Hay barn

[BRYANT]

I just built me a 40 x 80 hay barn is it best to stack round bales on their side or ends. What is the pros and cons of both ways , I stack with a skid loader and it does not make a lot of difference to me one way or the other

 

[farmerjan]

We stack ours on the flat side... they hold their shape for when we roll some out and strings don't come apart on the bottom bales.....we do not use plastic strings.... Otherwise they do get "squashed down" somewhat and he seems to get more in there tighter when on end... top row is the opposite because he has to get them with the spear on the tractor... don't have a very big skid steer so they get taken out with the tractor with the spear..

 

[kenny thomas]

I stack 3 high with the first 2 rows flat. It keeps them from doing all the things farmerjan says plus they won't move sideways and press on the barn walls.

 

[bird dog]

No skid steer so I don't have a choice.

 

[SmokinM]

Like Kenny and Jan say the bottom ones on end top on its side. You can fit more in this way too. Takes just a bit more time but seems to work out way better.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Cement floor barn I stack them 4 high on the flat sides like soup cans. Dirt floor barn on the round sides 3 high.

 

[ClinchValley86]

I started doing on flat last year except for top bale. I fit quite a few more bales in the shed. Plus, theyre still round when pulled out in case ya get to sell some. On side they eventually get odd shaped for me.

 

[Brute 23]

I thought some one had that study that showed putting the flat end down allowed moisture to work up through the bale and caused more loss, assuming no floor.

 

[Dsth]

If you stack on the flat side and stager the bales so they are not directly on top of each other, it allows the heat to escape easier and keeps the hay greener and retains more nutrients. of coarse that depends on moisture and type of hay you are baling.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I thought some one had that study that showed putting the flat end down allowed moisture to work up through the bale and caused more loss, assuming no floor.

If I stack on the flat side on 4' of sandy fill, roughly 1/3 of the bottom bale will wick up moisture and be musty/moldy. On native clay soil it's <1/2 mold/dusty.

 

[chaded]

The barn i store my hay in basically has 3 types of floor. The left side is concrete, the middle is dirt but very dry and the lean to on the right side you are putting it on the ground but it has a roof of course.

I stack the first two on the ends and third one goes on top of them on its side. The lean to hay on the bottom is the worst as far as moisture but it really isn’t that bad. A few inches at most. The concrete and dry dirt floor basically just gets a layer of crust that isn’t that thick.

 

[midTN_Brangusman]

No skid steer so I don't have a choice.

View attachment 60654

Bird Dog, that is a good looking hay barn. What size? Anything you would do different? Im going to be having one built.

 

[WFfarm]

We have a small pole barn we stack some of round bales in with a dirt/gravel floor. We lay down a plastic sheet and get very little moisture wicking up from the bottom.

 

[Goldfinch]

No skid steer so I don't have a choice.

View attachment 60654

That pic taken from a Rhino 660? We have one and love it. Just guessing from the looks of the handle bar.
....and the pipe clamps holding the windshield on.

 

[bird dog]

Goldfinch, the unit I'm sitting in is a Kubota X900.

MidTN -- The barn is about 60 x 150 It was here when I bought the place. I don't know the history of it but it was moved here from somewhere else around 2010. The man that had the place before me had a cattle buying operation in Ft. Worth and I believe it was shipped from there when the city expansion and old age took him out of business. You can see from todays picture how its kind of rough looking in spots.

Its a nice structure for sure. I store hay on one end, have my working pens on the other and space for my cattle trailer and a 32' flat bed in the middle. It doesn't have to be this tall but if you were stacking with like some have mentioned, you could go three high.
The brace cables were all loose or missing when I first started working on it but the pens are attached to the posts so that gave it a lot more strength and I just cut off the cables.

 

[Texas G@l]

No skid steer so I don't have a choice.

View attachment 60654

Dang, now I'm suffering from hay barn envy.

 

[Goldfinch]

Goldfinch, the unit I'm sitting in is a Kubota X900.

That's a nice unit as well, neighbor has one. One thing I like about the rhino is the top speed is about 55mph vs 25 on the kubota.

Very nice hay barn indeed. I wish we had a suitable spot to build something similar.

 

[BRYANT]

Thanks for all the comments . If I was looking for a hay barn I would look at the reclaimed chicken houses . My 40 x 80 i have a little less than 17,000.00 in it and that includes metal for the sides of which I have not put on as of right now. That 17k was material and paying someone to put it up

 

[bird dog]

I think they pay for themselves not with just the savings from hay loss but also in the increase in value of your farm.

The equipment barns also make good units. The one pictured here was was heavily damaged by a storm a few years before I bought this place. The ends were still in place but the center section was gone. Like a lot of things on this ranch, it was shoddily built.
I paid 16K to get the middle rebuilt and the whole thing reinforced.

I like my stuff under cover. The hay in a barn with side walls will keep for a long time with very little spoilage. Barn cats are a necessity.

 

[bird dog]

One thing I like about the rhino is the top speed is about 55mph vs 25 on the kubota.

Yeah the Kubota's are slow but there is no place on this rough ranch where you can go very fast. I divided the operating hours on my SxS by the mileage and it came out that my average speed was 5.2 MPH.