# Rodents & Hay



## joecool911 (Jul 3, 2010)

Just put up a ton of hay for the winter. Great, fine texture and they eat every scrap. How do I keep rodents out of it? It will be under a carport on pallets and covered with tarps to protect from driving sideways rain.


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## Nanno (Aug 30, 2009)

I must've missed this post the other day. I hate to tell you, but I've never heard of anyone who was able to keep rodents out of their hay. Cats can help, but they can only do so much, and they pee on the hay more than the rodents do. You can put poison down, but that's always a risk to other animals. I've never bothered to even try keeping rodents out of my hay, but I've never experienced any problems from letting the mice and rats set up house in it.


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

I never have them in my hay. Under it, living in the gap between the hay and the ground that the pallets make, sure. But never in the hay. Traps, bait, cats. About the best you can do.


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## Nanno (Aug 30, 2009)

Yeah, Dave's right--they never get into the hay bales themselves. They just make nests under them and in the cracks between or behind them, or between the top of the hay and the tarp. They really don't harm anything. The worst thing I've ever had happen with rodents is that the occasional bale has popped when I picked it up because a packrat chewed a hay string. But that's happened like twice in all the years I've had hay, so not really a big deal.


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## Catahoula (Feb 12, 2013)

Mine are stored in a enclosed shed. We had mice in there before but had sealed all holes and openings. Haven't seen droppings in there for the past year... At least I tell myself...the is no more mice.


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