Containers for ranch and agriculture storage

Ranch storage in the Great Basin has to survive more than a pole barn usually can. Summer heat, winter cold, wind that drives snow and dust through every gap, and mice that will find any opening wider than a pencil all work against the feed and gear you need to keep in good shape.

A shipping container is sealed steel on all six sides. Set on a level pad near the corrals or the shop, it becomes a dry, lockable store that does not need framing, siding or a crew, and it is ready to use the day it comes off the truck.

The biggest reason is pests. A container that is wind and water tight has no gaps at the floor line or the eaves, so grain, mineral, seed and saddle blankets are not shared with rodents. The second is security: chemicals, fuel cans and tools can be kept behind a lock instead of in an open shed.

There is also speed. A barn is a project; a container is a delivery. Many ranches start with one box for tack and feed, then add a second for equipment or seed once they see how well it holds up.

Check the gaskets around the doors and look inside with the doors shut for any pinholes of light. Ask about the floor, since feed bags and tack trunks sit directly on it.

A 40 ft high cube is the size most ranches settle on. It gives about 320 square feet of floor and an extra foot of height, which matters when you stack feed or hang saddles on the wall. If the box will mostly hold a few pallets of mineral and some tools, a 20 ft is easier to place and costs less.

Cargo worthy is the right grade for most ranch work. The box is structurally sound and dry, and the dents and weathering it picked up at sea will not matter next to the corrals.

Many ranches set the container near the shop or the main gate rather than out by the pasture, so feed and tools are within reach of the truck in every season. If snow drifts in your yard, face the doors away from the prevailing winter wind so you are not shoveling before you can open them.

A 40 ft container comes off a tilt bed truck that needs about 100 feet of straight run in front of the spot, 12 feet of clear width through gates and 14 feet of overhead clearance. On a ranch the long run is usually easy; the questions are soft ground, cattle guards and overhead power lines on the way in.

Railroad ties on compacted soil are a practical, inexpensive base on rural ground. Set them level, put the container on top and keep it off the dirt so the floor stays dry through spring melt.