# help with hay storage



## luvmycritters42 (Oct 7, 2010)

We had 2 tons of hay delivered this year about a month ago. Some of the bales went into the metal shed, the majority went into the carport, which is enclosed on 2 1/2 sides (One side is the wall to the shop, the other 1 1/2 sides are tarps). I noticed today that the carport hay is getting mildew/moldy. It is dry under the carport and the hay is on pallets and there is room for circulation all around it......so why is it going moldy? The hay that went into the shed appears fine......so I assume it is location and not the hay itself. Any suggestions?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 7, 2010)

How did you stack the hay? Did you stack it cut side up? That helps with circulation. Can rain get to the hay where it is open? Is the hay stacked on a couple pallets or just one layer? Are you sure the hay was properly dried when it was baled?


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## luvmycritters42 (Oct 8, 2010)

The guys who delivered it stacked it.....so, I'm not sure if it cut side up or not...I'll have to double check tomorrow. Only one set of pallets underneath. No, the rain can't get to the hay. And I have no idea if it was properly dried when baled.


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## Calliopia (Oct 8, 2010)

I had a problem with car port storage earlier. The next time it rains go out and make SURE that rain isn't being shunted off of the edge of the carport roof onto the hay. 

We had to rearrange ours because a good 1 foot margin all around the edges was getting damp/wet/moldy.   After I culled all the bad stuff for chicken bedding and restacked it so a large man could walk ALL the way around the hay it made a huge difference.  I also doubled the pallets just to be sure and used some extra pieces of plywood to cover questionable areas.


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## patandchickens (Oct 8, 2010)

If rain is blowing into the carport sides at times, or if the carport roof is leaky at all, or if cats/coons/whatever are getting in there and pissing on the hay, that would do it. (the location of the moldy parts should tell you which of these is most plausible)

Whenever you store hay in a "sheltered outdoors" location, you need to expect the possibility of losses along the exposed face(s) of the stack. Particularly in a humid climate (I forget where you are). Unless you can close in the open sides (while maintaining reasonable airflow) or can run out there and bunge a tarp over the exposed hay every time it rains and then remove it afterwards, there is not necessarily too much you can do about that. It should however not be the WHOLE stack, just the bales that are exposed and any other ones that water runs down from them into.

The other possibility I can think of, less likely but not necessarily ruled out by the shed hay being ok (you're suuuure it's ok, yes?), is that the hay could have gotten wet before you acquired it. If part was already moldy or wet-and-gonna-go, and he just happened to load all of that part into the carport and the remainder split between carport and shed, it would give you the current situation. Although you may never be able to know for sure about that.

Best of luck,

Pat


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