Excuse me, I'd just like to brag a tiny bit...

[thistlebloom]

You are over paid if you can afford horses. See you are paid, just not in dollars. Kind of like Dad always said when you & lil brother whined about chores, you are paid when you wear his clothes, sleep under his roof and eat at his table.......

I can afford horses because I drive a 14 year old truck, my horse trailer is 26 years old, my saddle was bought used, we eat out like 3x a year, vacations are a camping trip or two...shall I continue? Of course the ginormous pre-inheritance I got from daddy helps, he likes that I have horses and thinks you and Major are half a bale shy of a ton because you don't. So there.

 

[ninnymary]

I like the half a bale shy.

Mary

 

[bobm]

I am not blessed to have a barn so I have always had to tarp it. Double stacked pallets under and double tarped over. I seldom lose any from mold but crawling under a tarp in rain and snow and wind is a huge pain. And the moose are able to stick their heads under and eat the alfalfa.
This year though we had a bunch of cattle panels left over from re-configuring pens and downsizing, so dh and I came up with this--
View attachment 28385
It's about 32' long. The cattle panels along the sides are horizontal, and the roof is the cattle panels arched up lengthwise and attached to the top quarter of the horizontal panels. It's about 10' or so at the peak. I will need to brace the roof with 2x4 props as I use the hay up because it won't hold a snow load. It will also have to have the snow raked off every snow event we get. But still a big improvement over a tarped stack.

View attachment 28386

View attachment 28387
We stacked 5 wide for 4 rows up, then 3 on top. You can see there's plenty of air space above the bales.
View attachment 28388

I was hoping to fit 5 tons in here for the winter, but it is actually holding 7 tons.
Real pleased with that.

Nice job stacking your hay , but might I make a wee suggestion ? ... next time , when making a hay stack, in addition of stacking the hay bales on top of pallets, please make at least a 2" space between each of the bales for proper air circulation between the bales to carry away any heat that could build up to prevent spontanious combustion that would burn down the entire hay stack. Just saying.

 

[thistlebloom]

Nice job stacking your hay , but might I make a wee suggestion ? ... next time , when making a hay stack, in addition of stacking the hay bales on top of pallets, please make at least a 2" space between each of the bales for proper air circulation between the bales to carry away any heat that could build up to prevent spontanious combustion that would burn down the entire hay stack. Just saying.

Thanks Bob, that would be the wise thing.
But I'm rash and unwise so we packed those bales in 5 wide and there's just not much wiggle room. I'm banking on two pallets under, air space over, and having a personal acquaintance with e.v.e.r.y. single bale.

I took out the three that showed where moisture had gotten down the stack from the farm. Those have been popped and checked for mold. One had about a 3" wide damp spot running vertically through so that got tossed into the chicken pen for them to scratch through. The other two were dry but saved for chicken bedding.
I appreciate your advice though.

 

[seedcorn]

Assume your humidity is very low so hay heating is no threat. On coast or Midwest, we fight humidity and heating of hay. We are talking alfalfa hay, correct? Here, horse hay is grass hay which has little chance of heating up.

 

[thistlebloom]

Assume your humidity is very low so hay heating is no threat. On coast or Midwest, we fight humidity and heating of hay. We are talking alfalfa hay, correct? Here, horse hay is grass hay which has little chance of heating up.

Yes, our climate is very arid. I feed grass (brome and orchard mix) alfalfa, and barley.
I prefer to stick to just two, but my neighbor and I didn't communicate well on that point, we had talked about a variety of hays, and he brought back 3 types for me.
It makes feed time a little more complicated.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm clapping really loudly over here, Thistle!!! Both for your grit and determination and for your love for your man. Both admirable! Now, having said that, I also want you to know that your tractor is gorgeous and I think I'm in love. Jane is just lovely!!!!

Wish I could have helped you unload that hay as I really need the exercise and I've been wt. training...hate organized exercise but LOVE the kind that pose as other kind of things, like work.

 

[majorcatfish]

Well I am underpaid you old curmudgeon brother! Nobody pays me to own horses, duh!

maybe it's time to get a real job......

you know mom was telling you a fib about theres a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow..

chomping at the bit for a reply.......

 

[thistlebloom]

maybe it's time to get a real job......

you know mom was telling you a fib about theres a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow..

chomping at the bit for a reply.......

Well I'm gonna make you wait. So there.

 

[bobm]

Assume your humidity is very low so hay heating is no threat. On coast or Midwest, we fight humidity and heating of hay. We are talking alfalfa hay, correct? Here, horse hay is grass hay which has little chance of heating up.

We lived in the high desert region of central Cal. with very low humidity and virtually not a drop of rain from late March . early April to late Nov. with temps in the high 90's up to 117* +. About 20 years ago , new horse owners about 5 miles away from our ranch, purchased 20 tons of hay and stored it in their new barn. About 3 months later in Sept. their barn and hay burned to the ground from spontanious combustion.