Bale Storage Buildings

With rising feed costs it has become apparent that we need to be more efficient with our feed ingredients to stay competitive and keep a reasonable cost of gain.  One way we at Hoop Beef System® have found to do this is with a building to store our corn stalk bales for both feeding and bedding use.  We have found that you can have  up to 30% spoilage of cornstalk bales after the spring/summer rain season.  Spoilage also negatively affects feed consumption when these bales are used for roughage.

We have found that dry bedding goes further and lasts longer in the pens,  this allows for the use of less bedding and increases the manure value per ton.

Here in NW Iowa at our feedlot Grand Meadow Feeders we have found the average price of a large 6’ cornstalk bale in fall/winter is approximetly $35 per bale. We will also show that you can build this building yourself with equipment you may already have at your operation.

This winter has been very mild and we have seen a lot more rain than snow which makes the point even more, “What does it cost me” to have my feed stuff and bedding supplies out in the elements.

A  320 head Hoop Beef System® building will use roughly 328 cornstalk bales for feed and 320 cornstalk bales  for bedding per year. 

	Bales per year	converted to tons(w/ 1250 lb bale)	Savings using HBS bale storage shed—30%	Savings using HBS bale storage shed—60%
Feed usage	328	205		$5,166 *
Bedding usage	320	200	$2,520

* We used 60% spoilage to estimate the cost of feeding ground corn stalks that are wet or soggy from being stored outside.  With today’s ethanol by-products our rations are close to 50% dry matter with dry ground cornstalks.  Once dry matter of the ration gets below 50%, the ration will become hard to feed and cattle’s consumption will suffer.    Feeding cornstalk as a roughage in our rations has proved to be helpful in keeping ration cost competitive while still providing the roughage cattle need.

We also want the roughage to be stored under roof after its ground so that it can be fed dry  as well.  Ground cornstalks should be stored in a commodity shed with other feed ingredients.

Building Sizes and Pricing

36×60 –  140 bales –  $11,155

36×120 –  280 bales –  $20,485

36×200 –  466 bales –  $33,445

36×250 –  584 bales –  $40,810

36×300 –  700 bales –  $48,970

This includes building package and lumber and construction manual with blueprint (shipping not included- call for details)

Construction—It’s Easier than you may think

There is a 6×6 post every 5’ on each side and 2 rows of 2×6 boards and then the hoop structure from there, which can be done from an average tractor with loader or skid loader.  We provide a detailed   construction manual to help with construction with more help just a phone call away.  Our 36×250’ shed was put up in just 2 days with a crew of 3 guys.  Once finished we recommend a layer of gravel and some landscaping to drain runoff from the building.