Coffee anyone ?

[Baymule]

Coffee is ready, on my second cup. Back for more painting today.

 

[Mini Horses]

Hot tea this morn. Cold at night -- 62 inside . That's too cold for me BUT not turning heat on yet! Back into mid 70s next week. A gentle roller coaster ride leaving to go to work in a few. There's a heater in the car

 

[Alaskan]

There is an odd impenetrable film on the top of the pond

 

[Mini Horses]

Hmmm. Don't you walk on it -- it might be penetrable!

That's too cold for me! I'm shivering with our brisk week of Fall. My flannel lined jeans are out & ready! Best buy ever.

 

[Margali]

How far away from animal barn would you put your hay shed? I'm planning on tinning over an old portable shelter so I can buy square bales in bulk. Round bales are more economical per lb but I have no equipment to handle them...

 

[Mini Horses]

I keep mine close enough to be easy to feed, far enough to keep animals out. Heck, I even fill my trailer, park it close & move bales from there it sits unused a lot, so why load & unload several times? Fence & hotwire around shed near animal pastures. I've not had more than chickens or a cat get into mine. And I have goats!

I use squares because it's easier on ME. I'm considering a couple rounds for Jan/Feb...not yet decided. Simply cost effect, because I can keep the hay feeders full. ALL feed is high & rising.

Today has gone beyond chilly to downright cold!! I'm going to work shortly! With lots of layers on . I work to feed animals!

 

[SageHill]

I fill one stall in my barn with hay - ~80 bales (120# bales)

 

[farmerjan]

Years ago when hay was put up loose or in squares, they were stored right above in the loft. Hay only needs to be as far away as you can control them from getting into it. Closer the better for sq bales to not have to handle extra distances.

 

[Alaskan]

How far away from animal barn would you put your hay shed? I'm planning on tinning over an old portable shelter so I can buy square bales in bulk. Round bales are more economical per lb but I have no equipment to handle them...

Keeping hay dry, and keeping it clean, means the nutrition of the hay keeps a really long time. So, if you have the space for it, it is worth it in the long run.

I greatly prefer to keep hay where it is fed.

At my place our barn has a huge loft. We keep 2 really long sturdy boards that are ... uh.... 4x 12s maybe.? (Been some time since we have used them.. can't remember). But one end of the boards would be dropped down from the loft. So, one end in the loft, 1 end on the ground. This made a ramp. With wood prices now, if I had to do this again... I would splice a bunch of junk wood together to get the same function.

Anyway, you have your ramp... then up in the loft you have a winch. Stab the round bail with a long metal bar, rope on ends of bar and then up to winch.

Turn on winch and walk the round bail up the ramp.

Once in the loft, roll it to the side and repeat for the next bail.

Yes, even with the winch, it is a bunch of work, but it us only 1 day of work. Feeding is easy!

To feed you toss the feed down into a feeding area. I never did make a shute into the hay rack... but that would be ideal.

My barn also has a drive-through, which is nice. That isn't used with round bails, but with squares. You drive in, and can stand in the truck bed, or on the cab and toss the square bails up.

My grandfather's barn had no stalls (but he just had cattle and horses). For his barn, it was only 1 level, no loft, it had a large tack room, a large central area for hay storage, and then 2 sides, into 2 different pastures, had long feeding troughs with deep roof overhangs. Also, it didn't have a drive through. You opened a gate, backed up into the barn and unloaded the hay. The floor of the barn had pallets to raise up the hay from the damp ground. But then you had to grab the hay, and lift UP into those feeding troughs. It was hard to do as a kid.

I really liked this one barn.. huge 2 story hay barn, no drive-through though. So a pain to load it up with hay. But, once it was full of hay it was great. It had a feeding trough all along one very long side, covered with maybe 12 feet deep of roof. And all along that feeding trough was an elevated walkway between the trough and the barn. So you walked along and got to toss the hay DOWN into the feeding trough. Very nice. Also, a great way to look over the cattle.

 

[Baymule]

Coffee is ready. No painting today, I’m going to feed store this morning.
@Margali i would put that hay building as close to barn as possible, added onto the barn!