Best way to store hay

[Roselina]

Having had to get rid of about 15 kgs of various hay varieties due to my piggies having mites from the hay and of course not knowing which hay is infested.… I’m wondering how people store their hay ?
Ive never had an issue before (and I’ll thoroughly clean out my shed at the wknd) but I wondered what is the best way to store hay to keep it in good condition and avoid mites again
Is it better to get it in plastic packaging or in boxes
I usually use one main supplier and bulk buy and supplement with smaller bags of speciality hays
I’m not sure what to do now

 

[joalison]

As far as I'm aware hay mites/static mites come from the hay so it doesnt matter how well you store it..if theyre in it theyre in it. I had to stop buying a certain brand in bulk from Germany after finding out thats where my hay mites came from. Now i have a few brands I know are safe and dont venture out of them.

 

[Mrs Tiggy Winkle]

I don't know how best to store it, I'm sorry @Roselina
If it ever happens again, apparently you could donate it to bigger animals like horses or cows. According to my old vet, hay mites don't bother large types of animals at all.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Mites can come in regardless of how it is packaged.
However being in sealed plastic bags can mean it can sweat and then mould - you would want to open the bag to store it so it can breathe . Of course that doesn’t mean it hasnt sweated before you received it so you would always want to check it smells fresh.

I buy hay by the bale from a local farm and I store it in a bale bag.
Very occasionally I may buy a bag from a shop but it still gets tipped out of the bag and put into my hay bale bag

 

[Roselina]

I do always decant it to check it and put it into other bags I did receive a mouldy stale orchard hay in a box and it was in the shed for a couple of weeks til I got rid of it 2 wks ago so I’m now thinking that was possibly the source !

 

[Betsy]

I buy my hay from my local farm shop and store it in a hay bale bag in my garage where my piggies are housed in a hutch. It's always lovely and fresh no matter how long it's stored for.