Tips for Hay Storage Safety

 

 

Hay Storage Basics

 

• Storing your horse’s hay for maximum freshness is an art and science. If you have the basics of hay storage down, you can keep your investment free of problems.

 

• The temperature at which we store hay is mainly out of our control, but we can influence the moisture content. There is more dry matter loss (wasted hay) as moisture increases.

 

• When there’s a lot of moisture in the hay, this provides the perfect environment for microbes, molds, and mildew to grow. If temperatures are warm and the moisture has decided to set up shop, mold and mildew snowball. You will have a lot of ruined hay. This also becomes a fire hazard.

 

The baling process impacts storage protocols

 

• As hay is grown, cut, dried, and baled, the moisture content must stay between 15 and 20% at the baling time. The timing of baling can minimize the moisture in your horse’s forage.

 

Prevent Moisture and Spoilage

 

• When you create a storage area, consider four things. You will need:

 

• • A solid floor that doesn’t absorb moisture.
  • Ventilation and lots of it.
  • A covering to prevent damage from precipitation and the sun.
  • Rodent control.

 

Flooring for storing forages

 

• Despite being quite solid, a concrete or dirt floor will allow moisture to seep into the bottom layer of hay, even when under a cover.

 

• You want to create a layer between the ground surface and the hay. A thick layer of gravel, tires, wooden pallets, or anything else elevating the bales off the ground is ideal.

 

• When your hay resources become low, this is a great time to move your pallets or tires around and sweep out any bits of hay that have (or could) become mouse and rodent housing.

 

• Pallets are easy to find – feed stores, home improvement stores, and supermarkets often have them.

 

Pallets are easy to find – feed stores, home improvement stores, and supermarkets often have them.

 

Ventilation is vital for hay storage safety

 

• Unfortunately, spontaneous combustion is a thing. And if hay heats too much, spontaneous fire can occur. Providing maximum air circulation reduces this risk because warmer air has a way to escape.

 

• Because warm air rises, ventilation is ideally located above and to the sides.

 

• You can use exhaust fans at the storage site; many don’t even require electricity, which also helps keep things safer.

 

• Fresh air will also help maintain the freshness of the hay.

 

Proper storage of hay protects against rain and the elements

 

• Rain and snow feed the petri dish, causing hay to spoil.

 

• The moisture content can double, effectively ruining the entire lot.

 

• The nutritional value of uncovered hay can drop 1/3.

 

• Uncovered hay can also shrink, adding to losses.

 

• Unsecured and uncovered hay is an open invitation for other animals to eat, some of which carry disease.

 

 

Tarps vs. roofs vs. buildings for hay bale storage

 

• You can cover your hay stacks with tarps or a roof or store it inside.

 

• Ventilate tarps should have several openings on the side. Also, stack bales with several inches between to help ventilation. Large round bales need several feet between them for safe storage.

 

• Open-sided buildings risk added moisture as rain and snow blow in, so consider using tarps there, too.

 

• Elevate outside storage so rainwater doesn’t collect in the area.

 

Rodent control around hay storage and feed rooms

 

• Rodents and their arch-enemy, the snake, live where the food is. They usually occupy a 20-ft. diameter from the food source, which means their daily commute from home to snacks is short.

 

• You will have fewer rodents when you use traps in the area, have barn cats and dogs, sweep up feed rooms, and keep loose hay off the ground.

 

• And while rats and mice won’t necessarily eat hay, they will use it for bedding or completely move into haystacks.

 

Round Bales vs. Square Bales

 

• It’s much easier to manage storing square or rectangular bales. They tetris-stach themselves nicely.

 

• Round bales are often left to the elements for storage and feeding. This will decrease the quality and increase the waste if left in the wild.

 

• But what about wrapping round bales? It gets confusing sometimes, and you will hear terms like haylage, silage, and baleage.

 

Haylage and Silage

 

• After grass is cut, it can become hay or silage. Hay has a low moisture content, is baled when dry, and is stored as square or unwrapped round bales.

 

• The grass can be stored long-term when ensiled. This process is a specific way of storing crops to preserve them in anaerobic conditions (without oxygen).

 

• Microbes ferment the grass’s sugars into acids without oxygen, changing the forage’s pH. When this happens, usually after three weeks, the new environment prohibits microbe activity, thus preserving the forage, now called haylage or silage.

 

• The easiest way to ensile grass is to create round bales from freshly cut grasses and then wrap them in plastic. Or, it can be chopped and stored in air-tight silos.

 

• Haylage, sometimes called baleage, has around 15% to 40% moisture, translating into 60% to 85% dry matter (DM). Silage has over 40% moisture, with less than 60% DM.

 

Haylage and silage for horses isn’t a great storage idea

 

• It’s easy for haylage or silage-wrapped bales to have hot spots of contamination. There could be soil, deceased animals, or manure that ends up wrapped and can create botulism if fed to horses. Botulism is highly toxic and can cause death, but there is a vaccine.

 

• There’s also the distinct chance that the plastic wrap has an opening for moisture to enter, messing up the fermentation process.

 

• It’s considered unsafe for horses to eat haylage and silage but safe for livestock.

 

 

Hay Loft Safety and Fire Prevention

 

• Storing hay in lofts above the barn is convenient and dangerous. A fire in the loft becomes a fire in the rest of the barn in the blink of an eye.

 

• It’s also a fast way for dust, mold, mildew, and allergens to fall onto horses below if there are openings to the stalls.

 

• Your farm insurance will sometimes increase if hay and horses live in the same place.

 

 

Make hay lofts and hay storage areas safer with these tips:

 

• Keep hay off the floor, even though there is zero risk of soil moisture soaking into the hay. Elevating also boosts ventilation.

 

• Leave room between the small square bales for more airflow.

 

• Sweep frequently to discourage mice and rats from collecting nesting materials.

 

• Fix any roofing problems that allow water into the loft.

 

• Regularly inspect electrical wiring and use conduit over exposed wires.

 

• Using vents, exhaust fans, and keeping windows open.

 

• Install a lightning rod on the barn.

 

• Ideally, an indoor storage hay structure is about 75 ft. from the stalls, but sometimes it has to be a loft.

 

• Have fire extinguishers in logical locations. Be sure to use extinguishers designed to handle electrical fires and hay fires. Your local fire department can also help you with barn safety and fire prevention.

 

This article has excellent specs for building a hay storage area.

Why does hay need to be kept dry?

 

Dry hay helps prevent molds and microbes from growing in the forage. Lower moisture also prevents hay from heating up too much. Moldy hay can be toxic to horses, and you will waste money replacing it.

 

Is old hay safe for horses?

 

Older hay is more likely to have mold growth. The forage quality and nutritional value will be poor and may have extra dust from long-term storage. Dust and mold can create respiratory, digestive, and allergy problems.

 

This hay loft would be better if the hay were on pallets or tires.