Will this work? Storing hay

bbbuddy:

I too, live in AZ. You get rain down in the bales & between the bales & it'll mold right nice! Covered too tight, the bales will sweat & give you mold deep inside.

Bales on pallets covered with heavy tarps get holes in the corners where the tarps rub in the wind no matter how tight they were tied down. I hated to mess with those tarps especially in the wind, rain & snow. And climbing up on high stacked bales was even worse. I also felt that I was throwing money away having to replace those dang tarps.

I bit the bullet & bought a steel shipping container... A truck box would work as well, and possibly be cheaper.

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Learn the fine art of scrounging. Anytime you can acquire tin roofing, do so... Even el cheapo tin will last a long long time. A couple years of buying expensive tarps would pay for a permanent solution (tin).

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We live in N MI so probably have much the same weather as far as wind and snow. We built a huge tent by stretching a metal cable between two trees and hanging 100' tarps over it. We staked the edges of the tarps down and made a floor of pallets. We'd tried different methods with tarps, but the big blue tent was the best.
We've since built a pole building with a metal roof. Guess what the sides are...yep, tarps, but silver this time. I squint my eyes and imagine it's aged barn wood.
Starlighthill

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Thanks for all of your wisdom and experience. The hay cannot get wet, it can get snow

Thanks for all of your wisdom and experience. The hay cannot get wet, it can get snowed on, but rain equals mold. Just as I was racking my brains out trying to sort out what would work best, my husband offered me the use of his greenhouse. He built two this past summer, 16' x 20', and is just hanging the doors on one of them now. I will also cover the hay with the tarp so the hay won't be sun damaged.

www.by-the-sea.com/stimsonmarine/bowroof.html has pictures of the kind of greenhouses he built. I call them cathedrals.

Thank goodness. I really was not looking forward to crawling under a huge tarp to pull out bales of hay and drag them out again through a small opening. The tarp would be tied down on all four sides as the wind can get a bit fierce sometimes.

hello all,i have a semi box trailer with 8 wheels and axles ready to go.for sale.800.00 o.b.o im in n.e. ohio, semi trailer is 30 min. east of cleveland.nice shape. brian

I use builders film. Thats the black plastic they use as a water proof membrane when pouring foundations. Take a small round rock wrap the plastic around it, tie with baling twine (so the rock is enclosed by the plastic) tie the other end of the twine to a tyre. A few tyres on top of the stack and as long as the plastic does not flap around this will last upto 4/5 years.

Snow build up on the tarp can lead to ice build up which then makes the bales hard to get out. I went through this one year. Bother. Solution: roof - even just of plywood on top.

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