Straw bales as field shelter?

[Olliepoppy]

Hi, I am thinking of building a brick wall style L shaped straw bale wall in the corner of my boys field to provide him with a bit of shelter against the elements. Has anyone done this? I am a bit concerned that he might try to eat it all.. As always thanks in advance

 

[NeilM]

I'm sure there are a few things to be considered, not least whether you are allowed to put a shelter in the field, we are in an area where no man made shelters of any kind are allowed, but that aside, plus the eating thing, it sounds like a really good idea.

You would need to 'pin' the bales / courses together, but I have seen this done on eco houses with U shaped wooden pegs, made of a withy, something like thatchers do when making a roof.

If you put a series of pegs through, every other course, then in theory, every course would be secured to the one below.

There would be a limit to the height you could go up before it all became a bit unstable, but I would have thought you could get it above horses head height OK.

 

[Carlosmum]

I did this years ago. Made a lovely shelter but pony decided to snack.

 

[Princess Rosie]

I know someone with donkeys that did this as a temporary wind break and used steel rods punches right through the top down into the ground to pin them to the ground (obviously your rods need to be long), the donkeys munched a little bit until it rained and then they weren't so bothered about munching on damp straw.

 

[Red-1]

I know of someone who did double height bales for shelter, but did not pin right through. Pony snacked on lower bale and upper bale dropped on pony causing back injury and PTS.

 

[_GG_]

I know of someone who did double height bales for shelter, but did not pin right through. Pony snacked on lower bale and upper bale dropped on pony causing back injury and PTS.

I did this with old rye straw. Big bales, 4 of them stacked two high in an L shape. They were placed within a basic wooden frame consisting of heavy duty poles that went 5ft into the ground and reached to just below the top of the top bale. This was to prevent any falling. When using big bales, the chances of falling are much lower than with small bales, but if they did for any reason, it could be catastrophic for a horse, so the frame was put up. It was an excellent wind and weather break and they didn't eat it...they just didn't bother using it very much!

I should add, this was done as an addition to the very good natural shelter in the field. If they hadn't had places where they could get underneath cover, I would have just built a shelter with a roof.

 

[Olliepoppy]

Thanks all for the info, lots to think about there.. and so springs my new thread, winter management plan.. so many questions, I'll be glad when I've got through my first year of horse owning so I can actually feel like I know what I'm doing..!

 

[SuperH]

I've done this but covered the bales with silage sheet/tarp to prevent snacking. Also preserves the bales so you can still use them afterwards.