How do you store your hay?

BlackIrishBeauty

BlackIrishBeauty

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Hi,

i'm on my own yard and have no where undercover to store large amounts of hay or bedding; but I like it buy in bulk.

Can I hear how you all store your hay and bedding when you have no sheds to store it in?
 
Previously when buying too much to put inside I have made a stack on pallets against an exterior stable wall, and covered with a large tarp. It works well enough if you tie the tarp to the back of the pallets with long strings so that it can't blow off, and also tie it at the sides and front. I considered also buying one of those tarpaulin 'garages' or a gazebo.

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Before I got hay barn, we used to store hay like Abacus mentions, but used to have O hooks screwed into the external eaves of stables and would tie tarp with baler twine to them, using the tarp eyelets on long side.
Hay was on pallets and then tyres or pallets popped on the top before tarp pulled over, so tarp wasnt resting on the hay (to prevent condensation).
 
I will be getting a small barn to add onto the stables but it's not a priority this year so trying to think of ways I can store everything neatly for the winter.
 
We have an outside area floored with pallets, 'walls' made from Heras fencing and a tarpaulin 'roof'. Only flaw is it does sag in the middle so we will get round to putting a supporting middle bar across at some point.
Edited to add this fits 10 round bales and around a dozen aubiose in it.
 
I use spare stable/s and can get 100 small bales in a 12 x 12. It's surprising how much will cram in. I'd love a barn though, and to be able to buy big bales.
 
I used to get 100 small bales in a 20ft shipping container.

I've bought a trailer load of wrapped round bales and they lasted OK outside when unloaded under the trees to keep the worst of the weather of them.

No I get 3 or 4 round bales delivered at a time (enough for a month) store them on pallets and wrap well with tarps. I use old tyres to hold it all down tight.
 
If you're in a particularly exposed area it's worth finding some cheap straw to sacrifice as the outside wall.

I have found that local farmers are happy to store for me so I pay for 200 bales then take the horsebox once a fortnight to collect as needed.
 
Jambarissa said:
If you're in a particularly exposed area it's worth finding some cheap straw to sacrifice as the outside wall.

I have found that local farmers are happy to store for me so I pay for 200 bales then take the horsebox once a fortnight to collect as needed.
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This is a good idea tbf. I might speak to our local farmer.
 
At first we just had a tarp to cover it, then upgraded to two telegraph poles on the side of the stables, some timber cladding and a tin roof. Cheap and quick to put up
 
When I did it was in an indoor barn and I covered it with a tarpaulin to keep it clean from bird droppings (over run with white doves).

The tarp also prevented any drips from the barn roof if it rained. I have space for two bales, having owned two big horses at different times at the yard means a round bale only lasts 2 weeks 3 days in the winter.
 
I'm another who buys the hay in advance and leaves it with the farmer. Son collects 4/6 round bales at a time, depending how many spare stables we have to put it in. I miss having large sheds and storing everything at home but I don't miss the trauma of making it 😱
 
scruffyponies said:
In the past I used an old caravan - 32 bales max in a 14' 1973 Sprite Musketeer.
It always kept lovely and dry in there.
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So did I, but it wasn't particularly old or big, and had had it's innards out-ed to use as an office. I bought it off a caravan-selling business who had done this to it, because I'd been looking for a caravan like that. They were doing well, and wanted a bigger caravan for their office.

It was great for storing feed but it was abysmal for stuffing hay bales into, because of the way we had decided to have our fence outside the caravan. The caravan's door faced the street, but my husband (or some other victim) and I had to carry the bales through a gate, around a squashy side between fence and caravan, then another turn, then a final squashing of bale through the door of the caravan. And each bale would feel more awkward. It was a mongrel of a job.

I seem to recall that the occasional bale would not cooperate with being stuffed through the doorway, and after some screaming, I'd slash its twine and heave it in, in pieces, like some madman.
 
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