Barns- What do you love or would change about your barn?

[julieq]

I love our 100 year old dairy barn and it's plenty big enough for the goats, but if I had the money to build another barn I'd make it big enough to house our two horses also.

 

[goodhors]

Rather than going further away from house, maybe you could make a "raised bed" area to put the new barn on. We did that for our horses. all the ground here is low. It was an enormous pile of dirt, left to weather over two winters while we saved up for the barn itself. Being exposed to rain, snow, cold, got the sand, fill mix, settled well before we needed to use it. After all the building, shell and horse stalls inside, we poured cement floors. I think in the 36' x 60' building, there is one floor crack and that is from a woodchuck getting under.

Having the barn raised has aided stall drainage, keeps everything above any flooding from the drainage ditch going nearby. And we do get some flash floods since we are on the down side of the field drain before it runs off to the river. Horses have dry beds, hay storage stays dry.

We put in enough dirt to raise everything about 5 ft, after the dirt settled. Every time you got some money ahead, we ordered some more fill mix. This is not sand, or dirt, kind of a road mix fill. Dirt advice was from BIL, who was a pole barn builder, did the barn part for us. With new construction there is ALWAYS some settling of things. Having "old dirt base" means much less movement or issues over time.

Doing construction in stages helps spread out the costs as well. Shell sat a year before we had time and money to build the stalls and cement the floors. Handy as husband is, we had to wait to buy roughsawn lumber for stalls. Paying cash saves on getting a loan, and we had a very small barn that horses stayed in until we finished this one.

Here in Michigan, that overhang really was never much use to us. Just drifted full of snow blocking the horse trailer in solid, not wide enough at 8ft to keep the rain off when the wind was blowing. A few years later we added on a lean-to shed for parking vehicles in using the overhan as part of the roof. Extended roof out another 14ft, with a new sidewall. That worked out very well. Doing it over, I would have moved my outer walls to rafter edge and skipped the overhang. Would have been NICE to have more inside space.

Consider having sliding half doors or a garage overhead door. Either is easier to use in winter weather than full size door. I want to be able to drive into my barn, so BIG doors are required for trucks and wagons of hay. I have a 12ft aisle front to back, very easy to use tractor, spreader, drive the horses and carriages thru, get the farrier truck inside. I would never want an aisle narrower, they get congested too easily. Even with goats as the main occupants, being able to get things in and out is a big priority. I back the truck in to unload grain BESIDE the feed room. Saves carrying those heavy bags over distances. That gains more importance as you age!!

Something else to plan well is a year-around driveway with a solid base. You do want to be able to drive back there, not get stuck with a load of hay or trailer to load animals into.

A paper model with correct dimensions of house, other barn, garden and paddock areas, then your "accessories" of truck, tractor, ATV, that will be working around the farm, can show where a handy gate, WIDER driveway between things, will help. Do you have a parking area if you have machinery to keep it out of the way? A good area for turning around with a hay wagon or trailer, for deliveries. Making a tight fit in good weather, leaves you no wiggle room if you have to plow snow or ground is icy to drive on, you start sliding. I LOVE gates, they save me steps, ease how I can work around the place, so I have a LOT. Think about having them in convenient places for your layout. Mine are all 14ft to get moderate farm equipment thru, with a couple 4ft walk-thrus for the yard exits into barnyard. Some will swing to open or close off the barnyard to pasture choices. EXTREMELY handy.

How about water supplies? If the ground freezes, you will want any waterline deeper than normal if you drive over it. Tire weight seems to "push" the frozen crystals deeper into the ground with traffic. Is the well protected from animal runoff? Perhaps a run of drain tile could reduce mud, speed runoff of low water places in spring. Husband says dirt is cheaper than dealing with water and spoiled hay, bedding after flooding. French drains are VERY popular around barns.

And even just putting on a new roof, that older barn could be great for storage, vehicle parking when the new barn is set up. We still use that little barn quite a bit for many things.

 

[patandchickens]

It isn't goat-specific, but to me the very biggest thing for a barn is that it be built on high ground with EXTREMELY EXCELLENT drainage and a gravel-amended well-compacted area around it to be all-weather and relatively mudproof.

Even if you put the new barn on a hilltop you STILL would really really benefit from doing the gravel or roadbase area around it. Mud happens pretty much everywhere, in Ohio, from what I recall

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[elevan]

Thank you for the input everyone! Keep the ideas coming. I'm sure this post will help more people than just me

Do you intend to always "hand milk"?.Do you feed concentrates while milking ?I would suggest a concrete floor for this area with power ,water, heating and refrigeration for the milk.Off tasting milk is usually associated with contamination,dust ,feed etc.I would suggest a small area outside the milking room to feed concentrates( the goats soon learn the quicker they give their milk the quicker they get their reward)...How do you milk ,side or behind?..

I milk with a suction based hand milker. Not any plans to add a machine. I will be adding electricity so considering a refrigerator is a good idea.

Do you intend to have yards or a small paddock running off the barn?If so ,and if you can access one ,a decent sized "boulder",up to about a "ton"(it saves a lot of "hoof trimming").

The boys will have a "yard" and the girls will have a much larger area.
Thank you for the idea of the boulder...I'll have to see if I can incorporate that.

We just finish last fall building a new barn...so I know how you feel. I spent hours walking around trying to get a flr plan down. But I have to say...if you are milking...make a milking room for sure...and shevling to put all the tools up and anything that can be stored out there.

Shelves are definitely a great idea that I'll incorporate. Thank you.

PS We have added sand to the bottom of the barn in lieu of soils...it made a world of differance for us this year because the sand works well for keeping wetness down!! It carries the liquid away...almost like a leach field!! It really does make a differance!! The soils will hold alot...Sometimes my husband can be brillant!!! Shhh dont tell him that!!!! LOL wink

I have thought about crushed limestone. It would compact down to be like concrete but still allow good drainage since it is porous. Has anyone used this method?

Rather than going further away from house

It's actually much closer to the house. I listed the current barn in yards from house and the new one in feet from the house...so the current barn is about 225 feet from the house and the new one would be between 100-150 feet from the house.

Consider having sliding half doors or a garage overhead door. Either is easier to use in winter weather than full size door.

Something else to plan well is a year-around driveway with a solid base. You do want to be able to drive back there, not get stuck with a load of hay or trailer to load animals into.

I definitely want sliding doors. Opening my chicken coop has been such a chore this winter with it's normal doors that swing open. argh!

The new barn would be situated perfectly with the existing driveway to alleviate the need to hand carry feed.

How about water supplies? If the ground freezes, you will want any waterline deeper than normal if you drive over it. Tire weight seems to "push" the frozen crystals deeper into the ground with traffic. Is the well protected from animal runoff? Perhaps a run of drain tile could reduce mud, speed runoff of low water places in spring. Husband says dirt is cheaper than dealing with water and spoiled hay, bedding after flooding. French drains are VERY popular around barns.

Running water is definitely something that I want to incorporate...there is an older existing well right next to the spot...plan to see if it is still viable

t isn't goat-specific, but to me the very biggest thing for a barn is that it be built on high ground with EXTREMELY EXCELLENT drainage and a gravel-amended well-compacted area around it to be all-weather and relatively mudproof.

Even if you put the new barn on a hilltop you STILL would really really benefit from doing the gravel or roadbase area around it. Mud happens pretty much everywhere, in Ohio, from what I recall wink

And thanks for making me think about adding drainage even though it will sit on higher ground.

And even just putting on a new roof, that older barn could be great for storage, vehicle parking when the new barn is set up. We still use that little barn quite a bit for many things.

The plan is to gradually refurb the old barn for storage or as a hay barn with raised floors.

 

[rebelINny]

I love the fact that we have a pretty large barn but for starters I would LOVE to have more stalls. I currently have five stalls for kidding and whatnot but I would like to be able to have 2 goats per stall especially in the winter to make sure they all eat the same amount of hay and grain and no one gets shortchanged because they aren't as aggressive as the others. During the summer they love to stay outside anyway except when it rains but I definitely would like to have about five or six more stalls, but then I would need another barn or at least an addition

 

[elevan]

Ok sooooooo......looks like we may redo the old barn after all.

Talked to the guy the other day who put in our pond and looks like he still owes us some labor time...so he's gonna fix the drainage around the barn. He lost one of his laborers last time (broken ankle) and I filled in running some of the heavy machinery (course didn't get paid) so that's where he's coming from on it Doesn't matter either way that water problem needs fixed. And maybe I'll get to run some heavy machinery again! He offered me a job last time! If I wasn't a married woman and would have had to travel out of state with an old man I barely know (though he was a friend of my Dad) then I would have taken it!

We still need to add on a little to have everything that we want. And of course it needs a new roof

We'll get pictures of old and new and post here when complete. But I'm not posting old until I can post new

Thanks for all the input. Feel free to keep adding more!

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Want to see pix? I'm very proud of mine

Although I do have a drainage issue on the horse side this time of the yr when the bazillion ft of snow melt. I'll be dealing with that this summer for sure.

 

[AlaskanShepherdess]

Maybe we should start a thread fro pictures of everyones barns. I am in the middle of planning my barn as well.

 

[elevan]

Maybe we should start a thread fro pictures of everyones barns. I am in the middle of planning my barn as well.

just add them here

 

[elevan]

Want to see pix? I'm very proud of mine

Although I do have a drainage issue on the horse side this time of the yr when the bazillion ft of snow melt. I'll be dealing with that this summer for sure.

Sure RockyToggRanch! Post away!