TTP, I know, right?? We DID just get here–moved at the end of August in 2014. It’s nuts to be leaving.
Thanks for the feedback, all. Sounds like life with a loft is pretty peachy…at least once the hay is up there! :lol: I can’t remember if the floor is planks or plywood. It’s a sturdy floor, though. We’ll keep an eye on the dust situation.
Gumtree is 100% right: fires come from too-wet hay. If you are experienced enough to be sure you are buying hay that is properly cured, there will be no fire issue. Almost all hay producers now use a moisture meter…if you have doubts ask what the content is. But you can almost always feel if hay is damp. Cut a bale from the middle and stick your arm down in it. If it radiates moist heat, don’t put it in a loft.
Hay can exacerbate a fire later but not cause one.
Love my loft, and storing my 800 bales a year in the barn. It worries me when I bought the place but I have quickly gotten over it because the convenience factor is huge and I don’t leave my horses in except meals…so my horse loss risk from fire is extremely minimal. I have a set of stairs at the end and the sides are all open – it isn’t particularly dusty but when I toss hay down the steps it is at the end of the barn so the dust sort of blows out the door. I can toss hay out the sides too but rarely do. My biggest fear is someone (I.e. My kids) falling out of the loft…they know it is absolutely off limits. I don’t think either has ever set foot up there yet! Safety issues = draconian mom.
[QUOTE=fordtraktor;8962002]
Gumtree is 100% right: fires come from too-wet hay. If you are experienced enough to be sure you are buying hay that is properly cured, there will be no fire issue. Almost all hay producers now use a moisture meter…if you have doubts ask what the content is. But you can almost always feel if hay is damp. Cut a bale from the middle and stick your arm down in it. If it radiates moist heat, don’t put it in a loft.
Hay can exacerbate a fire later but not cause one.
Love my loft, and storing my 800 bales a year in the barn. It worries me when I bought the place but I have quickly gotten over it because the convenience factor is huge and I don’t leave my horses in except meals…so my horse loss risk from fire is extremely minimal. I have a set of stairs at the end and the sides are all open – it isn’t particularly dusty but when I toss hay down the steps it is at the end of the barn so the dust sort of blows out the door. I can toss hay out the sides too but rarely do. My biggest fear is someone (I.e. My kids) falling out of the loft…they know it is absolutely off limits. I don’t think either has ever set foot up there yet! Safety issues = draconian mom.[/QUOTE]
“My biggest fear is someone (I.e. My kids) falling out of the loft…they know it is absolutely off limits”
Poor kids, lol. We loved playing in the loft. Making forts, hide and seek etc. In one big bank bank we had we set up a rope swing. Pushed all of the loose fluffy hay,straw into a big pile swing out over it let go. Though my mother got quite mad when there wasn’t enough loose stuff laying around and we opened up a bunch of bales to use instead.
I have an old PA Dutch bank barn. So, you can drive up into the loft, and throw the hay off, and stack it in the hay section of the loft. It really does make life easier. I’ve never had a barn that DIDN’T have a loft. However, I did lease one where we couldn’t use it- the owner had a bunch of stuff stored there. I initially put hay in the barn on pallets- which is a HUGE pain, IMHO. I got around to using round bales for the horses who were turned out there, and that ended that problem.
Ha. I’m worried about MY HUSBAND falling out of the loft. So is he!
And I’m worried about ME!
I’m in a self board situation where each border has a loft the size as the stall below. I have a timed feeder that drops 4 feedings of hay a day, and I appreciate that the grain is inaccessible to horses who get free in the night and go around looking for a source of colic. I’m in the PNW, though, and I find I have to tarp my hay. The bottom bales don’t get musty, but the outer surface of any bales not tarped with plastic will get musty within a month. The must knocks off when you move the bales and does not go deep into the bales, they are clean and sweet-smelling inside. A couple of times I’ve had to discard the first flake in a bale of hay, but never a whole bale. But I find the hay is fine where it is packed tightly together.
[QUOTE=Simkie;8962033]
Ha. I’m worried about MY HUSBAND falling out of the loft. So is he![/QUOTE]
This happened to a friends husband and he’s a horse guy. A bit clumsy.
Pretty easy to build a railing around the opening. Doesn’t have to be fancy, some 2x4s and L brackets. Doesn’t have to be super strong it’s there to give warning more than to hold somebody who sits or leans on it.
I worry about my kids, too, Simkie. They are great barn helpers but they are 100% never allowed in the barn loft. I need to put up a barrier around the edge but haven’t done it because there’s usually hay up there near the edge of most of it so it is hard. I have found it convenient at times not to have anything – particularly since I store hay downstairs along one side and when really filling up the barn I can pack that portion to the rafters by just walking off the loft when the hay stacks below get tall enough. I hadn’t thought of L brackets, gumtree – that would be nice because I could just remove the boards when I wanted it to be open. I am going to have to do that next spring when the loft is less stuffed and I can actually get to things.
[QUOTE=fordtraktor;8963829]
I worry about my kids, too, Simkie. They are great barn helpers but they are 100% never allowed in the barn loft. I need to put up a barrier around the edge but haven’t done it because there’s usually hay up there near the edge of most of it so it is hard. I have found it convenient at times not to have anything – particularly since I store hay downstairs along one side and when really filling up the barn I can pack that portion to the rafters by just walking off the loft when the hay stacks below get tall enough. I hadn’t thought of L brackets, gumtree – that would be nice because I could just remove the boards when I wanted it to be open. I am going to have to do that next spring when the loft is less stuffed and I can actually get to things.[/QUOTE]
The term “loft” is pretty generic when used to describe one. The set up, space configuration etc can and does vary from barn to barn.
So a fixed railing around the drop cute may get in the way of some. As I said in another post having a trap door can eliminate the possibility of someone falling through it. But one needs to remember to always close it when finished and there are times in the summer months it is kept open to let the heat rise out of the lower barn.
If the railing gets in the way of things and or needs to be removed from time to time. You can use deck/framing brackets that the “legs” slip into. The legs can be screwed in place to the brackets and easily unscrewed to remove as a unit. Or just don’t secure. These brackets come sized for 2X4, 4X4 etc.
This can be one of those projects that is usually pretty easy and inexpensive to fabricate and install as planned. A couple of hours at best. Not one of those projects that looks like it will only take a couple of hours but turns into days.
Deck/framing brackets or L shelf brackets make quick work of installing and securing the legs, top and middle rails take no time. I would use wood screws for the whole thing. Especially if it needs to be moved as a “unit” from time to time. The side that the bales will be thrown down can have removable rails using 2X4 wall brackets so they can be slipped in and out. Or just toss over the top and down.
The winter forecast for here is for above normal snow this year, in multiple smallish storms, and deep cold through the end of March. There is a double polar vortex going up north which will hold the cold here longer through the end of the season, similar to the winter of 2013-2014.
Every Summer we put 250 bales in our loft. Solid plywood floor, hay goes right on the floor (pallets would just create rat and squirrel and opossum habitats. SHUDDER.). We throw down a couple of weeks at a time, those do go on pallets over concrete (they get enough ‘action’ that no big critters move in, I’m sure there’s some mice though). We’re in the humid SE, no loss of hay due to mold in the loft ever.
We have a center aisle loft and it runs length of barn and stairs going up it from our tack room, with a regular full size door to the loft 3 steps up from tack room. We feed round bales in the pasture so I usually buy 120-150 bales for winter for stall/night feeding for our 4. I can throw flakes or bales of hay down into each stall from the loft as it’s open air on each side of the center aisle loft floor. I love this aspect. In the summer I open the loft doors on each end of barn and it really keeps things cooler…and on windy days it blows all the dust out! My barn builder put 2x4’s around the loft, one at shin level and one at waist level so the kids can’t fall through. I don’t allow small children in the loft though, as anyone under 5 or 6 could get into trouble. I can also throw a few days’ supply of hay down into the wash stall area and stack it - the wash stall is rarely used in winter, if I have a horse sitter, etc. so she doesn’t have to go up into the loft to throw hay. We have a solid pine floor up there and do not use pallets - hay gets stacked right on the floor, and have had zero issues. I love it - easy to sweep too.
There are all ways to manage horses and each one of us comes to our own ideas from our experiences.
I would avoid at all cost wooden barns and barns with lofts, but would prefer concrete stalls properly bedded, maybe matted also.
That is because in my experience, hay stored above caused more dust and, being in two barn fires, one caused by hay in the loft somehow getting a hot spot that ignited it and the reality that wood barns burn down considerably more and faster than others, I just rather avoid one more risk when we can do so.
On the other hand, having grown up with concrete floor stalls, I know horses, even those living there 24/7 all their lives, were perfectly fine in there and better than in any other kind of stall flooring.
I would say, each one of us can avoid what we don’t care for and if lucky, get in our horse care what we prefer and more important, make whatever we decide work ok for our horses and ourselves.
OP, if you have a loft, you can still not use it if you don’t like to, or go ahead with the information you have now and do the best with it you can.
Back to the kids, lofts, falling, etc topic - do look hard at the quality of the floor (look at the condition of the roof - old roof leaks might indicate weak spots on the floor, too). I was there when a grandkid of one of the barn guys fell through a weak spot on the loft floor and landed on his head on the concrete below. Probably a lot less risk with new construction than with some of the antique barns.
Very good reminder, betsy, and I saw some lofts that were pretty rickety when house shopping. This one felt solid and the barn is fairly new. I looked back through pics and it has a plywood floor.
Bluey, I’d love to have non-loft hay storage but didn’t see a single place like that when house shopping. Guessing due to history, the lack of available building sites and the value of land. When in Rome…
I don’t think I ever saw loft hay storage in Colorado. Only loft storage I’ve seen here in MN is in those GORGEOUS old dutch bank barns, where you can drive right into the second floor. THAT was a total trip the first time a hay guy told me to just back up the truck. INTO THE BARN?!?! :lol:
I’d not seen the kind of barn we have here in MN, though, before coming here. They have these beautiful rounded rooflines. Like this? I wish I could find more pictures, I think they’re just stunning. Some have been redone with a more modern angled roof, but the barns that have been rehabbed and the original roofline preserved are amazing.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
