Your DIY hay storage

[secuono]

@Leather

@secuono what kind of plastic do you use?

Thickest plastic I could find at Lowes.

[secuono]

@AndyTheCornbread

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

My TSC has different ones. Cheap, medium duty, heavy duty and then hay tarps in the next aisle. Only difference is how thick the woven plastic mesh is, if there’s a cheap string hidden in the edges and grommets. They also have canvas tarps & shade tarps.

I’ve also bought recycled billboard tarps. They are not meant to flap! And become incredibly hard and crunchy in cold weather…So, that could be used if strapped down well & you don’t need to get into it easily during freezing weather.

[AndyTheCornbread]

I asked about the tarps because I am moving later this year and I won’t have time to build a barn in addition to the house so I am probably going to need to tarp on pallets. I usually put up around 600 small square bales(55 - 65lbs) to last me through the year.

[CLB15]

@xeroxchick

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.

@xeroxchick what kind of vents did you put in and any other modifications you did (or in retrospect wish) for your hay container?
I’m looking to get a 20’ container (small place, few horses, less hay needed at a time) but on the fence about best venting- drier vents, shutters, louvers, …

[xeroxchick]

We got a local welder to put vents in our container. We had eight, around a foot square, put in near the top sides and on the doors. I struggle with the doors sometimes so they need to be kept greased. It takes a certified welder. Our container is 53’ X 8’

[mestle]

I have a rubbermaid garden cart that I have had about 20 years and have only replaced the tires. It now has never flats so they should last a good long time. Mine has the smaller fat wheels, not the bicycle type. I also have one of these:

https://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/polar-sport-utility-cart-8376?a=1878690&pm2d=CSE-SPG-15-PLA&utm_medium=PLA&utm_source=Google&utm_campaign=CI&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1vPcrveD6AIVTb7ACh0FUQFtEAQYASABEgIBffD_BwE

I have had about 5 years and it is still good as new. I feed 3x3x7 bales and feed 2x per day for 7 horses. Also use them for manure. They are good sturdy carts.

For storage, I now have a pole building but for 5 years had pallets on a cement feed floor with the hay covered in the heavy (expensive–but worth it) hay tarps. It was okay but I felt like I had died and gone to heaven the first winter I had hay in a barn. I am getting to old to climb around on icy tarps to get to my hay and I get all of my for the year at once so its a big stack.

[xeroxchick]

Ours is a full sized one.