[RonMinch]

Hi, How do you keep your feed? I have in the past bought in more bags of pellets to save on return visits to the suppliers and cheaper . I keep these in a stable on a pallet, I have then found on occasions mold growing on the outside of the paper sacks, after a week or so. They dont get wet but the area is damp due to condensation and continual rain. Any thoughts on how best to keep feed stuffs fresh longer. I have recently change supplier feed now in plastic sacks but wonder if mold forms inside the sack on the feed.

[hughesy]

I think the simple answer is that you'll have to find somewhere dry to store it.

[graham-j]

Hi,I used to keep mine in a wooden shed and it seemed to get very damp even in the plastic sacks though they were better.With the plastic sacks they only get damp along the top of the sack where it is stitched,and you can always take the top damp bit out.
I now have an old caravan some one gave me I keep my feed in there and to my surprise it keeps very well in it.No dampness at all.

Graham

[Sylvia]

All my feed is in an old caravan with plenty of bits fallen off and stored in metal dustbins, pig food, dog food and chicken food and it keeps really well.

[chrismahon]

Mouldy feed leads to sour crop and possibly fungal infections, which are very difficult to cure RonMinch. As Hughsey says there is really no option than to find somewhere dry to store it. Ours was in a shed, which stayed fairly dry. But now is in an outside room with a dehumidifier, as we are now storing it for longer periods. Generally feed goes off in 3 months and starts to degrade (depends on manufacturer and packaging) -check the 'use by' date on the label.

[zarzar]

we keep all ours in the black dustbin type container and have a big wooden box lined with a plastic sheet to store extra bags in as we buy monthly never had a prob with them.

[HesterF]

I'm guessing empyting it out of sacks will help - certainly plastic sacks won't let it breath well so it's more likely to go mouldy (like bread in plastic does whereas it just dries out otherwise). Mine's in metal dustbins in a nissen hut. The ends of the hut are open to the elements so often very wet but for some reason the middle feels a lot less damp than some of our other outbuildings - probably to do with the air flow through. Anyhow I only tend to buy one bag at a time of each food type so they maybe last a month - two tops? So probably not much use if you're thinking of storing for ages.

 I was looking at buying bedding by the pallet because I can't seem to get a decent price on hemp bedding by the bag which means I'd have to store it for months - now you've posted this, I should really have a decent think about whether it's sensible,

H