How much storage space for hay and bedding?

[GreyCoast]

I do apologise for such a silly question, but I've only ever stabled horses on full livery so haven't a clue about this! I'm currently making plans to build a barn and am at that dreadful hand-over-the-money final stage so I'm beginning to panic about the design. I want to get this right!

How much floor space would you allocate for hay and bedding storage for two horses with minimal nightly stabling?

The two horses will only be in overnight, otherwise they'll be turned out with round bales and some grass. One horse is prone to being overweight, but I'd probably prefer to let her have hay at night when she can't move around/keep herself occupied and restrict her intake during the day. The stables will be 4m x 4m with rubber flooring (sheeting, not the thick spongy tiles) and I'll probably use shavings although I haven't ruled out straw, but I need to look a bit more closely at availability etc.

Any clarity will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Enfys]

Woooooooo How long is a piece of string?

Do you want to store enough for the whole winter?
Or just, say, half a dozen bales of shavings and 20 or so small square bales at a time?
Are you going to be storing round bales too?

A 12 x 12 space will hold supplies (small bales) for 2 -3 weeks easily I should think.

My smallest hay shed is a 20' wide x 40' long x 14' high coverall that holds about 400 small square bales of hay/straw/shavings, or 30 - 40 round bales, so that might give you an idea of some sort to work on.

 

[GreyCoast]

Fair point! Ideally it would be a month's supply of each. Round bales will be kept elsewhere. I haven't fed small squares in years, so I actually have no idea how much they'd eat per night, but I'm guessing they won't get through much more than a bale and a half each. I've thought about unwrapping my round bales, but I'm doing that now for the fat horse and it's not much fun.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

My 22 x 12 store holds enough winter hay of small bales for 2 & this goes right up into the eaves (till it gets refilled in the summer again).
There is also room to store a full pallet of shavings in there and some field tools like the strimmer etc - and still just get in & out of the doors at the start of the autumn.

This has a traditional open 'double stable door sized' doorway, tho I have had made a centre 'pole - onto which 2 bottom stable doors are closed onto (hinged on the doorway sides), I also had top doors put on too, tho one is kept open for airing all the time.