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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 421
Location: Central Iowa | How does everyone store their bags of feed? We have between 4-5 pallets full around at all times because we have a lot of cattle and horses. It seems like we waist so much of it because we have mice in our barn and our rat dogs try to keep them at bay but in the mean time before we know it all of our bags are ripped open and all over the barn floor, like pallet fulls at a time destroyed. We cant put poison out because of all of our animals and we really don't have a large enough "feed room" to store it in. I know we cant be the only ones with this problem. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas for us!
Edited by ropinbuzz 2017-09-12 9:41 AM
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 Warrior Mom
Posts: 4400
| Can you put out sticky traps or will your animals get in them? I'm not sure if it would help much but can you wrap the pallets in plastic wrap, like a,lot of it to help deter the rodents? My husband wraps pallets in plastic saran wrap type stuff when he makes deliveries and nothing can get in those without a box cutter. Just a thought.. might not be worth a darn against rodents. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
  
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | I would invest some money into one of these and put a small a/c in it to keep your feed fresher and your feed will last alot longer.
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 Berkley+10+ft.+10+in.+W+x+14+ft.+2+in.+D+Wooden+Storage+Shed.jpg (13KB - 204 downloads)
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 421
Location: Central Iowa | want2chase3 - 2017-09-12 9:48 AM
Can you put out sticky traps or will your animals get in them? I'm not sure if it would help much but can you wrap the pallets in plastic wrap, like a,lot of it to help deter the rodents? My husband wraps pallets in plastic saran wrap type stuff when he makes deliveries and nothing can get in those without a box cutter. Just a thought.. might not be worth a darn against rodents.
I have seen that plastic wrap stuff, that is a good idea! I bet that would help our problem a ton!
I have also been thinking about getting one of those large storage containers or something but didn't know what the moisture would be like in them! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 668
Location: Upstate New York | We use old chest freezer
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 421
Location: Central Iowa | Has any one tried 55 gallon barrels like these before. Do they collect moisture or condensation?
https://desmoines.craigslist.org/mat/d/55-gallon-food-grade-steel/63...
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | ropinbuzz - 2017-09-12 10:23 AM Has any one tried 55 gallon barrels like these before. Do they collect moisture or condensation? https://desmoines.craigslist.org/mat/d/55-gallon-food-grade-steel/63...
I use these type of barrels for my horse and goat feed, they have the lids that seal pretty good. I live in very high humidity and have worked out really good, but if you use sweet type of feed that has moisture to it then your would run into problems, but I use all pelleted feed and no problems. |
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  Fact Checker
Posts: 16575
Location: Displaced Iowegian | grey_ghost - 2017-09-12 10:21 AM We use old chest freezer
I would be very careful about using a chest freezer in any hot and humid areas. Years ago, we had to board a horse for a couple of months and the horse was fed moldy feed out of a chest freezer and died from colic!
And to the OP ..... you may not have a rat/mouse problem but a coon problem.... Mice and rats usually just tear a small hole but coons will tear open and shred the whole bag. IF it is a mouse/rat problem, you NEED CATS !!!!
Edited by NJJ 2017-09-12 10:41 AM
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | NJJ - 2017-09-12 10:38 AM grey_ghost - 2017-09-12 10:21 AM We use old chest freezer
I would be very careful about using a chest freezer in any hot and humid areas. Years ago, we had to board a horse for a couple of months and the horse was fed moldy feed out of a chest freezer and died from colic!
Edit" to add these freezers will sweat in high humidity.
Edited by Southtxponygirl 2017-09-12 10:47 AM
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Warrior Mom
Posts: 4400
| Southtxponygirl - 2017-09-12 9:54 AM
I would invest some money into one of these and put a small a/c in it to keep your feed fresher and your feed will last alot longer.
I have 2 of these. The big one we use for feed, hay and it's my tack room. The smaller one is just general storage. I find turds in them all the time! I don't store a bunch of feed I can just buy 3-4 bags at a time and I keep it in a large metal trash can, I only feed 3 head so I can get away with that. We cleaned out our smaller shed last weekend and those darn mice chewed a bunch of my Christmas decorations up that were in boxes. I don't know how they get in but they did! We set up sticky traps inside too and all we caught was a few scorpions and some dirt dobbers. |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| We don't have even 1/2 the volume of feed that you do, but if you bought a little building to store your feed, you can put a dehumidifier in it. We have a dehumidifier in our tack room to help feed stay fresh and to keep our tack from molding in high humidity. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 883
Location: Southern Indiana | Southtxponygirl - 2017-09-12 9:54 AM
I would invest some money into one of these and put a small a/c in it to keep your feed fresher and your feed will last alot longer.
This is where we store our feed as well...in a yard barn. We put dope (poison lol) under the pallets. You can also make a little box to put the poison in so the dogs/cats can't get to it. My tack is out in the barn too and it doesn't get dusty or moldy. We don't even have a fan in it. Just leave the windows open in the summer and it has screens. You just have to be careful not to lock the cats in it : | |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| Although I don't buy in the volume you do I always have feed bags on pallets. I have 6 barn cats and rarely see droppings and never find holes in my bags. Get some cats :). |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| If you don't have cats or can lock them up I'd put out a livetrap for a few nights - fully ripped open bags sound like something bigger than a mouse.
If you don't have cats, get some.
Be careful with poison if you do, if a cat catches a mouse whose ingested poison it can still kill them. |
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Veteran
Posts: 286
| I put my feed, etc. on pallets in my garage and I put my vehicles in the barn! lol
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Warrior Mom
Posts: 4400
| TheDutchMan01 - 2017-09-12 12:36 PM
Southtxponygirl - 2017-09-12 9:54 AM
I would invest some money into one of these and put a small a/c in it to keep your feed fresher and your feed will last alot longer.
This is where we store our feed as well...in a yard barn. We put dope (poison lol ) under the pallets. You can also make a little box to put the poison in so the dogs/cats can't get to it. My tack is out in the barn too and it doesn't get dusty or moldy. We don't even have a fan in it. Just leave the windows open in the summer and it has screens. You just have to be careful not to lock the cats in it : |
Or accidentally lock a chicken in there... been there done that. I have 3 outside cats that are mine but I always seen a few others hanging around, I don't have a mouse problem anywhere near my home or in the barn but they can't get into those sheds unless they get left in there by accident too. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2097
Location: Deep South | Our cat is totally useless. Lol! But we put poison out on any high flat surface. Like strapped to the rafters for example. Always used to see rats running across those, but it's safely out of the way of the cat/dogs. |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | I have 3 of the barn type storage sheds and love them they are really sealed tight so no rats are mice can get in them but I do keep rat bait out just in case., the bigger one is for my tack and saddles and another one for old furniture and what nots I have and all my feed goes in my hay barn and I keep rat bait out at all times, its fenced and closed in where the dogs cant get in there, so no rat problem..
But the sheds are a great investment.. |
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 Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | ropinbuzz - 2017-09-12 9:23 AM Has any one tried 55 gallon barrels like these before. Do they collect moisture or condensation? https://desmoines.craigslist.org/mat/d/55-gallon-food-grade-steel/63...
I use a metal one for my oats. It has a lid and works great. I use the silver aluminum looking garbage cans for anything that comes in a bag. If I leave it in a bag cats pee on it or coons get into them. I can use the garbage cans and bungee the lids down. |
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 Thick and Wavy
Posts: 6102
Location: Nebraska | ropinbuzz - 2017-09-12 10:23 AM Has any one tried 55 gallon barrels like these before. Do they collect moisture or condensation? https://desmoines.craigslist.org/mat/d/55-gallon-food-grade-steel/63...
I use a plastic one like this and then a metal garbage can for the other type of grain. My plastic one holds about 4 bags of strategy and the garbage can holds 3 bags of senior. |
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