Have you any ideas and suggestions for making a quick, inexpensive, shelter for sheep

[soarwitheagles]

GW,

Thank you very, very much! I think you just saved me several hours by sharing your plans and pic on how to make a hoop house! I am very fortunate because I purchased a pallet of used cattle panels a few months ago, not knowing what I would use it for! Now I know exactly what I will do with it!

I often go to auctions, some times in the ghetto called lovely Stockton, CA. Many times people are just simply trying to get rid of stuff. Those railings in the pic were free because nobody wanted them. I hope to use them as lambing pens one day. The stack of metal studs was only $5, and the cattle panels were $15 for the entire stack. Due to budget restrictions, I rarely pay full price on the material I purchase. We cannot afford TS's prices at the moment.

I measured the panels a few minutes ago and they are 28"x16'. So I suppose I will need to wire them with the wire as you mentioned.

Quick question: Did you also attach the foam on the end runners to prevent the tarps from tearing? I was reading several DIY's blogs and several people were installing foam insulation on the end pieces of the hoop house...

Also, what are your thoughts on attaching the panels to the 2x4's? I was thinking I could router the 2x4 similar to what I did when making our first sheep feeder. Have you any suggestions?

 

[Goat Whisperer]

I have used heavy duty staples (the kind you use with a hammer) to attach the panels to the 2x4 (some places call them U nails)

Your panels look like hog panels. Cattle panel are 50 inches tall if I remember correctly. Those will still work, I'd use some 14 gauge fence wire to attach them.

I don't add any insulation. My goats would try to eat it You could grind down and sharp points if you thought it was needed.

Super jealous of those deals! I could really use a pallet of hog panels!

 

[Bossroo]

When you want to build a sturdy roof shelter... take those steel studs and screw them together with self tapping screws back to back so that they form an "I" beam and you will have a very sturdy roof frame and / or a frame for siding that you want to cover with plywood and / or steel roofing panels. Like a steel car port but stronger frame. Too, You can use the red junk panels for sides and use the steel "I" beams to use as framing for a roof , and you will have quite a large sized sturdy barn covered with steel roofing panels.

 

[Bruce]

AKA poultry staples, fence staples.

You can make lots of "hoop shaped" things with panels like that. Chicken coops, shelters, "arbors" for raising vegetables, greenhouses.

One way to build your shelter:
Pound the t-posts for ONE side in. Figure out how wide you want it and put in a few SHORT pieces of rebar or something for the parallel side, leave them sticking up a few inches. It will be about 7' high if 4' wide though I would think for a goat shelter, lower and wider would be better.

Lay the 2x on the ground and staple the panel to it with the sides butting up against each other. As @Goat Whisperer said, lace them together with wire. Since they are only 28" wide, you might need a "ridge pole" to help keep them from shifting around. Lay a second 2x at the midpoint of the panels (8') and another at the other end. Once they are all connected to the 2x's push it to the line of t-posts. Now you most likely want help. One person lifts the ridgepole, the other moves the far end toward the one against the t-posts. When you get to the rebar but the 2x on the other side of them. Then pound in the t-posts for that side and remove the rebar. The panel really wants to be flat so its "spring" will keep it in a hoop shape.

One person I know put plastic lattice over the panel to protect the tarp from chafing on the panels.

 

[soarwitheagles]

I have used heavy duty staples (the kind you use with a hammer) to attach the panels to the 2x4 (some places call them U nails)

Your panels look like hog panels. Cattle panel are 50 inches tall if I remember correctly. Those will still work, I'd use some 14 gauge fence wire to attach them.

I don't add any insulation. My goats would try to eat it You could grind down and sharp points if you thought it was needed.

Super jealous of those deals! I could really use a pallet of hog panels!

Thank you for sharing great ideas again! I appreciate you and the help you give.

When you want to build a sturdy roof shelter... take those steel studs and screw them together with self tapping screws back to back so that they form an "I" beam and you will have a very sturdy roof frame and / or a frame for siding that you want to cover with plywood and / or steel roofing panels. Like a steel car port but stronger frame. Too, You can use the red junk panels for sides and use the steel "I" beams to use as framing for a roof , and you will have quite a large sized sturdy barn covered with steel roofing panels.

Great idea on using the steel studs Boss. Believe it or not, I have been looking and waiting 3 full years for a good deal on the steel roofing panels and have yet to find a good deal. I am still patiently waiting to find a good deal on some. A rancher about 2 miles away had his old large barn torn down last month and it had over 8,000 sq. ft of the metal roofing, but he threw it all in the garbage before I had a chance to ask him. I would have been set for life with that much metal roofing! That metal works well for walls too.

AKA poultry staples, fence staples.

You can make lots of "hoop shaped" things with panels like that. Chicken coops, shelters, "arbors" for raising vegetables, greenhouses.

One way to build your shelter:
Pound the t-posts for ONE side in. Figure out how wide you want it and put in a few SHORT pieces of rebar or something for the parallel side, leave them sticking up a few inches. It will be about 7' high if 4' wide though I would think for a goat shelter, lower and wider would be better.

Lay the 2x on the ground and staple the panel to it with the sides butting up against each other. As @Goat Whisperer said, lace them together with wire. Since they are only 28" wide, you might need a "ridge pole" to help keep them from shifting around. Lay a second 2x at the midpoint of the panels (8') and another at the other end. Once they are all connected to the 2x's push it to the line of t-posts. Now you most likely want help. One person lifts the ridgepole, the other moves the far end toward the one against the t-posts. When you get to the rebar but the 2x on the other side of them. Then pound in the t-posts for that side and remove the rebar. The panel really wants to be flat so its "spring" will keep it in a hoop shape.

One person I know put plastic lattice over the panel to protect the tarp from chafing on the panels.

Thanks for sharing Bruce! I am limited on the 2x4's but recently found a great deal on 4"x6"s. I may use them simply because we have a lot of em' and they may make the shelter even a little bit more sturdier!

BTW, if anyone is in my area, I am selling the 4"x6"x16' pressure treated posts for $1 per foot!

I am also selling 6"x6"x16' for $1.50 per foot.

Oh no, I deviated from the main topic again! Ok, I will post the deal in the Buy, Sell, Trade area!

Have a great day everyone!

 

[Bossroo]

Hey Soar -- looking on the last photo , you have some steel piping at the top of the wooden posts. Those are for the top section for roof supports for mare motels. Those would be very handy as a support for the steel roof "I" beam roof supports as well as for ventilation at the top of the wall ends and under a roof overhang. With all of those wooden posts, you can build yourself a very nice and solid good sized barn (s)

 

[Baymule]

I built a hoop coop using cow panels. Here's step by step instructions.

http://www.theeasygarden.com/threads/hoop-coop.18291/

 

[Baymule]

I covet your junk piles! My DH thought I was nuts for dragging home used roofing tin, lumber, all sorts of things. I even made him drive 130 miles one way for treated telephone poles-I got 18 of them for $80!!! Since we moved and we are using all my "junk" he isn't laughing any more. We built a 36'x36' pole barn using....yep-you guessed it-my telephone poles! And we used my scrap lumber. I had to go buy 21 2x6x20' for rafters because I didn't have enough. (that hurt my feelings) We have a $30,000 barn out back that cost $8,000 including labor and brand new R panel metal with all the trim.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Hey Soar -- looking on the last photo , you have some steel piping at the top of the wooden posts. Those are for the top section for roof supports for mare motels. Those would be very handy as a support for the steel roof "I" beam roof supports as well as for ventilation at the top of the wall ends and under a roof overhang. With all of those wooden posts, you can build yourself a very nice and solid good sized barn (s)

Thanks again Boss for the great info. I wasn't sure what that metal was that I bought...but was hoping I could find a use for it one day. Now I know what it can be used for! Yes, I could build a good size permanent barn, but right now the concept of movable shelters is exactly what we need at this moment.

I built a hoop coop using cow panels. Here's step by step instructions.

http://www.theeasygarden.com/threads/hoop-coop.18291/

Bay, I am totally green with envy when I see such an incredible barn! Wow! I think to build something like that here would require a building permit and several other county "hoops" to jump through! For now, all I can do is admire your nice barn!

I covet your junk piles! My DH thought I was nuts for dragging home used roofing tin, lumber, all sorts of things. I even made him drive 130 miles one way for treated telephone poles-I got 18 of them for $80!!! Since we moved and we are using all my "junk" he isn't laughing any more. We built a 36'x36' pole barn using....yep-you guessed it-my telephone poles! And we used my scrap lumber. I had to go buy 21 2x6x20' for rafters because I didn't have enough. (that hurt my feelings) We have a $30,000 barn out back that cost $8,000 including labor and brand new R panel metal with all the trim.

View attachment 25247

Your barn can be summed up in one word: BEAUTIFUL!

PS Thank you for sharing your post on how to build a hoop house. Excellent pics and instructions and I will be utilizing your ideas.

 

[Baymule]

Soar, the hoop houses are so easy to make that you might make several and just leave them in place. It would save you from having to drag them around. I built a hoop run off my chicken coop at our old house and I had some 8"x6" untreated timbers that I had dragged home. I set them up on blocks so they wouldn't rot and extended the cow panels to the ground. This was a permanent setting, but I bring it up so if you have untreated lumber and want to build a shelter to leave in place, such as your furtherest pasture you might want to do something like this. Let me go looking for that picture.....

This was a run, so I didn't need to cover it with tin, I covered it with hardware cloth to make it varmit proof. By building the run frame up off the ground, it kept the rot and termites away and is still standing in our old backyard. In some of the pictures you can see something under the blocks. That was a Hardy Plank that was in a pile of reject lumber we bought at Lowes. I broke it up and used it for leveling the blocks. LOL