Outdoor hay storage ideas?

[redneckdan]

Jen and I have a small herd of geese and rabbits, planning to put up some hay for the winter. About a quarter acres worth. Loose not bailed. Any ideas for outdoor storage? No barn yet.


Dan

[crappie-hunter]

After the farmer makes the hay on my 11 acres ,there is always some loose left on the ground, and I gather it up and put it in plastic storage containers, like they sell at walmart. Stomp it in with both feet and you will be surprised at how much goes in one. I store mine indoors but those containers have water proof lids, I see no reason the could not be stored outside. The rabbits enjoy it.

[w5pv]

We use to put a post in the ground and stack the hay around it until we got to the top cover it with a tarp all we ever had was a few sheets of tinbut it sufficed.

[Artful]

Tarp it +1

[Goatwhiskers]

The principle behind a haystack is that the outer layer, surprisingly thin, sheds the moisture and protects the mass underneath. Never learned if any effort is made to align the last layer, but would bet not. You do lose the outermost layer to weather damage. Many people store those big hay rolls outdoors with no protection, tho you see some wrapped in plastic to prevent the waste. By the way 1/4 acre ain't gonna make much hay. GW

[s mac]

you would be surprised how well hay will keep in an old fashioned haystack out side. I have done this several times, one big stack is better than two smaller ones, pile it up try to orient the stems on the sides and especially the top so the rain drips off the side, packing well as you stack. I suppose you could tarp it, but as I said it keeps well on its own.

[blackthorn]

Before hay balers, hay was either put-up into "loft" spaces in barns or loose stacked outside. My Dad built haystacks 30 feet long, 16 feet wide and 12 feet high. We had a hay wagon (rack) 8'x10'x5' deep. One side of the rack was hinged so it could be dropped. There was a sling made from rope that laid on the floor of the rack with a big steel ring in the middle of the side that did not drop. when we had built a good load, we drove the horses so the rack was positioned where we wanted the outside edge of the stack to be. A rope was run over the top of the load and hooked onto the ring on the far side. The horses were unhooked and re-hooked to the loose end of the rope. The side was dropped and the horses pulled the whole load over onto the ground. the next load was pulled from the oposite side, giving us a double wide load as the base of our stack. the next loads were pulled up onto the first loads using the drop side as a "ramp". Once we had the basic stack finished (2 loads high by 2 loads wide by 2 {or more} loads long, the final loads were used to build the domed top of the stack using pitch forks by hand. These stacks were good for at least 2 years (longest time I recall one being kept before use). Those stacks sat out in the rain and snow without damage.

[runfiverun]

you are only gonna have about 300 pounds of grass to worry about.
just pile it up and throw a tarp on top of it with a couple of old tires on the corners.

[opos]

Spent a lot of time "on the stack" putting up hay in the 50's...I still itch. A stack works great but it's going to be a pretty small stack off 1/4 acre....

[Blacksmith]

Be sure you dry it down to a low enough moisture content.

[Goatwhiskers]

When I worked at a feedlot in SW Kansas they kept corn in a humungous pile on the ground outside with concrete walls to contain the pile. It kept quite well, 'course it is kinda dry out there. GW

[John Allen]

I would grab a couple of pallets to stack it on. It keeps it off the ground so it should not rot as easily.

[WILCO]

Loose not bailed. Any ideas for outdoor storage? No barn yet.


Dan

Heavy tarp. Lots of tires to hold it down.

[leeggen]

only problem with a tarp is you trap extra moisture under the tarp. If you will build a small "T" frame over the top you can tarp it an leave air space to control the moisture better. I had a small metal shed about 6 x6 and we would throw the hay in it and walk it down and just keep adding til it was full, worked pretty good for small amounts. A1/4 ac. Can make a good amount of hay for small animals to have thru winter. We fed a few goats and rabbits with ours. A heaping pickup will walk down to just even with the sides or a little below, must keep walking on it!
CD

[waksupi]

If you have a neighbor you can catch baling, ask him to bale it up for you. Probably won't be much more than a dozen bales to deal with.

[10x]

The principle behind a haystack is that the outer layer, surprisingly thin, sheds the moisture and protects the mass underneath. Never learned if any effort is made to align the last layer, but would bet not. You do lose the outermost layer to weather damage. Many people store those big hay rolls outdoors with no protection, tho you see some wrapped in plastic to prevent the waste. By the way 1/4 acre ain't gonna make much hay. GW

My dad and I put up loose hay in the 1960s. We cut the hay with a 6 foot sickle mower that left a 3" stubble. The hay was raked into windrows to sun dry, then when dry we would use hay forks (3 time) to carefully layer the hay in hay cocks to cure. A 1/4 acre could be cut with a scythe in less than an hour, and raked (gently) by hand in less than two. Considering that it took between 3 to five days for two people to put up 80 acres by hand, 1/4 acre is not much of a challenge.
There is an art to stacking the hay in a haycock. The hay is layered so that water is shed to the outside, and a cap of hay is carefully put on and combed with the hay fork to shed rain to the outside of the stack. A proper cap will shed water and the hay will be only wet for a few inches into the stack - or you could tarp it.

If you use a tarp make sure air can circulate over the top of the stack and the sides are open.

We would brake a few straw bales on the ground as a base for the stack as well.

The main issue is that the hay be dry when you stack it - wet hay will heat and loose nutrient value. It may also mold and become unedible.

[trapper9260]

When we did not have a barn to put the hay in years ago and pick the small bails , we lay pallets down on the ground and then stach the small bails on it and then after we are done we put a sheet of black plastic on it . to cover it and then put some tires on it to hold the plastic down and we did not have any problmes.If it is round bails just stack them outside like was stated.large square bails need to be covered.

[Hamish]

(ahem) I will try to get pics this weekend. Should be at least two of these at the American Thresherman's at Pinkneyville, Il this weekend.

78877

78878

Hey, you gotta have rabbit size bales, right?

[429421Cowboy]

Loose hay keeps very well, even as a matter of several years, it will keep far better than large rounds or squares.
We put up somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000 tons of hay a year and have found that generally the best time to bale is when that windrows reach about 29-35% moisture, and that is the trick! Baled at that level it will keep without being dry and dusty and the leaves will stay on, yet it will not mold from being too wet. It is vital to dry the hay properly though, to prevent spontaneous fires in the stack, you certainly would not want to cut and stack it right away and not expect at the very least to have mold, or at worst, fire. For such a small amount, I would think about making a framework to stack and pack it into, then stretch a tarp over it to let air flow but keep most of the water out.
Good luck!

[redneckdan]

Thank you all for the advice. Since we live in the country now I kind of let the yard go wild over the summer. Got a little too tall for ideal nutrition content but it still has some value. I put up a tripod over a pallet and started stacking underneath it. Plan to tarp it. Probably will do another stack and try the raked outer covering method and see how that goes. Definitely getting a scythe for next summer, weed wacker doesn't work too well.

Dan

[sparkz]

I have used Pallets and stacked bails and tarped them, (Dont use clear plastic and I have to question black too, condensation will make a moldy mess of it)
I stack out side up off ground use those blue tarps type deals and then use a plastic on the very top, also lot of guys use tires to keep off ground but we are keeping a hunderd bails, for our horses, and can not have ANY mold or dust molds in it, if you have any old van there good and dry, but we DO use pallets to keep off ground that most imporntant thing, I hAVE seen guys keep off the ground and not even cover it, so off the ground is biggest thing IMO

Lemee know if you want some ideas how we do or keep stuff
we keep some stock and horses here in the jungles of eastern Kentucky AKA rain forest,,,


Patrick