Your DIY hay storage

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We usually buy round bales for winter time. We got a late start and ended up with some not so great hay.

Anyone DIY their hay storage? We lease this place currently with plans to buy.

I’ve seen photos of metal t posts with cow panels stretched over then tarped?

There’s a small sheep barn on the property that can fit 2 tons of small squares. Not much standing room. It has an attached paddock (my new horse is currently in it!!!) we actually want to rip in down and make a bigger paddock/holding pen. *property is my in-laws.

[jawa]

At the moment, I am place my 3x3x7 square bales of hay on pallets with a 2 tarps covering it. My hopes are to get a Carolina carport for a hay storage or a similar sized pole barn. The Carolina carport has some +'s…speed of putting it up and that it’s not “permanent” in it’s location. I haven’t compared prices per sq ft for a pole barn and a Carolina carport yet.

[xeroxchick]

We bought a container, like what is on cargo ships or tractor trailers for about $900 years ago and put vents in it. It holds around 275 bales. We stuck it back behind some trees so that it is not visible and have been pleased with it. It closes up tight. I bring up several bales at a time to the stable for daily feeding. It was a lot cheaper that building so,ething and let us get a winters worth of hay at a time.

[wildlifer]

Mine is in a Carolina Carport (wind rated). Love it. It could be disassembled & moved if needed, you can also sell them if you don’t want them anymore. It was less than $1k for 12’ x 24’ & it’s had wayyyy more than $1k worth of hay under it by this point. The floor is just moisture barrier + pallets. I built my own plywood walls.

I did use a Shelter Logic shed my first 2 yrs - it was OK, but the 2nd year took lots of duct tape patching & it was dead at the end of that. I won’t spend $ on another fabric shed, it would have saved me that $400 if I had just gotten the carport from the beginning.

I hate tarps so much. SO much. They are the devil’s invention.

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Also are those Rubbermaid plastic wheel barrows that great? Like the ones you use for mucking out… it’s been 5 years since I used one.

I about had a cow today trying to feed in the wind. It’s always windy here but the wheelbarrow I’m using is probably 20 years older than I am. It’s legit as tall as my knees.

I just told the husband his next days off we are going to get more hay and an appropriate wheelbarrow.

[jawa]

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Also are those Rubbermaid plastic wheel barrows that great? Like the ones you use for mucking out… it’s been 5 years since I used one.

I about had a cow today trying to feed in the wind. It’s always windy here but the wheelbarrow I’m using is probably 20 years older than I am. It’s legit as tall as my knees.

I just told the husband his next days off we are going to get more hay and an appropriate wheelbarrow.

I have had the Rubbermaid bicycle tired wheelbarrow since 1999. The only major investment I have made in it is to change over to never flat tires. I believe that comes standard on them now? I can move 300 lbs of feed as long as the hill is not too step and there isn’t a high threshold to bump it over. I can move quite a bit of manure and never hit close to the amount of weight in feed!

I have a Lifetime wheelbarrow/wagon that I use to move hay. It stays in the wheelbarrow mode 95% of the time. I use the 3’x3’x7’ large square bales as my main hay. I can move 14 flakes of hay on the wheel barrow and strap it down so it doesn’t bounce off ( the cart comes with places to do that already in the design). If I had it in the wagon set up I could move more, but 14 is a weeks worth of hay for 2 horses. I figure the 14 flakes weigh between 210-280lbs of hay. This wheelbarrow has shorter, fatter tires than the Rubbermaid, which I think makes it a little less easy to maneuver and the wheels aren’t no flat…which means they are sometimes slightly low and air which adds to the resistance.

[AndyTheCornbread]

Those of you that hate tarps do you mean those blue things you get from home depot or wherever or actual hay tarps?

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@secuono

I have done the cattle panels & plastic. Wire cable in the trees, with plastic draped over it and the bales. Pallet sandwiches, lol, & plastic cover. Even wrapped them individually, for emergency storms coming.

I never use tarps. Tarps aren’t waterproof, they only shed water, until they don’t…They also make insane messes once they start to degrade and degrade rapidly once it does start.

I use my very low cattle feed barn for hay, 20x40x 5.5ft high. Will be buying a carport.com carport for hay this year so that I can renovate the barn for my sheep.

This is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you for posting.

[fordtraktor]

@xeroxchick

We bought a container, like what is on cargo ships or tractor trailers for about $900 years ago and put vents in it. It holds around 275 bales. We stuck it back behind some trees so that it is not visible and have been pleased with it. It closes up tight. I bring up several bales at a time to the stable for daily feeding. It was a lot cheaper that building so,ething and let us get a winters worth of hay at a time.

What size is your container? I have been contemplating getting one or two for hay storage. I need to store about 400 bales outside my existing storage. I figured I could just stick them in an unobtrusive location and paint them with a sprayer to match the barn.

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@Bluey

We don’t use wheelbarrows to clean, too hard on your back.
We use much buckets on muck bucket carts.
There are all kinds out there of those carts.
Get the ones with solid rubber tires, or take pneumatic ones off and put the solid ones.
You can buy them in hardware stores, Lowes has all sizes.
The ones with the extra foot you have to set down to have it stand is the worst.

We have all kinds, for us best and first one is still going strong almost 20 years now is these ones.
You can pull them anywhere even if one handed and no stress on your back.
One has a manure bucket, the other a feed bucket holding hay flakes:

I’m looking for one to put hay in! Luckily I don’t have to do much mucking since everyone lives in a pasture.

I was looking at those smaller Rubbermaid plastic carts for hay. Still have my new guy sectioned off from the other horses.

I do need to get a muck bucket/cart if I ever start showing again (ha) I rode for the first time in 8 months. Took 30 minutes to convince myself to get on the new horse, almost ate dirt.

Honestly any cheap wheelbarrow would be better than the crud I’m using now. I’d rather buy once vs replacing.

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@Bluey I guess that would work looking at it again, it gets crazy windy here and hay was blowing out of my wheelbarrow (keep in mind it’s kid sized, Im sore just thinking about feeding horses)

I’ll just have to browse the local WRS and TSC!

[Bluey]

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@Bluey I guess that would work looking at it again, it gets crazy windy here and hay was blowing out of my wheelbarrow (keep in mind it’s kid sized, Im sore just thinking about feeding horses)

I’ll just have to browse the local WRS and TSC!

You could use a muck bucket in the muck bucket dolly for hay, maybe?

We have several wheelbarrows, but they hardly ever get any use.
Ever looked at those smaller pull type farm wagons with four wheels they use in garden shops:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Muscle-Rack-5-cu-ft-24-in-W-Mesh-Wire-Utility-Cart-with-Removable-Sides-800-lb-Capacity-CW4824/202756891?mtc=Shopping-B-F_D59-G-D59-Multi-Multi-NA-NA-SMART-NA-NA-All_Storage_Smart&cm_mmc=Shopping-B-F_D59-G-D59-Multi-Multi-NA-NA-SMART-NA-NA-All_Storage_Smart-71700000048022677-58700004795392482-92700050851372547&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqcaForP45wIViIbACh1N5QCVEAQYASABEgJAjPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

You can pull them by hand or with a mower, very handy to carry a few hay bales around.

[wildlifer]

My vet uses a shipping container for hay, he really likes it. I see them all the time on craigslist – I thought about it, but all the ones I see are $1300-1500, which was significantly more than my carport ($800 IIRC). And the carport price included a crew of people bringing it & installing it for me, which is a nearly non-existent luxury in my life.

But my carport doesn’t hold as much hay as a container, so if you need the space, the costs may work out.

As for my tarp hatred, that is for ALL tarps. I hate trying to fold them, I hate trying to store them, I hate fighting with them (which just gets worse the larger they get), I hate that they are noisy, I hate their adoration for blowing in the wind, I hate that there is always some edge the water will somehow find. I still use them on a couple things, but I curse their existence every single time & would rather jam forks in my eyes. Yes, I have a grudge against tarps.

I also do have one of the two-wheeled yellow heavy duty wheelbarrows. I almost never use it because I don’t have stalls, but it is very stable & well-balanced. It’s fairly large capacity & when I do need it, it’s easy to use. I would like to have one of those wheeled cart/wagon things tho, I just don’t have money. Sigh, I give it all to my vet.

[Leather]

@secuono what kind of plastic do you use?

[Seagram]

I used to have a Shelter Logic car port, could easily store 8 big round bales in it. Loved it the first year, but now (at 4 years old) it has completely collapsed under the snow load. We started getting tears in the roof, the wind eventually ripped it to peices, we tried to duck tape it, and finally last attempt was to sew feed bags all across in a desperate attempt to get one more winter out of it! Will never buy one of those again! They are supposed to hold up to our snowy cold winters, I’m just glad there wasn’t a car in there!! I have used pallets to store hay on so it’s not wicking moisture up from the ground, covered with heavy duty tarps, worked fairly well the first couple years, but the tarps are now pretty much dead. I’m also looking for better, longer term solutions!! I don’t mind investing a bit of $$$, but don’t want to build permanent structures either.

[jawa]

For those that are interested in using a shipping container, I believe the 40’ containers will hold around 300 50lb bales. That is stacked TIGHT.

The only requirement for the container is that you have a smooth, kind of level area to off load it and that the truck bringing it has enough room to maneuver, and that the ground is solid so the truck doesn’t get stuck.

I know of a person who bought two 40’ containers. He spaced them apart by 20’ and then used trusses to make a roof over the containers to cover the open space. He used that area as equipment storage and used the containers to store tools and small engine equipment. He cut doors in the side of the container to be able to access things from the covered area and to not have to walk 40’ to the back to get the one thing he needed.

[Texarkana]

I learned the hard way that hay is waaaaay to precious to rely on DIY storage. I was in the same pickle at a leased farm. I tried all sorts of DIY methods and temporary fabric structures and had them all fail me. What ended up working best was finding a way to somehow shove it into an existing shed on the property.

Portable hard sheds, Carolina Carports, shipping containers-- all better options than relying on tarps. Also, if you buy a large enough load, many of the larger hay suppliers will deliver bales and leave the tractor trailer behind for a reasonable fee. You can find these supplier by searching for ones who will leave a “drop trailer.”

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@Texarkana

I learned the hard way that hay is waaaaay to precious to rely on DIY storage. I was in the same pickle at a leased farm. I tried all sorts of DIY methods and temporary fabric structures and had them all fail me. What ended up working best was finding a way to somehow shove it into an existing shed on the property.

Portable hard sheds, Carolina Carports, shipping containers-- all better options than relying on tarps. Also, if you buy a large enough load, many of the larger hay suppliers will deliver bales and leave the tractor trailer behind for a reasonable fee. You can find these supplier by searching for ones who will leave a “drop trailer.”

Might just have to look into a shipping container! We’ve been buying one round bale at a time, placing it on the flatbed and pushing it off when we get home.

We really need to look into buying a bale bed and probably a loader at some point.

[buck22]

I’ll probably kick myself for writing this, but I love my shelter logic, its 10 years old and in great shape despite a tree falling on it. I put a heavy duty tarp over it the first year, and have been replacing it every other year. The original covering is still in great shape.

I keep some rounds outside and I found that old, but serviceable horse blankets to be the best cover. They shed rain, but breathe on sunny days. They do a remarkably good job of keeping my rounds clean, fresh and dry. And it looks cute, like a little stationary herd. ; ) Though sometimes I drive past the barn and catch a glimpse of a blanketed round and for a second think I have an escapee.

[xeroxchick]

@fordtraktor

What size is your container? I have been contemplating getting one or two for hay storage. I need to store about 400 bales outside my existing storage. I figured I could just stick them in an unobtrusive location and paint them with a sprayer to match the barn.

That is what we did, kind of hide it and paint it to match barn. Ours is full sized and won’t hold 400 bales, I think it will hold 300 but I’m scared of loading it too full even though we added vents. I put 250 in it and stack the rest, about 50, on pallets under the back overhang of our barn. It is a space where two more stalls would fit but we use it for every day hay on one side and wash rack and shavings storage on other side. Having bulk hay storage has been a lot more convenient in that we can get a whole winters worth. Now I just need to find a better hay source but that is another thread I suppose.