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Homemade Hay Stack - Temporary Hay Storage


We don't have a big barn to store hay in and we want to make better use of the small shed that we do have. Looking around the internet I found a neat little hay storage solution at this site. That site (One Scythe Revolution) got me to thinking seriously about buying a scythe since we don't have a hay mower and only use a small amount of hay. Anyway, here's how to make my version of Botan Anderson's hay rack:


Materials:        6 - 2x4's 8 feet long
                       12 - 2x2's 8 feet long
                        polypropylene rope (like a ski rope or heavier)    
                        2 plastic tarps or plastic sheeting for ground and top cover


Tools:              Drill with 3/4" bit
                       Measuring tape (you can also guess and be fine)
                       Lighter to burn ends of rope

1. Drill 4 of the 2X4's. Drill two holes in each 2X4, one hole about 4 inches from the end:

And the other hole about 20 inches from the other end:

2. Tie the 4 2X4's together through the holes at the 4" (short) end and spread them out tee-pee style over your ground cover.
You can loosely tie the rope and then tighten it after the boards are in place. I used a square knot.

3. Cut 4 ropes about 2 feet long and loop a rope through each hole at the other end of the 2X4.

4. Slide the other 2 2X4's through the 2 loops on opposite ends of the tee-pee.

5. Space 6 of the 2X2's across the 2X4's on the bottom to start a platform.

6. Lay the other 6 2X2's perpendicularly across the first 6 to make a cris-cross platform.

7. Stack with hay, then cover. It will supposedly hold a ton of hay, but I only had 10 bales. This went together in about 30 minutes and knocks down easily for storage.

    - Daddy


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Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 6, 2012 at 12:20 PM

    W.O.W. Do I ever need this!! Thanks for linking up a great idea!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Owen Family at Far Better FarmsteadOctober 6, 2012 at 7:22 PM

      Thanks! It seems to be working great - we had 4 inches of rain earlier this week and the hay is still bone dry and easily accessible. We didn't take a picture with the tarp on top, but we just threw a large tarp over it and weighted it down with a few rocks. Michelle lifts the edge of the tarp to access the dry hay inside.

      Delete

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