# Old hay



## jenkat86 (May 20, 2014)

Our landlord is having the concrete in the barn capped at the end of the month. This means we have to clear out everything from the barn, but half my barn is full of old, dust, moldy hay. Half of it is still in bales and the other half is loose. I've been dumping a gator bed full when I dump the manure in the field, but I haven't even made a dent in it. 

I've thought about putting the baled hay by the road with a "free" sign on it. I will make sure that it is advertised as NOT horse quality but as for the loose hay...Could I spread it on my bare parts in the pasture (the pasture without horses in it) and possibly reseed with it? Has anyone ever done this? Success, yes or no?

Either way I look at it I want it gone. I don't really care if it blows away, but I would like to get a little something out of it!


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## Dustbunny (Oct 22, 2012)

Sounds like burn pile fodder to me. I can't think of a single use for old musty hay. It's an inconvenient mess. I feel for you.


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

Dustbunny said:


> Sounds like burn pile fodder to me. I can't think of a single use for old musty hay. It's an inconvenient mess. I feel for you.


Ditto. I wouldn't even feed it to cattle or goats.

Get a burn permit and have at it


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Regardless of what you do with it....

_Can I suggest wearing "DUST MASKS" anytime you are handling this to protect your lungs from the mold and dust particles.._
Make sure the horses are not downwind either of the floating dust and mold. 
Several hours after moving any of it the horses can return to the barn once the cloud dissipates. 
You need to protect the horses just as much as your lungs for the same reasons...
:runninghorse2:...
_jmo.._


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## jenkat86 (May 20, 2014)

Horselovinguy- I will definitely be taking those precautions. I learned the hard way a few years ago moving dusty hay. I ended up with pneumonia two weeks later. The horses will be on the north side of the property and the wind generally comes from the west/ north west.


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

Local landscapers sometimes like old hay to spread on new grass.. but seems like the wrong time of year for that. Agreed burning sounds like your best bet. Good luck!


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

Stick and advert in your local Craigslist or such like

FREE, all you have to do is come pick it up, older hay, not for horses

or such, and maybe someone will come rake it away..


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Old hay is very useful for landscapers and gardeners, for all kinds of mulching. For example planting trees (which will be in winter if your ground doesn't freeze hard), winter protection for tender shrubs, all kinds of stuff. 

If you can advertise it to those people you might get rid of it. 

Ecologically, burning stuff that will naturally compost if you just let it alone, is a bad idea. At my house it would be used to mulch ditches and anywhere there was bare soil. 

Get a really good dust mask that seals, the kind that make you sound like Darth Vader.


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## secuono (Jul 6, 2011)

Use it to fill low areas of the property. That's what I do with it and all manure. 
Or CL it for gardeners.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Where ever your chose to put the hay on unused fields, put down a thick layer. Flatten it with a fork but you want it a good 6" deep. The seeds will drop down and make contact with the soil and grow and the hay will rot and make good soil. I did this with a patch of ground which wouldn't grow grass because of the high acid pine needles. The trees we removed and had raked the needles two years before but the area was still sorry looking. The following spring the new growth was coming up, nice and green and thick.


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## Nutty Saddler (May 26, 2009)

With winter coming I use my old moldy hay for 'raised heat beds ' - layer of hay interspersed with horse muck and stall waste, wetted down with a cold frame and you can grow veggies all year - need to be 1m deep and about 2m wide * 4m long so a lot of waste material needed . I also use moldy straw & alfalfa

Also like saddlebag says a good layer on stale pasture will grow like new - the old straw will protest young shoots from hard frosts and cold


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

You can only reseed with it if it is full of seeds. I have bought grass hay like that, where when you pick up a bale it drops lots of seeds.
Many hay people don't bale after the crop has gone to seed.
ALL vegetation can be used for mulching and to fertilize. Don't worry about your horses eating it because they won't.
If you have the room and a backhoe, you might want to dig down a patch and bury it. Decomposition occurs much better when it's buried, so that the bugs and microbes get a chance to work on it.
The area where it was stored REALLY needs attention to clean up any mold. If you store good hay on top of a moldy area the good hay will mold, too and it can happen very quickly, literally overnight.
I'd be much more concerned about that than what is being removed.


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