hay storage ideas?

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Abacus

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I have made hay this year and have about 80 bales to store. At the moment 30 of them are in a spare stable but I'll be using that stable in about a month, so need to get the bales out. I don't have any other buildings with space so the options I have at the moment are:

- store them outside on pallets, covered with tarpaulins - not ideal
- buy a cheap old trailer (horse type) - say a few hundred ££ which I can sell again or keep for next year. Won't be used for transporting horses or even moving much, but does need to be sufficiently roadworthy to move to the yard
- get a proper hay barn put up (most expensive)

Does anyone else have any innovative ideas?
 
Unless you really have no other option, don't go for the tarps. It is hell getting hay out and tying them back down adequately especially if its windy (and dark and raining and you're on your own) and they're never as waterproof as you think they should be.

A lot depends on where you're going to keep the hay and planning permission. Shipping containers used to be a good solution but they need planning now as well.

Would it be possible to build a lean-to type hay store on the side of the stable?
 
I have searched for trailers and can't find any under £600, which is a bit much for this purpose. Anything less is probably a wreck anyway.

I do have another hay barn which has half my hay in, as well as hay for the other girl at the yard, so I can use this as the day-to-day store that I actually take hay from - leaving the rest firmly covered, and move it in, in batches. So the tarp idea may not be so awful.

But the lean-to is also a good thought - I will investigate. This is where I wish I was married to someone who enjoyed the idea of a bit of weekend DIY...
 
Thanks for the ideas. Shipping containers are expensive! Around £750 plus delivery. In fact I already have one, but it's a tack room / ride on mower store, and not enough space for hay. And actually I would worry about it - it gets BOILING in hot weather, and isn't at all ventilated.

But the budget garden shed is a good idea. We are only talking about 80 mid-quality bales, so it's not worth spending ££££, but a little extra storage will be useful long term.
 
Fix tarps to back of/side of stable, by putting in hooks/eyes by guttering/edge of roof sheets and tying on tarp with baler twine in the eyelets.
Then stack hay on pallets under. I managed to get over 100 straw down the back of my block of 3 doing this one winter when I needed the final stable :)
If you tip pallets on their side at the edge, then this provides a good run off for water once the tarp is over it.
Weigh down tarp with old tyres etc. Just make sure opening is NOT into most windy part - otherwise it will billow and possibly take off if not tied down at all times!
:)
 
If you go with the trailer idea, bear in mind, we managed to get a max of 48 bales in an ifor 506 this weekend so wouldn't be big enough for 80!!
Watching with interest as we are in similar situation but being in the South Downs National Park have to be careful with planners/council, we are thinking about a cheapish shelter on skids.
 
Have been looking at sheds / barns and you can get a decent sized prefab barn for not too much. Probably about the size of a shelter. At the moment I am tempted by the tarp option - thanks Fuzzy Furry for the detailed description, I might try something just like this. It's temporary and cheap, although ugly.

Interesting to know how many bales fit in a trailer! Not quite as many as I thought.
 
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