It’s that time of year, where insulation and ventilation are important. Heating an area can be expensive whether it is your house, the barn or cage for your large or small animals.
Straw bales, produced as a co-product of cereal crops such as wheat and rice or hay bales produced for either large grazing animals raised as livestock or for small domestic animals, they both have a low environmental impact, sustainable supply chain, and good thermal insulation properties. Their use has remained largely niche compared with other competing products.
Benefits of using Straw and Hay as insulation
Both straw and hay have huge benefits, they are both cheaper alternatives to other heating and cooling solutions as well as a high performing insulator.
They make great insulators as they are full of air pockets, air being a great thermal break does not allow heat to be transferred to sensitive areas like the inside barns where animals are living. By strategically locating hay and straw storage on your farm, you can save cooling and heating costs for barns and housing depending on your farm needs.
Inch for inch, straw bales insulate about the same as fiberglass, as they are so much thicker than typical rolls of insulation, they provide a stronger shield against heat and cold…. Straw is also easier to dispose of because it’s biodegradable.
Insulation during the Winter
We can also take this principle and apply it to a winter situation. As hay and straw are gathered in through the summer and stored for use during the winter, strategic storage can provide wind breaks for barns during the winter month. Keeping the prevailing cold winter winds away from the barn walls can significantly reduce heating requirements for sensitive chickens or piglets. Adding an extra layer of insulation, any heating within the barn is retained longer. Not only that, but the convenience of having straw or hay located close to the feeding and bedding area is a bonus. As the hay and straw get used through the winter, you are left with an open barn again that can take advantage of natural ventilation and prevailing summer winds.
With a little bit of planning this simple strategy help save you money on heating and ventilation costs in the long term. This strategy costs less than in the long run than installing bigger fans and bigger heaters up front. Both straw and hay are renewable products and natural materials, something we here at Baled are keen to endorse.
Here at Baled, we sell straw and hay in a variety of different sizes for a variety of animals from small to large, these size variations are also beneficial for insulating many different spaces.
Check out our products here: Baled Provides Quality Straw, Hay, Haylage & Lucerne in Cheshire