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 "Spaz-tacular"!!
Posts: 20309
 
Location: Bennett, CO | Dont Use a Shipping Container! A friend was bringing one up to his cabin, and rather than haul it empty- he loaded it with hay for me ( he had tons of grass hay and we were in a drought) We opened the doors when it arrived and FOG rolled out of that thing! It had steamed all the hay in route (September) and they were too tightly sealed. We ended up feeding it all to the sheep. |
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 Swiffer PIcker Upper
Posts: 4015
Location: Four Corners Colorado | When I get a large amount of green hay, I use Redmonds and D.E. sprinkled between the layers. I got a load of very wet grass alfalfa hay and was sure it would all mold. I did that and I didn't lose but 5 bales out of the semi load. |
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  Champ
Posts: 19623
Location: Peg-Leg Julia Grimm | We don't have many snakes big enough to make a dent in the mice/rat population. Actually the plastic is better at keeping the humidity off the underside of the bale as long as the plastic isn't wet before you put hay on it and the bales are properly cured before putting them down. Todays humidity is 91%. Even in the summer we have quite high humidity. But probably not as much as you do. I've done it this way for long enough to know keeps the bottom bales from molding. It's not like mice don't find a way to live anywhere they can. I'm confused by the cat poop comments. Don't your cats bury their excrement? |
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
| If the hay I buy is wet enough that it needs salt I am taking it back. There is NO excuse for this. |
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 Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | streakysox - 2015-12-05 9:36 AM
If the hay I buy is wet enough that it needs salt I am taking it back. There is NO excuse for this.
Winner winner chicken dinner......m |
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Swiffer PIcker Upper
Posts: 4015
Location: Four Corners Colorado | There is a fine line between too dry and too wet. At least here. Nothing is more irritating than flakes that don't stick together or when all your leaves blow away in the wind when you toss the hay and all the horses are left with is a pile of stems. In my local area is seems the are always baled way too dry.
Edited by equussynergy 2015-12-04 12:02 PM
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Miracle in the Making
Posts: 4013
| Chandler's Mom - 2015-12-01 9:35 PM We do the pallets also with a thin layer of hay spread over it. For some reason damp seems to still seep in without that layer. Explain the salt please, either of y'all!
wood attracts moisture putting black plastic down prevents it from getting in hay the rock salt draws what mositure is in the hay to the salt and like komet said leave some
space so it can breathe |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | vjls - 2015-12-04 5:28 PM
Chandler's Mom - 2015-12-01 9:35 PM We do the pallets also with a thin layer of hay spread over it. For some reason damp seems to still seep in without that layer. Explain the salt please, either of y'all!
wood attracts moisture putting black plastic down prevents it from getting in hay the rock salt draws what mositure is in the hay to the salt and like komet said leave some
space so it can breathe
Thanks for this--I'll remember it if we have an issue again. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1718
Location: Southeast Louisiana | OregonBR - 2015-12-04 10:29 AM
We don't have many snakes big enough to make a dent in the mice/rat population. Actually the plastic is better at keeping the humidity off the underside of the bale as long as the plastic isn't wet before you put hay on it and the bales are properly cured before putting them down. Todays humidity is 91%. Even in the summer we have quite high humidity. But probably not as much as you do. I've done it this way for long enough to know keeps the bottom bales from molding. It's not like mice don't find a way to live anywhere they can. I'm confused by the cat poop comments. Don't your cats bury their excrement?
Yeah, they bury it in the middle of the hallway of the barn where I always seem to step in it or the dog finds it... yuk. We don't have any cats right now. We get a stray every now and then, but the crazy neighbor cat gets insanely territorial and comes over just to run the other cat away. She won't hang out in the barn and hunt mice, she only starts hanging around to bother other cats. She is their inside cat, so she goes home at night and just patrols past our place during the day. She probably gets a baby snake every now and then, but there are plenty of full grown ones that she can't kill. They keep up with any mice that might try to move in. Even through the winter, we get plenty of warm weather where the snakes will come out and move around. Perfect snake habitat here. |
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Expert
Posts: 1718
Location: Southeast Louisiana | gotothewhip - 2015-12-04 10:09 AM
Dont Use a Shipping Container! A friend was bringing one up to his cabin, and rather than haul it empty- he loaded it with hay for me ( he had tons of grass hay and we were in a drought) We opened the doors when it arrived and FOG rolled out of that thing! It had steamed all the hay in route (September) and they were too tightly sealed. We ended up feeding it all to the sheep.
That's good to know. Thanks for the info. I will probably just bite the bullet and get a flat trailer just for my hay and do the carport thing eventually. |
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Expert
Posts: 1718
Location: Southeast Louisiana | HarlanLivesOn - 2015-12-04 10:08 AM
Nita - 2015-12-03 12:08 PM
Does anybody know if you can store hay in a metal shipping container? Dry, square bales is what I want to store. My husband says it would get too hot. However, I think it would work if we put them on pallets and left some room at the top for the air to move. There is a place near me that sells the containers and they will put vents in the sides, if you pay extra for it. That's what I want to get for my hay.
We only have a three stall barn and recently added a third horse. One stall is full of hay, so one of my horses is living in the hallway right now. He is none too happy. 
The coop I use stores their hay and straw that way, even during the summer. They have no vents in theirs and they close the doors when no one is around. They have never had any problems.
I just saw your reply... now I'm undecided. I'm going to have to compare prices of shipping containers vs carport and trailer. I would want the vents, tho. I don't bale my own hay and I try to get good hay, but sometimes you have to buy what's available and I wouldn't want it to all go bad. |
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | I've seen shipping containers with vents. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 403
Location: Armuchee, GA, NW section of Ga | Yes we have a shipping container for our hay storage. Our insurance company told us not to store in the barn and our insurance is cheaper. We have pallets in the bottom and stack on top of them. The hay is not stacked tightly, or too high for ventilation and the pallets keep dry by not having them on the bottom. Close the doors to keep weather out. It was cheaper too than having to build something.
Edited by janjan1 2015-12-05 5:13 PM
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