Are containers good for farm storage?
For feed, seed, chemicals, parts, tools and anything that has to stay dry and locked, a shipping container on a farm is one of the cheapest storage buildings you can buy: steel, rodent-resistant, delivered in about 7–10 business days, no slab or permit in most unzoned county land. It is the wrong box for equipment too tall for the 7'5" door and for hay in any real quantity, where an open pole barn still wins.
What it is actually good at
Feed and seed. Sealed steel keeps rats, raccoons and weather off bagged feed in a way no shed does. Vent it, keep bags on pallets, and it stays dry through a Pine Belt summer.
Chemicals and fuel cans. Lockable, away from the house, and the floor is treated plywood you do not mind a spill on. Check your own label rules for anything that must be kept cool.
Parts, tools and the things that walk off. A 20ft by the barn with a lock box becomes the parts room for the tractor, the fence tools, the chainsaws and the gate hardware that otherwise lives in the back of the truck. See securing a container.
Hunting camp storage. Out in Perry, Greene or Stone County, a container at the camp holds stands, feeders, corn and the four-wheeler, locked, between seasons. A one-trip box in a plain colour draws less attention than a bright used one.
Where a pole barn is the better answer
Equipment. The door opening on a standard container is about 7'8" wide by 7'5" high (8'5" on a high cube). A compact tractor with a loader, a round baler, anything on a tall trailer will not go in. For machines, build the open shed; the container is for what the machines use.
Hay in quantity. A 40ft will hold a few hundred square bales stacked tight, but hay wants air, and a sealed box full of hay that went in a little damp is a mould problem. A few bales for the horses, fine, vented; a season's crop, no.
Anything that needs a wide door. Containers open at the end. If you need to drive through or load from the side, either buy a roll-up side door kit from the accessories page and have it fitted, or build the barn.
Siting one on a working place
Put it where the truck can reach: a straight, firm run of about 110 feet for a 20ft or 130 feet for a 40ft, which on a farm usually means beside the drive or on the gravel by the barn, not down the pasture. See delivery access.
Blocks or a gravel pad under the corners, on high ground. A container set on bare dirt by the barn will be rusting underneath in a few years and sitting in water every spring. Most unzoned county land needs no permit for a container, but if you are near a town or in a zoned part of the county, one call to county planning settles it.
A 40ft high cube is the farm favourite — double the room for not much more, and the headroom for stacked feed. See the 40ft high cube WWT. See containers for sale — delivered price by ZIP
Buying a container?
Longleaf sells used and one-trip 20ft and 40ft shipping containers, delivered by tilt-bed across the Pine Belt. Enter your ZIP for the delivered price — it comes straight from the supplier feed and already includes the haul. Locks, vents, shelving and lights are on the accessories page. We sell; we do not rent.
- 20ft Standard Cargo Worthy (used) — from $2,885 delivered
- 20ft Standard One Trip (new) — from $3,635 delivered
- 20ft Standard Wind & Watertight (used) — from $2,470 delivered
- 40ft High Cube Cargo Worthy (used) — from $3,525 delivered
- 40ft High Cube One Trip (new) — from $4,925 delivered
- 40ft High Cube Wind & Watertight (used) — from $3,210 delivered
- 40ft Standard Cargo Worthy (used) — from $3,525 delivered
- 40ft Standard One Trip (new) — from $6,355 delivered
- 40ft Standard Wind & Watertight (used) — from $3,160 delivered
Keep reading
- What are the interior dimensions of a 20ft container? — 20ft container dimensions: exact interior length, width and height, the door opening that limits what fits, the high cube difference, and what it holds.
- How do you stop condensation in a container? — Stop condensation in a shipping container: why steel sweats in south Mississippi, the vents, fan and desiccant that fix it, and what never to put in one.
- Buy a shipping container or build a shed? — Shipping container vs shed: the real cost of each once you count slab, labour and time, where a built shed is the better building, and where the box wins.
- Using a shipping container as a feed room on a Mississippi cattle or poultry farm — How to set up a 20ft shipping container as a farm feed room in Mississippi: two vents, shelving, leveling on pasture, and keeping feed, minerals and meds dry.
- Storing hay in a container on a Pine Belt farm without mold: vents, pallets, cured hay only — How to store hay in a 40ft shipping container on a Mississippi farm without mold: about 300 square bales, pallets, vents low-in high-out, and cured hay only.
Across the Pine Belt
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