I’ve been leaving my wheelbarrow and pitchforks in an empty stall, but I have another horse coming to my barn and will be putting them in there, so now I’m trying to figure out a place to store the wheelbarrow and pitchforks - I don’t have any more room in my feed room or tack room. I was wondering if I could leave them outside next to the manure pile. Will it be okay exposed to sun and rain?
I would leave them in the barn isle. Just move them if you need to. Nothing does well long term exposed to the weather.
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Sure … depending on what they’re made of.
A plastic head fork with a painted metal handle will be fine. An aluminum- or painted steel-framed wheel barrow with plastic tray/bed will also be fine.
Anything wood is going to meet its maker quicker than you’d like whether it’s painted or not.
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My pitchfork is on the wall on a hanger just inside the feed room door, my plastic Rubbermaid wheelbarrows live outside 365 with no issue. My barn is small and the feed room is at the end of the barn where the wheelbarrows sit outside so they are located near each other.
Tip the wheelbarrow up so it’s resting on its nose, if it will stay there (easy for dual wheel, harder for single), and put a decent tarp over it.
Is there ANY room in the feed room to put up a hanger for the pitchfork to hang? Back of door? Side of cabinet? If truly no room, then the same - cover with a tarp if the handle is wooden.
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If you have wall space you could use a wheelbarrow wall mount device. I’ve been using them for over 15 years and think they’re great. There’s no lifting required, you just tip the wheelbarrow on it’s nose and into the latch. Gets the wheelbarrow out of the way and saves space
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Thanks for all the responses! I was thinking of keeping a couple of wooden handle/plastic tine pitchforks and a metal shovel against the backside of my barn on either side of the crossties. There was one barn I used to go to that would do that, I can’t remember how their stuff held up, but I never remember them having a problem. Could this be practical?
we store our wheelbarrows outside leaning against the barn. They are fine. I mean yes, eventually they rust but not so fast it makes us want to change what we do. The pitchforks could be mounted on the barn wall and hung.
I have a small (36X36) pole barn with a 12’ aisle.
Stalls - 12X12 - are on one side of the aisle.
Hay is stored on pallets in a space = to 2 stalls on the other. A couple pallets sit empty in the same space.
My “feed room” is the the end of the space, plywood tabletop on sawhorses, galvanized bins beneath.
Tack is stored on racks on the wall behind the empty pallets.
I store tools: pitchfork, metal rake, spade, brooms, business side up for the sharp stuff, in a space between two of the vertical beams by the front sliding door. They rest on a horizontal 2X4.
My wheelbarrow sits in the aisle & is never in my way when I have a horse in the aisle.
When shoer or vet are there, I put the wheelbarrow up on an empty pallet.
If you want to keep your wheelbarrow & fork outdoors, is there room beneath the extended roof?
I’d want them sheltered from weather.
Especially if you get snow.
I Have a nice 4’ wall space in the aisle next to the feed room door, i currently have a bench there, but I am going to get rid of it and hang the pitchforks and brooms there instead - there are other places to sit in the barn, so it won’t really be missed. The wheelbarrow is the only thing I’m probably going to have to leave outside parked in the one of the compost bins. I think it’ll be okay there? I don’t really have any room in the barn aisles to keep it, I already have trunks in front of the horses stalls and saddle racks and bridles racks closer to the tack room and feed room.
Also, I noticed that when pushing the wheelbarrow onto the concrete that it was impossible. I guess the concrete is too thick/high and I have the pick up the backside and lift it onto the concrete which is’t terrible, but it is heavy and kind of difficult and takes some effort. Is there something I could do to make pushing it on easier?
I was also thinking about using a muck bucket with a muck bucket cart and just using that instead maybe? Is that stupid? I already have one by the cross ties and could still return my rubbermaid one to home depot. I’m thinking it would just be easier to lift the muck buckets into the compost bins and I can easily move from one stall to the next with the cart. I kind of like how much smaller it is to maneuver around the barn, like I said I only have 4 horses at most and my manure pile is only 50 ft from the barn (I know I should’ve put it farther away from the barn because of flies), so I don’t mind making several trips since it’ll fill up faster, but am I underestimating how quickly these will fill up?
Pull it on 
I have to do that with my 2-wheel barrow to get it into the barn when there’s weight in it for the same reason - concrete just a little high
Can you get some scrap lumber and make a little ramp to get the wheelbarrow over the bump?
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i’ve always pulled rather than pushed my wheelbarrows whether they are one or two wheels. Now i only have two wheel ones. And solid rubber (instead of air filled) tires too.
As for pitchforks and futureforks… You could just hang them and get them up out of the way until you need them… All it takes are two long nails for each tool.
