we put into a 100 gallon water trough. We have placed this trough onto a pallet racket strapped to the pallet to keep the lads from dumping it over to extract the bale of hay. We have a water proof cover that can be put over the trough. This allows the two horses that are kept in that paddock full access. A 130 pound bale will last them about five days or more days depending if they are in the paddock overnight. Waste is dust that is dumped out of the trough when refilling the hay pillow
one thing this thread has brought to my attention is those who are buying 35 pound two string bales at $8.50 are playing about $485 a ton which is nearly what we are paying for delivered at our convenience Teff hay at $615/ton which really is depressing but all horses, ponies, goats love the Teff.
In earlier droughts when local hay became limited to the point they were baling the highway right of ways we got some round bales that introduced weeds into out pastures that took years to eliminate.
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Yep, I have a near identical set up! (Minus the naughty mare, haha!) Works great for me, too. Even used a pretty similar looking luggage scale until I started getting in 3 string alfalfa and needed something that would weigh over 100# 
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I weighed my very typical mid-Atlantic orchard grass bales tonight: ~34lb on average. They are not particularly small or light compared to what you get around here in MD. The load I just used up was smaller/lighter bales.
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Yes, if all my bales (local, northern NH) were 34 pounds I would be thrilled. I’ve had loads that I found averaged below 25 and found bales as light as 19 pounds. I picked up a load from a different farmer this last year that averaged around 38 pounds, but when I picked up another load it seemed to be a mix of several balings; those with green strings were still above 35, but about 1/3 had natural-color strings and weighed in the low to mid 20s. Sigh.
The lighter bales don’t take a lot less room to store as they are nearly the same size, just less dense, so it greatly affects the space required.
I was just going to ask! So they’re just baled really loose? Do they stack at all or just sort of topple over?
If you work out how much you pay for hay per ton, how’s that shake out? I get irritated with sub 50# bales but at least I have a guy who sells it by the ton with a scale ticket, so any light bales really do cost less.
I used to get hay from a guy who baled mini 20# bales but they were like 18" long and proportional to a “real” bale. I can’t imagine a full sized bale weighing the same!!
It totally blows my mind how regional hay making is. Not just because of weather & field conditions, but labor availability and storage availability and just general awareness of different options.
Now I’m curious- I just got a new load of orchard grass in yesterday, I’ll have to weigh them and see.
They stack fine. They’re not so loose (usually!) that you sink in if you, say, step on one that’s flat on the ground, so a whole other bale sitting on them with the weight spread evenly is no problem at all. BUT if they get twisted they will break open very easily. There’s an art to carrying a bale that is starting to bulge out to one side in the middle, to keep it from going the whole way and exploding out of the strings!
I have calculated the per-ton price in the past but not this last year. We have two local guys (within ~45 minutes - this is an area that mostly grows trees, not hay) that we buy from, so I compare the per-bale price vs what weight I’m seeing in the first loads of the season and buy the remaining few loads accordingly.
We have been picking it up with our horse trailer, which used to mean maybe 4 trips a year, but we just came through our second winter with an additional equine (mule) added to the mix. Between the additional winter hay, and hay in the summer to supplement the pasture which was enough for 2 but not 3, we need a lot more and the number of trips back & forth is getting burdensome. My husband is talking about getting hay shipped in so we don’t need to do that, and obviously to compare those prices I need to redo the calculations.
And of course that also means we need to figure out how to enlarge storage! 
We’ve been using a neighbor’s barn for the overflow — they had sheep but aged out — but that adds an extra move that we’d really rather not do, plus the option won’t be there forever.
(When my husband gave me our barn as a Christmas present, I said 36x36, 4 stall. He & my dad said isn’t that bigger than you need? and I got 36x24, 2 stall. Of course I knew I was right, as time has proven!)
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We make our own hay - our hay bales will vary in weight and size based on maturity of hay crop and density/size of wind rows- which depends on rain and maturity. We grow a grass/alfalfa/clover mix and depending on the above factors, the average weight and packing of a bale can vary significantly. Because, when baling, bulges of wet or damp hay can be an issue - the bounce or spring of the bales is almost more important to me than weight.
For my horses (OTTB sport), I figure 1/2 bale small square hay per horse per day + 1 large round per month per horse - just because it is far better to have extra by spring than run out in March or April. So I would go over in storage size to what I thought I’d need because I always like to have a bit more than I need.
