365 Days in Horse Country – Hay Storage
Keeping Horses on your property means storing bales of
hay. The amount of hay you store at any
one time depends on how many horses you have, and how much room you have to
store it.
The key when storing hay is to keep it dry. When water penetrates a bale of hay, mold quickly grows. This mold is toxic to horses and can make them very sick. Most horses will avoid eating it, but some don’t seem to know any better, or are too hungry, and will ingest it anyway.
If storing hay outdoors, make sure it is well covered by a shelter or tarp. Take wind into account when you are covering your hay; rain rarely falls straight down.
Also, if you use a tarp, don’t bother covering your hay if it gets wet before you have a chance to get out the tarp. Covering damp hay only encourages mold to grow. If you are storing square bales, wait until the rain stops and then open each bale, separating the flakes to let air in to dry them out. Get it up off the wet ground or pallets too, because mold will quickly grow underneath the hay.
When storing square bales on top of pallets, keep an eye out for rodents that may take up residence between the pallets and the ground. Keep the area under the hay cleaned out as well so they have fewer places to hide.
Michael