Livestock trailer as a meal store

[JohnGalway]

Next year I will likely have to buy meal for lambing in big bags or get it blown into....... something. A proper silo is out of the budget and I have a neighbour that'll cause issues. Too many tipsy/jfc type meal bins would be required. Ratty will eat his way into IBC tanks. Small regular amounts aren't possible.

So I was thinking what if I buy an older livestock trailer. Sheet up the vents and above the back door and put meal in there. The trailer will be kept in a shed that has space boarding and an open door. Could moisture be an issue in this scenario? Would I need to insulate the trailer and best way to do so?

Thanks.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

Does the budget stretch to a shipping container? A decent trailer fit for the job will cost similar to a container I’d have thought? We’ve got 2 20ft containers plus the 15t silo. Work really well

 

[Dry Rot]

Rats, I'd say. I used an old van, the blighters found that quick enough. I've wondered if rabbit netting around the wheels, then electrified with fencer, would keep them out?

 

[Henarar]

We used to keep cow nuts in a 5 ton grain sided tipper trailer outside with roofing sheets over the top, never had any bother with it getting wet

 

[spin cycle]

i converted an old livestock trailer into a pigeon loft....but rats got in ..feck knows how

small tipping trailer would be better i think

 

[Highland Mule]

Wouldn’t buy anything. Get the cake on totes as and when needed and stick them on a pallet in the shed. If you’re worried about rats, get a tame cat and give them a few tins of food to keep them around but not enough to make them lazy.

Hep many tonne will you use over the spring? I probably use about 6 or 7 and do the above.

 

[JohnGalway]

Does the budget stretch to a shipping container? A decent trailer fit for the job will cost similar to a container I’d have thought? We’ve got 2 20ft containers plus the 15t silo. Work really well

Shipping container was my first thought an preferred choice, reckon I'd get a trailer half the price or less. Containers gone very dear over here for some reason.

Wouldn’t buy anything. Get the cake on totes as and when needed and stick them on a pallet in the shed. If you’re worried about rats, get a tame cat and give them a few tins of food to keep them around but not enough to make them lazy.

Hep many tonne will you use over the spring? I probably use about 6 or 7 and do the above.

Probably 5 ton or so. I don't have the option of buying small amounts as and when as there may not be the availability of organic grains that time of year.

 

[DKnD]

4-5T simms bin was about £500....about 5 or 6 years ago. Needs to be inside though.

Feed Bins - Symms Fabrication Agricultural and Small Holding Supplies. Agricultural Fabrication, Symms Agricultural, Agricultural Supplies, Small Holding, Small Holding Supplies, Small Holding Fabrication, Farm Equipment, Farm Storage, Agricultural F

 

[Nithsdale]

Next year I will likely have to buy meal for lambing in big bags or get it blown into....... something. A proper silo is out of the budget and I have a neighbour that'll cause issues. Too many tipsy/jfc type meal bins would be required. Ratty will eat his way into IBC tanks. Small regular amounts aren't possible.

So I was thinking what if I buy an older livestock trailer. Sheet up the vents and above the back door and put meal in there. The trailer will be kept in a shed that has space boarding and an open door. Could moisture be an issue in this scenario? Would I need to insulate the trailer and best way to do so?

Thanks.

How are you fixed up - will it be living outside or do you have shed space?

If outside get a container (aware you've said they're getting hard to get and gone expensive) - they can be locked properly so secure, and rats ain't getting into one unless its rotten!


Indoors you have more flexibility - those metal frame/wooden feed bins would do a good job... it all costs something though. Even old stock trailers are getting expensive for what they are and rodents can get into them too easy

 

[Highland Mule]

Probably 5 ton or so. I don't have the option of buying small amounts as and when as there may not be the availability of organic grains that time of year.

Can you not buy it in the autumn and schedule deliveries a couple of totes at a time? I call December or so to get a price and then just tell them the week before I’m running low.

You can get a week or two of buffer in a few 200litre plastic barrels with the clip lids if you don’t trust yourself to notice it’s running low.

 

[Al R]

@Mc115reed does it a lot

 

[David.]

Sorry to say, but whatever bins cost, you only cry once.
Bagging feed out of trailers, etc is dusty and miserable work every day.

 

[Nithsdale]

Sorry to say, but whatever bins cost, you only cry once.
Bagging feed out of trailers, etc is dusty and miserable work every day.

So is bagging feed out of a bin... it's the feed that's dusty not the trailer

 

[Highland Mule]

Sorry to say, but whatever bins cost, you only cry once.
Bagging feed out of trailers, etc is dusty and miserable work every day.

It’s 5 tonne over a winter - say two tonne a month at the height. That’s three bags a day, tops. Hardly enough to get excited about and never going to be “miserable work”.

 

[DieselRob]

Something like this??

 

[delilah]

Something like this??View attachment 1141075

Yeah, something like that, but I wouldn't be buying anything off Ken Perkins if you were thinking of it making it to Ireland

(Only joking Ken )

 

[delilah]

 

[Mc115reed]

@Mc115reed does it a lot

It’s never in there much longer than a day though just bag the f**ker up once it’s in… but you’d be suprised how much it a 14ft trailer a ton takes up… you’d not get much more than 4 ton in a trailer

 

[Dry Rot]

I think about five 45 gallon drums will hold a tonne....but I could be wrong. Just trying to work it out in terms dog food per barrel. 4 cwt/barrel?

 

[Tomo23]

I think about five 45 gallon drums will hold a tonne....but I could be wrong. Just trying to work it out in terms dog food per barrel. 4 cwt/barrel?

I'd say you need 10, certainly of the plastic teat dip barrels. We use them at work with tops cut off for calf blend. A barrel will take 4 25kg bags of blend. So 100kg in a barrel.