I have a two horse straight load LQ trailer with midtack. There is a door between the midtack and horse areas, but no escape doors. I have placed two bales of hay in the front of horse compartment in the ground underneath the mangers. However, I don’t like doing this because it blocks the door to the midtack. When going to a show there is not room really in the midtack. I am hesitant about a hay rack on top of the trailer because that seems like a RPITA. Any ideas? Has anyone used hay bags and put it in the bed of their truck?
I don’t know if this is a joke or not but… yes. I regularly put hay in the box of truck. That’s why trucks have boxes - so you can fill them full of stuff you don’t want inside.
I reguarly put a bale or 2, a bag of shavings, buckets and wheelbarrow in box of truck and use a gooseneck and still have room. The only reason I use a hay bag is border crossing requires one. Contractor size garbage bags work really well too as a more economical option.
In my opinion, hay racks on trailers seem like a brilliant idea but in theory are one of the stupidest things ever designed. Without a bale elevator, I can’t imagine how a person would go about getting hay up there.
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Yes, I tend to put the extra hay in the back of the truck. It rides there just fine.
If the weather is going to be nice I just toss the bales (and extra filled hay bag) in, no covering.
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More specifically, where in the bed of the truck? Up close to the cab, or under the gooseneck? I have had problems with the air movement creating a suction that lifts up and rocks the hay bales, which is worse if they are covered. I’m afraid they will be sucked out of the truck! (I did have a gas can get sucked out once.)
I do have some brackets in the trailer in the front of the horse compartment (under their heads) to tie bales to, but can only fit two bales. That’s barely enough for one horse for a weekend show, and totally inadequate for bringing two horses to a longer show like Regionals.
My other problem is this is the south. It rains! And I don’t want wet hay at a show.
Hay bales in contractor-grade plastic bags, duct taped shut. Once you unload at the show or event and clean out the manure, move the hay to the horse portion of your trailer. Done.
I have a GN and a flatbed and routinely haul 60 lb squares on the bed, up against the headache rack. Nothing moves.
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We usually put hay in the bed of the truck, naked. Hay bags are just way too much hassle. I’ve never had any issue. You can always put tarp over it and secure the tarp if rain is an issue. However, the occasional rain is not going to hurt it unless your hay is baled way too loose.
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It can rain several inches in an hour here (I just got 3.5 inches on Sunday, and it didn’t even rain very long). And except for the two shows 20 minutes from home, the next closest shows are 5 hours away. Hay can get plenty wet in that time!
Sorry, not a joke. Legitimate question. I have put hay in my bed twice; the first time got to the show and they were soaking wet from rain. The second time the weather was going to be nice so I tried again and the entire hay bale blew away bit by bit and was completely gone by the time we got to the show 2.5 hours later. Hence, my question. Maybe our bales are not as tightly packed as some others. I bought a hay bag but it doesn’t seem waterproof. I think I will try tightly taped construction garbage bags and see how that works. Thanks for suggestions…
:eek:
That has to be more than just a loose bale.
I have never had anything even close to that happen and I toss a stuffed hay net in the bed of the truck (so loose hay in a net).
Is bale bag you bought advertised as water proof? Some modern fabrics are water proof even though they look like they are not.
Adding a well secured tarp over your hay will help keep falling rain off, but it will not prevent the bales from sitting in water that ends up in the bed of the truck.
It sounds like you have had a bunch of hay transporting issues so it is probably worth investing in some of the nice large zipper water proof bale bags. They even come with wheels.
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Huh??? Were your hay just loose, without the string to tie them together? We have never had this happened to us before, and we travel to Colorado each year, through some high wind areas, 10+ hours each way, all with naked hay in the truck bed. They arrived looking the same as when we started.
At to the rain, our truck bed has ridges so hay sit on top of the ridges and excess water flowing out of the bed from behind. There is no such thing as hay “sitting in the water.” Unless it is alfalfa hay, I wouldn’t worry about the little dampness on the surface at the bottom. What you don’t want is for the hay to soak through. Sometimes we transport quite a few bales of hay, and to put them all in hay bags are just… way too much work.
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Ditto on the contractor bags.
You also could get a big rubbermaid container and then strap it down on the back of the pickup, if you are worried it may shift or blow out.
I don’t like to put anything on the back of the pickup with my gooseneck horsetrailer, unless I have it strapped down. We even had a very large wood block blow out one time and ran it over with the trailer at 65 mph. Not fun…
This is why I love my 3H GN slant. First stall has a stud wall with an escape door. I can cram multiple bags of shavings and hay bales in there. I think I did 4-5 bales of hay and 5-6 bags shavings for a show once.
Also to add, I need a 3 horse trailer like I need a hole in my head, but it comes in handy having too much room instead of not enough.
We have always put our hay in the bed. When going for a weekend trip in the middle of winter in the PNW, we will tarp the hay and use tie downs over it to keep it dry and secure. I also don’t worry about hay getting wet if I am going to feed it within a day. I just break open the bale when I get to where I am going and usually the inside is still dry.
How about something like this? It is weather resistant. Maybe you could tarp it if it is due to rain or use tent waterproofing.
https://www.harborfreight.com/54-1-2-half-inch-long-expandable-nylon-cargo-carrier-cover-95165.html
If you put opened bales in your truck then yes, they will blow away. The trick is to put bales in that are still securely tied with 2 strings or wires. You can always use heavy duty/extra large trash bags to put the bales in for transport if rain is expected.
Your bales must be loosely tied and very loosely baled. Very poor baling practices.
