Top Considerations When Planning A Hay Storage Building

Effective hay storage is vital for supporting livestock's nutritional needs. Dennis Lee, farm product line manager for Morton Buildings, talked about key considerations to maximize functionality when planning a new hay storage building.

“As with any farm building, site selection is key," Lee said. "Good drainage for keeping water away from your hay storage building. A lot of these buildings are going to have dirt or gravel floors, which makes them even more susceptible to run off or infiltration of water from around them. Also, you're going to be coming and going in the wintertime, retrieving that hay from that building, and you just don't want it to become a muddy mess. Moisture is the enemy of hay, so if you want to keep that water well shed away from that building, and keep the inside of it dry.”

Height Is An Important Factor

Lee said an efficient building design also depends on the owner’s management approach.

“Are we storing small squares, large squares, and then, of course, there's a variation of size and configuration of round bales, and what type of bale and what size of bale you're handling is going to dictate the configuration of your building," Lee said. "The other thing to consider when you're planning the height of your building is are you going to have lights in that building? I personally have raked down some of the lights inside my building, you know, stacking hay bales too tall, because I didn't take into consideration those lights hanging down from the roof framing when I built it. If we're handling small squares, then that building is going to be more enclosed. If you're going to be handling large squares or round bales, you know, we may be talking about a building that's open down one side, and then take into consideration your prevailing winds. So, if we do something open-sided, we want to arrange it so that the open side is away from your prevailing winds.”

Durability, Lee stressed, is also a big key.

“Farmers, myself included, we tend to be rough on structures, and a hay barn is no different," Lee said. "So, you're going to be going in and out of this building, either loading or retrieving hay bales from it, generally with a large piece of equipment in the wintertime, quite often in the dark. So, when you're going in and out of a building with a piece of equipment, maybe in dusk or low light conditions, you definitely have tend to bump or nudge that building with a piece of equipment, and a durable, sturdy, long-lasting structure can take that abuse much better. It's pretty common to include things like what we call jam protectors or Ballards at those openings, so you actually nudge that Ballard rather than the building itself. And another really nice option is some sort of interior liner, so we'll go whatever height they want to go on the inside of the building with some durable number one grade tongue-and-groove two by eight, so it gives them something on that wall to push against."

For more information about buildings for your livestock operation, visit Morton Building's Website.