Old (REALLY OLD) Hay...what the heck to do with the stuff

[Dave5264]

Well, our Farm is now our Home, time has come to get some fresh hay Bales into the barn for the Horses. Problem is cleaning up the old loose hay thats on the floor of Barn.

Its a huge 35x70ft Gambrel Roof Bank Barn, and the upper hay storage area has up to 12" of old loose, dusty hay in it (and goodness knows wat eles is in there), thsi stuff has been up there for at least a decade.

I need to fork it all outside (yes I have some Respirator masks), i dont know of any other way to remove it....but...what do i do with this stuff, that adds up to quite a pile of hay.

do i Burn it this winter?

do i till some of it into the vegie patch ?

will it rott down?

is there a danger leaving a whoppin' pile of old hay at the back of the Barn for a while?

I thought about trying to find a silage(Sp?) cutter, to chop it all up and spread it on the fields ?

Ideas ?

thanks !

 

[teststrips]

I'd just put it in a pile somewhere that it can compost/rot, which it "should" do once water starts hitting it.... if you have a low spot that likes to hold water and/or mud - that would be the best place for it to compost. You may also need to "mix" it with your tractor bucket (or do it by hand) every few months.

Keep it away from your buildings though - composting materials can sometimes spontaneously combust (catch on fire).

 

[studor]

I am in the process of doing the same thing - I have to reconstruct the floor however because the hay ended up rotting it. My beam walking skills have gone up considerably Last time I had to do it I piled it in a big pile and watered it. I then used the FEL every month or so to push it around and re pile it. It went to compost in less than a year. This time I am mixing it with some dirt scraped from the barn floor and it should compost even faster. My wife really likes the compost for her gardens
If you really want to get rid of it quickly you need to burn it while it is still dry. The problem I found with burning it is you must be prepared for a fair amount of fly ash and the problems that creates.
Big pile -- away from the barn -- (to compost it will generate heat) -- use it next summer -- JMHO

 

[Lloyd_E]

As studor and teststrips says...

Or you could find someone doing a straw bale stucco house and see if they want it for fill or
to mix with 'mud' for the exterior.

I would also use it for fill in any low area... it will compost down eventually.

Can you fork it on a large tarp and haul the tarp out of the barn with a load or do the same thing if you have a trailer? May be messy but could you wet it before dealing with it - would
cut down on dust but I wouldn't leave wet material in barn. It is amazing how fast it starts to compost and generate heat.


lloyd

 

[20 20]

As mentioned above or put it out for free, it works great for starting a new lawn garden etc. Around here folks are allways trying to get old hay to fix lawns.

 

[MikeD74T]

Since you've got to handle it anyway - hand feed it to a baler then call the road construction companies in your area and offer them a deal on mulch hay. I have a coworker that gets rid of all his low quality hay that way. The construction company just drops off a box trailer & picks it up when full/end of season. Bob does some contract haying where the people just want it cut & removed but don't fertilize, etc. MikeD74T

 

[Duffster]

The easiest thing is to spread it on a field with a manure spreader.

 

[Dave5264]

thanks for the ideas Guys.

im glad i asked, i wont simply fork it out the big back door in a pile and leave it by the barn, ill make sure i can get it on a trailer and into a field.

it appears to me that there are Tarps under the hay..i may be able to roll it or bundle it after i get the bulk off and winch it out withthe ATV or pull it via ropes with the tractor out of the bank side of the barn

 

[studor]

If the flooring is still good underneath the hay then they might have laid tarps down to prevent rot. I am forking mine down through the old feed chutes between floors and into a trailer. Then out to the pile and forked off
The moving job is really not that bad -- its balancing on the beams while doing it that gets to you! -- the hay has been there about 20 years.

 

[RickB]

Properly made hay WILL NOT rot a wood floor unless there are open doors or windows, or a bad roof that allows water in. It may be a nuisance and need to go, but dry hay by itself (loose or baled) won't do damage if the barn is sound and closed.

 

[JC-jetro]

I use old beat up old hay bail as mulch material in the garden and till them in in the fall. Getting it out of the barn easily is the difficult part of it. Pitch fork and whole bunch of sweat to get it out of the barn.

JC,

 

[studor]

RickB -- you could be right but I do know if the hay gets wet at all that it just holds the moisture in the wood and it rots very quickly. In the old bank barns I have had the mow floors have rotted through where covered with hay but not in the areas without hay -- you could draw a line where the rot is and the hay was -- and the thicker the hay covering the more rot. -- Just an observation

 

[Duffster]

RickB -- you could be right but I do know if the hay gets wet at all that it just holds the moisture in the wood and it rots very quickly. In the old bank barns I have had the mow floors have rotted through where covered with hay but not in the areas without hay -- you could draw a line where the rot is and the hay was -- and the thicker the hay covering the more rot. -- Just an observation

The hay isn't the source of the moisture, it is just keeping the floor wet like a mulch in the garden.

You need to take a real good look at your roof.

 

[Dave5264]

Studor,Duffster, we sound like we're in the same boat, my floors are pretty iffy. Though the hay is dry and its not the sole cause of the rot i dont think.

mine is an old cattle Barn, and likely the heat/moisture that came from the lower cattle level upwards is what caused much of it. the barn was build in the 20's. the upper post and beam section is in pretty nice shape.

the floor of that upper part is not great and the cement foundation is bad in a few spots. I had the wall behind the bank section straightened out 2 yrs ago, it was leaning badly. Its now been Buttressed and i put eves trough on the barn to help water drainage.

my focus for now is to prevent further deterioration until i can afford the time and $ to renovate it.

i think ill get a sawmill and do my own timber, it may be the most cost effective.

 

[Dave5264]

I use old beat up old hay bail as mulch material in the garden and till them in in the fall. Getting it out of the barn easily is the difficult part of it. Pitch fork and whole bunch of sweat to get it out of the barn.

JC,

Thats what i figure ill do for now. ive got a huge vegie patch that we only use a small part of just now. keeping the weeds down is ****, my wife tills it weekly. this may be a good soluton to 2 problems.

 

[JC-jetro]

dave,

I do not add any chemical fertilizer or pesticide on my garden patch. I have done weekly tilling for two weeks, on my hand and knees pulling stuff out to no avail. I got my push mower at the lowest level and scalped the surface and I still had weeds galore. It appeared I was rejuvenating them by my cutting as they'd come back looking stronger. It took me 4 hrs and a 1500 lbs bail that I peeled off by hand layer by layer and covered the garden. It mats down a bit, it totally denies weeds light for photosynthesis, keeps the ground nice and moist (no chance of rotting the floor). actually it's like tropics under the one foot thick mulch. Soft body crawlers seems not like to crawl on the spiny rough surface. By the way, I never watered my tomatoes but once and that was 8 oz cup per plant when I originally planted them. Rain has been friendly and timely as well. Things that like to sprawl like squash love to float on top and the fruits are clean and disease free.

JC,

 

[Toffy]

I use old hay in trails i have cut in my woodlot. I spred the hay out and retards new growth. In time after driving over it it becomes part of the trail and I don't notice it anymore. Cuts down the mowing by about 75%. It's great for the soil as I never use weed killer.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

If you have plenty of ventilation in the barn can you use a good strong leaf blower to blow it out the door or will the hay not pick up and move that much?
Another question if you use the hay in your garden won't it start to sprout new stuff eventually and cause you more work of pulling weeds?

 

[JC-jetro]

The hay I used was pretty old and dry stuff. There is no soil contact on top, bottom and middle is pretty hot, moist and dark. It seems they would want to rut before sprouting. I'm looking for a 3 month window of not hassling with the weeds and then they all get tilled in. I think the major key is blocking the sun.

JC,

 

[studor]

Dave and Duffster -- in my case the roof is not the problem -- the moisture has come in over the twenty years through blowing snow, driving rain and condensation. Then as Duffster says the hay acts like mulch, trapping the moisture in the floors. If the hay was not there the floors would be sound.The roof in my case is metal with no rust and a few very small holes
(.22 after pidgeons I suspect)
Tree Monkey -- after sitting for twenty tears you would need a tornado to move that hay -- and in my case it would probably move the barn before the hay!
JC -- I will your weed prevention method this weekend -- just never thought of it