Those with just run-ins, do you have a seperate hay storage shed?

[spacytracy]

If so, how big?

We are thinking of moving. In my next setup, I’d like a shed row type building, with a tack/feed room on one end, a single stall in the middle (in case we need to isolate) and then a run in next to that. My current horses like being outside.

The only problem is hay and where to store. Do you have a hay shed? If so, what size is it? I like to keep about a ton at a time, which fits in a 10x10 area currently, but it is easy to stack because its an open area in a huge 30x30 barn.

Can someone show me examples of what they use? Maybe adding a third “stall” with a roll up door?

[Eleanor]

I have two 10x10 run ins with a 6x10 tack/feed room on the end. but run ins are open 24/7 but I can close off one if need be. I have a 12x20 tarp shed for my square bales. I can get about 200 square bales in there.

this is it. I paid $350 for it on sale.
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/garage-in-a-box-replacement-cover-kit-0371637p.html#srp

[Kodidog763]

I have a separate building, similar to this (http://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/-round-top-shelter-12-x-20-x-8-1-2-/0000000003261). I think we can get between 400 - 500 small square bales in it. We have had it for three years. The canvas is starting to get brittle, but overall I’ve been happy with it.

[SonnysMom]

I was at one barn many years ago (like 30) that had a huge run in shed, maybe 30 or 36 feet wide. They had a number of horses in that field.

The shed was extra deep. The back of the part he horses could get to had hay managers. Behind that was an aisle that was about 4 or 5 feet wide and then the hay was stored the length of the run-in behind that. They would cut the bales and flip them over a half wall into the managers. The hay was on pallets and right there. Very convenient.

[mvp]

I worked on a well-designed farm that taught me to build one big structure with all you’d need in it:

In this farm’s case, total area was 36’ x 60’. The whole thing was incorporated into the fenceline for a field and you could back right up to the hay storage section and deliver it there.

So imagine this in 12 x 12 squares. First “stall” was hay storage. It had smaller doors that let you load hay into the “driveway side” and take it out from the “pasture” side. Next 24’ were two stalls. Last section–2+ stalls-- were a big run-in shed. The barn was wide enough that the stalls had a shed-row effect and the run-in section was quite large. It did have one support pole in the middle of it. No horse had a problem with it, but I think some chewing on it was done…

This was a great set up for so many reasons. On the hay-handling front, and the point of my post, there was a minimum of hay moving. It was delivered directly to the part of the farm it would be fed; the feeder needed only to go to that complete run-in/hay storage combo and feed flakes from there.

If I have the choice, I will always build run-ins this way—each with its own kitchenette, as it were. This feature she had cut down immensely on the labor involved with horse keeping in her pasture.

[Texarkana]

We have a two stall shed row with no tack room. I leave the stalls open so the horses can go in and out as the please. Yes, we have a separate storage shed. It’s a wooden garden shed. I believe it’s 16’x20’, which is a great size and could store a winter’s worth of hay if the shed didn’t also have to double as our garage and feed/tack room. A lot of junk has to fit in there, which reduces my hay storage space!

In my climate, you just can’t store hay in a tarp structure or anywhere it can be exposed to the slightest bit of moisture or condensation. The winters are too mild and the slightest amount of exposure to moisture leaves you with moldy bales.

You mention wanting to add a third stall to your shed row for hay storage, which I think is a great idea if there are no limitations stopping you. I don’t think anyone has ever complained about too much space in their barn.

[atr]

I have a metal “barn” which comprises a stall on the left end with a front on it with a door that is always open, but could be closed if need be, an open-fronted run in shed, and another “stall” with a mesh front on it with a door in it and a pallet base which is my hay shed. it is 36ft wide in total.

It is set back about 20 ft from my main pasture fence, back towards the prevailing weather, open side towards the house, driveway and fence, which has a large gate directly in front of the hay shed area, so we can open it easily and back a trailer in there up to the front of the hay shed.

There are fences and gates between the run in portion and the closable stall portion and, to all intents and purposes, at each end of the whole unit, so each “stall area” has it’s own run out if necessary, and we can shut the horses safely out of the way when we are bringing in hay.

It works very well. Just wish we hadn’t had to situate it at the bottom of a hill as the spring snow melt is a pain.

My tack and feed “room” is in the garage, which is about 60 ft from the barn, where I also have rubber mats and cross ties.

[spacytracy]

Thank you all so much! We are in the very preliminary stages of looking for a new home, and because our criteria is specific I think we are going to be waiting awhile, which is fine, because I can really figure out what I would want ideally in a barn.

[ChocoMare]

My dad built me one: Hay Barn 2016

It can hold 400, 40-50 pound squares. I have a double layer of pallets on the ground for now. Hope to be able to concrete the floor next year when I build the main barn about 10 feet to the left of it.

[gumtree]

Most big farms that have a need for run-ins include loft storage when being built. Adding a few extra feet to the height of the structure doesn’t add much to the building cost. A lot less than the cost of a separate building.

[ChocoMare]

[QUOTE=gumtree;8899919]
Most big farms that have a need for run-ins include loft storage when being built. Adding a few extra feet to the height of the structure doesn’t add much to the building cost. A lot less than the cost of a separate building.[/QUOTE]

Make sense however… I am totally alone. If I get injured, I cannot get to hay in a loft, nevermind transport it to the horses. Dad and I planned this hay shed to be super user friendly, no matter who throws hay.

[arlosmine]

I’m thinking of having a large carport installed next to the barn for hay storage. Seems to be the best buy for a permanent structure which does not need to permitted.

[Bluey]

Many old cattle sheds were a space in the middle to stack hay in the summers, long rows of hay racks on both sides for the cattle to be fed into.

As long as you could get to that type set-up, you could just feed off the stack right there with minimum effort.

You didn’t have to carry the hay anywhere, just put it in the feeders right there by the stack.

A neighbor has a row of stalls under an overhang along his indoor.
He uses something similar, he feeds hay out of big square bales, that are lined on one side of the aisle, the stalls across them, so he can feed their hay just by crossing the aisle with it, right thru the feed doors into each stall.

Anyone can be a designated feeder, they don’t have to carry hay far, start any machinery or even go into a horse’s space to feed.