Since no one else seemed to be able to locate hay, I found my own. It took one call to a number on craigslist, and I had access to all the hay I could need. It was just that simple.
Of course, it was a four hour drive with the horse trailer in less than ideal conditions, but I made it there and home again just fine.
You know the problem with hauling hay?
You have to get the hay onto the trailer and stack it, get the hay off of the trailer, stack the hay in a place that is dry and out of the way, since there is really nothing more annoying than having to move hay every time I need to get into the back of my barn.
So, given my limited space, where would be the best place to store roughly 60 bales of timothy that's accessible yet out of the way for when my ponies finally come home?
I can't store it in the horse half of the barn, since that would effectively block off access to two stalls. So that idea's out even though that half is nice and dry and would still let me park my truck in the 'garage' half of the barn.
I don't want to store the hay in my 'garage' in case we have another winter storm. My poor truck doesn't want to have to sit out in the snow and I don't want to have to chip the ice off of it. So that's right out....
I did unload the trailer into the garage so that the ice/snow/water that drips into the trailer wouldn't wreck my hay... But it was not meant to be a permanent solution
It kind of takes over my garage.... |
Now for a math problem:
How does a hundred-something pound farm girl move 60 sixty-five to seventy-five pound bales of timothy hay from the garage to a hay loft 12 feet off the ground?
Any guesses?
Nope, I don't own a hay elevator. Or a tractor. Or any piece of heavy machinery that could do the job for me (darn!).
So, in true farm ingenuity I developed a method using 2 18' boards, a rolling hay bag and a rope.
Ta-Dah! |
The start of my hay stack in the hayloft during my first rest break |
Oh, that's a great idea! Also a great workout I'm sure :)
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