Hi Gary. If understand your sketch and suggestion: The shed has a center section 8 ft wide x 24 ft long which would hold (4) 6ft dia x 5 ft wide bales all on concrete. Use std 12" guard rail on both sides as neck rails and let cows/calves reach in through the guard rail to eat hay bales?  Extend cancrete out under eaves and slope away from hay? Sort of a permanent hay feeder?

More of feeder rather than hay storage?

I have been thinking more about a pole roof for a hay storage building but I like your idea better!  I really appreciate your design and cost estimate. This could make a lot of sense. It eliminates a lot of the mud issues in my winter sacrifice area.  Spring cleanup would be a lot easier also. 

Your feeder wouldn't take up much more room than I am using now. I think if I understand you correctly I would just load bales from the end and could have cows/calves on both sides giving me 48 ft of feeder + maybe 8ft across one end which should be adequate for my 30 brood cow target.

Do you think 2 guard rails would allow them to get in far enough to get the middle? I guess its no different from them reaching in on an 8 ft dia ring for a 6 ft bale now. 

BTW here are the rings that I use (in addition to the cradles) that do not seem to cause loss of eartags.

Early last week I finally got time to wrap about 1/3 of my hay bales. These will be the last that I use in the spring.

At first I thought you were talking about hay storage. But I have pretty much ruled out a hay storage building big enough to hold enough bales for 30 cows for 6 months + a few more to have behind my steers grazing corn. Just takes too much space and sits empty for half the year.  Wrapping part of my hay seems to work and as they hay is gone in the spring the spot where they were stored becomes good grazing for part of the season.

But I like this idea of a permanent feeder structure.  And after about 2" of rain today that concrete sounds especially good. Bales would sit on concrete with very little waste. I could push any left in the middle out to the edges. Leave a nice tractor ramp on one end with a gate....

I think I have a project. Since it seems like winter moved in today - beautiful day yesterday, heavy rain (needed, not complaining) and wind today, falling temps and probable freeze up in the next couple days it will probably be a project for next spring/summer.

Thank you very much for the idea and time put into details and post.  Maybe the concrete thing is contagious??? ;)

Jim