# Barn location



## Coolbreeze89 (Oct 17, 2019)

I’d love some experienced opinions:
I’m planning a new metal barn for my 7 Kunekune pigs and 9 Nigerian dwarf goats. My husband and I are debating location.  The red spot would be closest to house for ease of access, but not near the pasture (I’m concerned about smell that close to house). The yellow spot is just inside the gate to the pasture. I thought the blue spot would allow me to subdivide the pasture around it and more easily move the animals to the different areas.  The pasture area is about 1.5 acres, though currently they all roam the pasture and the 3 acres or so surrounding the house. Right now I have the animals’ temporary shelters set up in the (faint) red box between the red and yellow dots (shelters not seen in this pic).  The pasture currently only has 4 wire cattle “fencing”, so I’ll be adding 4’ no-climb fence to the perimeter and interior, based on recommendations from y’all!  I promise to add more gates than I think I’ll need.


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## Baymule (Oct 17, 2019)

Set the barn where it will be convenient to you and where you can make the best use of it for the animals. The blue and yellow spots are close to the road, it makes for easy access for thieves. Yes, there are goat rustlers. Do you have big dogs that bark? 

Haha, sounds like you have been studying fencing threads! Non climb is the way to go and LOTS of gates! Some people add electric hot wire also to keep animals from rubbing on the fence and help keep predators out. Are coyotes bad where you are? If we didn’t have our Great Pyrenees, we wouldn’t have sheep, coyotes are bad here. 

We have 8 acres, it is 300 feet wide. The sheep barn is between the house and the road, horse barn behind the house and the Pig Palace is to the front/side of the house. We raise feeder pigs, sometimes the smell wafts towards the house, but for the most part, it is faint to not noticeable. Sheep and horses don’t stink. They have clean poop! LOL


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## luvmypets (Oct 18, 2019)

All i can say is dont build it where water could run off/flood the space.


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## Coolbreeze89 (Oct 18, 2019)

Baymule said:


> Set the barn where it will be convenient to you and where you can make the best use of it for the animals. The blue and yellow spots are close to the road, it makes for easy access for thieves. Yes, there are goat rustlers. Do you have big dogs that bark?
> 
> Haha, sounds like you have been studying fencing threads! Non climb is the way to go and LOTS of gates! Some people add electric hot wire also to keep animals from rubbing on the fence and help keep predators out. Are coyotes bad where you are? If we didn’t have our Great Pyrenees, we wouldn’t have sheep, coyotes are bad here.
> 
> We have 8 acres, it is 300 feet wide. The sheep barn is between the house and the road, horse barn behind the house and the Pig Palace is to the front/side of the house. We raise feeder pigs, sometimes the smell wafts towards the house, but for the most part, it is faint to not noticeable. Sheep and horses don’t stink. They have clean poop! LOL



I have one 3 yr old pyr/toli and am working on training two additional 8 month old pyr/toli pups.  We have never had a coyote on my property thanks to my dog, but I hear the packs most nights and they’re closer than I’d like.

That road is ours, thankfully.  There’s a 6 ft privacy cedar fence that runs between our road and the neighbors.  The rest of our property perimeter has 8 foot game fencing (our property was a deer hunting operation before we bought it).  We added barbed wire to our gates along our access road, too (the paranoia of former city-folk! ). 

I’m thinking I’ll put the barn in the yellow spot, though, as luvmypets pointed out, I’ll need to monitor rain collection out there for the exact spot.  We have pockets that stay wet due to small springs.  That general location would also reduce the cost to run electric/water from the existing barn.  So many factors - I appreciate the input from experienced folks like you.  Thanks!


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## Coolbreeze89 (Oct 18, 2019)

luvmypets said:


> All i can say is dont build it where water could run off/flood the space.



Thanks! I’ll definitely watch this.


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## Baymule (Oct 18, 2019)

You got it covered with the fence and dogs!! Springs! Wish we had a spring! Lucky you! Definitely put barn and lot/corral on a high spot. How many acres do y’all have?


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## Coolbreeze89 (Oct 18, 2019)

Baymule said:


> You got it covered with the fence and dogs!! Springs! Wish we had a spring! Lucky you! Definitely put barn and lot/corral on a high spot. How many acres do y’all have?



We bought the property 8 years ago, but started living here full time about three years ago, after I retired. We have about 8 acres around the house, but three of that isn’t usable for my animals as there is a ravine in one “pasture” that is not well fenced. We have another 100 acres of wooded land with trails. We’re fortunate that we don’t have wild boars on our property, but they’re all around us, so we pay close attention to our exterior fencing. Nothing like some sows in heat to draw them in!

When we bought the property, I didn’t understand how important it is that we live above a large aquifer. The property already had two wells plus “city” water.  Better to be lucky than smart! The whole process has been exciting and overwhelming, but I love the challenge and learning all I can.


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## Baymule (Oct 18, 2019)

There is a high wire fenced 1,000 acre ranch behind us that has exotic deer. The fence is offset from the property line by three feet. The entire ranch is skirted with 3’ of wire, laid flat and hog ringed to the bottom of the fence. That keeps out coyotes and hogs. 

I can’t think of a better way to spend retirement than living on a farm.


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## Beekissed (Oct 19, 2019)

I chose the yellow spot as well...it's at the edge of your pasture and closer to an access road, far enough away from the house to keep smells and sounds where they belong, but close enough to access water and electric lines.


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## microchick (Oct 23, 2019)

We bought our homestead from an Amish couple.  He built the barn uphill from the house...it's like....duh...every time it rains. Plus, there is another slope that runs from my chicken coop to the north so everything from that field drains towards the barn and then towards the house. It was like "what the heck was he thinking?" The house should be where the coop is, the barn and chicken coop where the house is.

My best advice is to walk your property, look for the highest area and avoid it. Choose one of the three sites that has the flattest building area away from any rises or low areas and build there. Like mentioned by others you will be happiest without run off.


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## Coolbreeze89 (Oct 25, 2019)

microchick said:


> We bought our homestead from an Amish couple.  He built the barn uphill from the house...it's like....duh...every time it rains. Plus, there is another slope that runs from my chicken coop to the north so everything from that field drains towards the barn and then towards the house. It was like "what the heck was he thinking?" The house should be where the coop is, the barn and chicken coop where the house is.
> 
> My best advice is to walk your property, look for the highest area and avoid it. Choose one of the three sites that has the flattest building area away from any rises or low areas and build there. Like mentioned by others you will be happiest without run off.



I never thought about waste runoff, just flooding...great point!  I have learned too much about rainwater runoff, as the person who originally built our home built it on a downslope, overlooking a ravine...with a basement below the level of rain runoff.  Sigh.  We had a massive french drain system installed this spring to resolve the basement water issues with heavy rains. Knock on wood, not a drop since the install (wish we would have done this a few years earlier!)  Now, I am obsessed with water runoff patterns.  Keeping in mind everyone's suggestions, I am constantly thinking about pros/cons of every possible site.  Now I have one more great feature to consider. Thanks!


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## Baymule (Oct 25, 2019)

A  basement, in Texas? What were they thinking?   I would love a basement, but if we dig a post hole, it fills with water. Texans just aren't meant to have basements.


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## Coolbreeze89 (Oct 26, 2019)

Baymule said:


> A  basement, in Texas? What were they thinking?   I would love a basement, but if we dig a post hole, it fills with water. Texans just aren't meant to have basements.



So true! The house is built overlooking a ravine.  The back of the “basement” is fully above ground, but the front-facing side is fully underground (and well below the peak of the hill the house is on).  The main floor is above the peak, so has no water issues, but that front wall was getting hit with all the water pouring through the sand (we have the same powdery sand ground that I’ve seen you describe).  Very poor design of the structure.  Thankfully, I have a local contractor I trust for practical, cost-effective answers to such problems!


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## Baymule (Oct 26, 2019)

Maybe build a low non-porous wall in front of that side of the house? Landscape it and call it architectural interest?


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## Coolbreeze89 (Oct 27, 2019)

Baymule said:


> Maybe build a low non-porous wall in front of that side of the house? Landscape it and call it architectural interest?



I had the contractor dig a 12 foot trench along the front of the house, to below the level of the basement floor, “upstream” from the water coming down toward the basement.  He installed a waterproof membrane along the house side, put a French drain at the bottom (that runs several hundred feet around the house and down to the ravine), then backfilled the entire drain path with big rock.  Final covering by the house matches the landscape “rock garden” (the runoff from the roof in heavy storms destroys anything but rock beds, so the house is now surrounded by them) and sod in the grassy area. We’ve had zero water in the basement since, even with 8-10” in 48 hours.  Very thankful it worked!


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