Storing Grass Clippings for bedding

[Banana01]

Is the point of using the grass clippings for insulation in the wintertime? Maybe post a picture of the coop to see if it would work. I dont think they provide that much insulation. A blanket would be easier.

 

[saysfaa]

hay undergoes a curing process once it is bailed. If not stored and handled properly the bales can heat up and set a barn on fire! I think that has happened to my grandfather's barn, prompting them to build in a ventilation system. In the case of chickens, it might not matter, but you cannot feed fresh hay to horses. It must rest a few weeks first.

Hm, I think you may have mixed a few things up. Or possibly there are regional terminology differences. Curing, in regards to hay, is the drying done before it is baled.

Barn fires caused by hay heating up happens when hay was not dry enough before it was baled. Basically, it starts composting. There should not be any significant changes after it is baled - like any dehydrated food for people or livestock. There is such a waiting period for haylage also sometimes called balage when it is made in the long plastic tubes. Haylage is preserved by fermentation instead of dehydration. Similar long plastic tubes are sometimes wrapped around hay bales instead of putting the hay in a barn.

Hello, I am trying to store grass clippings for use in colder months. Does anyone have any experience doing this without having molding issues? I have a lawn sweeper and tried storing it in a shed after i thought it was dry, but maybe it wasn't dry enough. Or maybe the humidity in the air did it. Perhaps it cannot be done, but just wondering if anyone has done it successfully. The pine flakes keep going up in price so I am trying to save money. Thank you for reading!

I do it on a very small scale - just enough for some variety of texture in the bedding. It isn't easy to do because the pieces are so small and homogenous that it is hard to get it dry.

I tried mowing it so it laid on top of the growing grass in a thin layer. The lawn grass under it had so much moisture that it didn't work very well.

I tried bagging it as I mowed then spreading it out to dry. That worked better as long as it is spread on a dry enough surface. And either spread thin enough or turned often enough - both are time consuming.

My solution is to gather what happens to dry enough by chance. This is usually, the top layer of the compost pile when the weather is dry enough that the top layer didn't mat into the rest of the pile or where grass is cut a few times a year to keep brush from growing rather than kept a short lawn.

 

[Pickensandchigs]

I have part of my pastured bush hogged and use the "clippings" for hay and supplement feed for my pigs and chickens.. I leave in on the ground in piles. It will get wet and accumulate bugs, but the chickens like that better anyway.

It really helps keep the coops fresh, adding something besides poop.