Common mistakes to avoid when deciding where to build your hay shed
What factors should you be considering when building your hay shed. Here we list some of the most common questions we get asked, and also one of the most important.
With 15 years of experience behind us, the team at Spanlift know the ins and outs of placing down the ideal location of your hay shed. Over the years we’ve worked with a variety of clients, all wanting different outcomes for their farming operations. But most of all, they want a reliable hay storage shed that they’ll never regret, one that will improve productivity and guarantee protection of their valuable hay supplies.
So, we’ve put together a 4-point checklist to help you avoid the costly building mistakes which can result in frustrations and headaches for you and your team. Let’s dive into them:
Hay Shed Proximity to Paddocks
Once your hay is baled, moving it to the shed should be an efficient process. Avoid the frustrations by calculating your hay processing and transporting needs. Talk to your shed provider and ask them what the optimal position for your hay storage that helps you work smarter, not harder. Adhering or neglecting this consideration can either streamline the bailing and storing process or create extra work and headaches.
Similarly, proximity plays a massive part in mitigating rodent and insect infection. Placing your hay shed too close to your silos or machinery sheds can see an animal transfer, spreading any infestation. However, establishing the proper proximity can prevent this potential problem.
Privacy & Location of Your Hay Shed
No one likes someone looking over the back fence from the main road. We all value privacy and security. But these concerns are surprisingly often overlooked when we raise them with our clients. Looking at the path from the main road to your shed, have you considered:
- Privacy
Many of our clients will have transporters to collect hay for distribution. Does your path come within close proximity of your home and does this influence your privacy negatively? It’s a good idea to think about what’s important to you, your team and your family?
- Heavy vehicle access
Any truck driver will tell you a good road is worth its weight in gold. What does the path from the main road to your shed look like? For the transportation of hay between the main road and your hay shed you’ll want a direct and reliable road. Getting the location of your hay shed right in relation to your main road can save you money – no one wants to cut a new track if you can harness an existing one whilst also ticking the privacy box. The skilled team at Spanlift have time and time again struck a great balance between these points for our customers – and we can do the same for you!
Space Around Your Hay Shed
Not allowing ample space at the front of your hay shed is the number one mistake we see people make, and it’s easily avoided with the right advice.
We recommend once you’ve located your desired space, analyse the foundation and land itself to establish safeguards for future operations – this can pay real dividends. However, skipping this can cause major headaches in terms of vehicle access and more.
A great rule of thumb we have found to work time and time again is to allow ample space at the front of your hay shed – specifically equal space to the shed itself. Therefore, hypothetically if you had a shed that was 15m x 30m these measurements should be consistently present in the front of the shed too. Mirroring your shed’s footprint is a fail-safe way to facilitate ease when it comes to loading and unloading your hay bales.
Following this notion of space, a couple questions to consider are:
- Will there be much work needed on the land?
- Is there ample space for larger vehicles?
An additional consideration is the matter of drainage. It’s vital that your foundation helps water flow away from the shed rather than towards it.
Protection From The Elements
We know a Spanlift hay storage shed is the ultimate solution for safeguarding your hay. What we commonly see here in SA is strong weather incoming from the south and west direction. Therefore, establishing an opening facing the east is a sure-fire to mitigate spoiling as a result of weather exposure.
To learn more about Spanlift’s hay sheds, our build process, or a deeper dive into considerations relating to your build get in touch with the team here!