Hay Storage

[warthog]

Can anyone give me some advice on storage of hay.

At the moment I am going through quite a lot of hay, been lots of rain, bush muddy, goats don't want to go out in it (can't say as I blame them).

At the moment I can only store 2/3 bales at a time I keep it in my utility room. Fortunately supply has not been a problem, but I don't want to get in a situation where I can't get any.

My concern is this, humdity here is currently running 70 - 80%, at it's best in dry season we are looking at 40 - 50%.

Even when I put hay into the goats hay buckets, it picks up moisture from the humidity.

If I build a shelter outside I am concerned that the hay will draw moisutre from the humidity and go off.

Anyone had a similar problem and solved it????

Any thoughts or advice would be welcome.

 

[patandchickens]

There really isn't a lot you can do about your climate and weather.

The best you can do is store as much hay as possible indoors with PLENTY AIR CIRCULATION AROUND IT (including below and over it), up on one or ideally two layers of pallets, in a room or part of the barn that has good airflow.

If you have to store some outdoors, use that up first.

Once it is in a feeder or hay rack, it is not a big deal if it gets rained on or "humid-ed on", as long as you're only putting out as much as they will consume in a day or two.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[warthog]

patandchickens, thanks for your reply.

I think for the moment I will have to carry on storing it indoors, couldn't build anything outside at the moment, too wet.

Think what I might try is storing a bale in DH's workshop (oooh he will be pleased) and see how that goes. At least it will give me an idea of what I am up against. If it goes off at least I can use it as mulch on the garden.

BTW I love your word humid-ed, I think the English language is great, I am always looking for words to play with, I shall add that one to my dictionary.

 

[ksalvagno]

Also store the hay cut side up. Gets better air flow stored that way too. You can usually tell which side is the cut side if you look at the long sides of the bale.

 

[patandchickens]

Also store the hay cut side up. Gets better air flow stored that way too. You can usually tell which side is the cut side if you look at the long sides of the bale.

This is true as long as you are storing the hay atop something air-permeable (like a pallet, with sufficient spaces between the boards) and are SURE that nothing will drip onto the top of the hay in any way.

Granted that's the best way TO store hay, but since in real life not everyone can/does, I would point out that if the hay will be sitting on a solid surface or might get dripped on, you're better off in the other orientation, with a long-strand face of the bale down. (Does not wick moisture into the center of the bale nearly as readily, thus can limit losses)

Pat

 

[goat lady]

I purchased a rubbermaid storage shed off craigslist and we can put 3 bales standing up and then one across the top of them cut up so the lid goes down. We have three separate goat pens and keep it near two of the goat pens so all we have to do is lift hay to someone. We live in Florida and get lots of rain and it stays dry. I have 12 goats and three new babies the pass week, so we go threw about 3 bales a week. I don't have grass on my property so they don't have any grazing. They only have a few trees they can get to and the hay. We are going to work on making a feed/hay storage shed for all our animals this winter when we have time. It might be a work in progress for a while.

 

[Jupiter]

I purchased a rubbermaid storage shed off craigslist and we can put 3 bales standing up and then one across the top of them cut up so the lid goes down. We have three separate goat pens and keep it near two of the goat pens so all we have to do is lift hay to someone. We live in Florida and get lots of rain and it stays dry. I have 12 goats and three new babies the pass week, so we go threw about 3 bales a week. I don't have grass on my property so they don't have any grazing. They only have a few trees they can get to and the hay. We are going to work on making a feed/hay storage shed for all our animals this winter when we have time. It might be a work in progress for a while.

We do/did the exact same thing! We got ours off cl for 25$ because it looked thrashed, but just needed a good cleaning. I can get 4 bales in there without trouble and it lasts me a little while Wish I could have a place that stored more, but this works great for just a few!

I live in Washington state, and we get lots of rain, but I have my doubts that the rubbermaid shed gets enough air flow to help humidity.

 

[warthog]

Thanks for all your advice, I don't think the Rubbermaid shed would work out here, humidity being what it is.

Ksvalvagno & Patand chickens, thank you for the information on which way the bales should be stored, that was something I had no idea about, I usually just throw them in the utility room anyway, so I will remember this and try both way to see which works best in my situation.

Thank you all very much