Ideas on Hay Shed floors ?

   / Ideas on Hay Shed floors ? #1  

OzGrasshopper

Bronze Member
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Nov 14, 2010
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Location
Western Australia
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John Deere 3120
Hi All, after many years of storing round bales of hay in the open (no snow down here), i've decided to build a hay shed, but i cant really justify concrete floor - has anyone any ideas on alternatives...? the shed will be 20 ft wide, 50 ft long and 13ft high with skillion roof. (enclosed long back wall and 2 ends, open on 50ft front). Cheers OzG
 
   / Ideas on Hay Shed floors ? #2  
we just use a level dirt floor in our hay barns.some put a rock or gravel floor in them.but like concrete they are costly.
 
   / Ideas on Hay Shed floors ? #3  
Virtually all the hay sheds/barns I see in the Carolinas have earthen floors.

Steve
 
   / Ideas on Hay Shed floors ?
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Hi bigbull338, down here they are laying the round bales on their flat side and stacking 3 or 4 high, i was wondering if moisture would come up thru the soil base? we sell a fair bit of our hay and the idea of the shed is to present the hay in a better condition for sale. what we call good meadow hay (rye & clover) sells for around $55 a bale.
 
   / Ideas on Hay Shed floors ? #5  
Wooden pallets....would need a supply of them . place them down as you fill and remove them as you sell hay simple low cost, a little bit of labor
 
   / Ideas on Hay Shed floors ? #6  
If I wanted to keep the bales clean, dry and mold-free for sale, I would put them on plastic sheeting. Roll it out as you need it and roll it back up as each row of bales is removed. My experience is that the idea of pallets doesn't work. The hay sinks down in-between the slats on the pallet and still gets moldy.
 
   / Ideas on Hay Shed floors ? #7  
Do most your buyers also have hay barns or they just stacked outside? Reason I ask is that even thou the bottum bale may not be as good as the others,surely someone would buy those for alittle less and ask little more for the tops to offset price,just a thought. Rock would be the next best thing to concrete,I don't know what it runs there but here slag is cheaper option. As mentioned by bucktaker pallets,that's what I use with what few squares I put up but that a lot of pallets for you,my rounds stay outside and what I might sell get sold when they still look good not weathered.
 
   / Ideas on Hay Shed floors ? #8  
personally if it was me id keep some cows an feed the bottom bales myself.because theres going tobe some years that you dont sell all your hay.
 
   / Ideas on Hay Shed floors ? #9  
If it's quality hay and needs to stay that way, here is what I require under mine (horse hay that I can't afford to have go bad!!):

Ground is just dirt. Triple folded sheet of moisture barrier plastic from hardware store (I believe that makes 12 mm total). Then wood pallets for air circulation. Then hay.

In NC, we get HOT and humid. I lived over on the eastern part of Aus for a while, but didn't make it out to WA, isn't it fairly dry there?
 
   / Ideas on Hay Shed floors ? #10  
raised Dirt or gravel i find best as concrete can sweat and stacking is difficult on pallets . There is a market for everything... $80 a bale for the dairy hay stored indoors ...$50 a bale for horse hay stacked outdoors , bottom bales will not spoil in winter as it's too cold but if they do sit in water in spring beef farmers buy them $10-20 a bale
 

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