Your farm/ranch feature must-haves!

[whinneysfarm]

I am in the planning stage of my next farm and I would love to hear everyone's ideas, opinions, and advice on features that you must have on your farm or ranch. I'm looking for what makes life so much easier, especially as we age! What have you done/put in that you love, or what do you regret not doing? What would you do differently or wish you had to make your life easier?

This was inspired by some chatting on a different thread, and a really important feature mentioned was wide gates/barn entries as well as tall entries to easily fit and maneuver tractors, trailers, and other large equipment. Let's hear your thoughts!

Tagging the ones that inspired this discussion so you can add your thoughts (I hope it's okay!): @Baymule @Finnie @SageHill @farmerjan

 

[farmerjan]

One other thing that comes to mind besides the "wide enough gates and doorways in barns" is if the land is situated so that you are going to do rotational grazing of some sort... and it has the space/room... having an "alley way" that is at least 16 ft wide so that you can run animals down to the field you want them in without going through other pastures.... you can open the 16 ft gate to the field/paddock you want them in and they will go right down the alley and into the place you want them... there are variations on this... MAKE sure the gate opens both ways... and it is handy to put the gate at the end of the alley fence so that when they go into a field, the gate can open out to direct them into or out of the field... and opens in against a dividing fence so that a vehicle can be gotten in more easily or for moving them in the opposite direction down the alley to another section... Run the alley either down the middle with pastures/paddocks on either side, or along one side. It can be grazed by leaving a gate open to the field that the animals are in.... We use the alley as an enticement because the grass is taller, "greener" than in the pasture they are in so they naturally want to come out through the gate when we call for the "better grass".... once in the alley, they can be "pushed" and called to the end and out to where we want them. Can be used as a "catch lot" in this manner to get in certain animals or groups into a more confined space.
Waterers .... run lines to pastures along where the fence lines are going to be... If this is to be permanent basic pastures... waterlines and even an electric wire for say electric fencing, underground will allow much more versatility in cold weather. A pasture can be set up and then further subdivided with electric for more rotational grazing, so having some electric hookups helps... a couple of frost proof water faucets or actual waterers in fencelines so they service 2 different pastures is helpful; then if you use electric later to make smaller sections, you can do so to allow access to the waterer and not have to lug water troughs all over the place.
Water tanks on a small trailer are useful if no available water in fields... pain to have to take and refill, but will allow for more flexibility in dividing up pastures for grazing.

Sit with a piece of paper and pencil and draw out possible divisions/fences BEFORE you ever put in the first post. Have a plot of the land and where the rocks/ledges/woods whatever... are.... walk the land you are thinking of fencing and get a feel for the natural contours of the land... wanting to run a fence "here" only to find out that it goes right over a rocky bluff... when a little time will allow you to find an easier and more sensible "jog" to make it work....

If you are going to be moving many animals by trailer... think about the space needed to get a truck and trailer into the "barnyard" area... how easy it is to back up to a loading area....how high off the ground the bottom of the trailer is for "shorter" legged animals to load....and make the loading "chute" as STURDY as possible. SOLID sides or closely spaced boards are best for safety of the animals and less distraction for loading.

There is an old saying for cattle.... load narrow, unload wide... in other words make the loading chute narrow to single file move them on to a trailer and wide to open the full size of the back of the trailer to unload. That works best for any that are being loaded into the big trailers where they have to walk single file up a chute..... That said, NO, we don't do that... to load in the trailer we have one chute... full open door to load and unload. We do have 2 gates in the alley so they can not run back out and go to the end of the alley ... push them up to a point and shut the "cut gate" and then they can't go back but so far.

All this said.... one thing we have done is work the cattle through the alley and the chutes without catching them so they get accustomed to the facilities and the noise/confined quarters.... not so scary...
I have trained many of my pigs to load themselves on the trailers... feed them in there a few times and they will be ready to hop right in... same with skittish animals.. start them eating at the back of the trailer and then put the feed in the trailer... weeks before taking to butcher... so they will go in on the day you want them to load... calm animals make for more flavorful tender meat....

 

[Mini Horses]

Agree with @farmerjan . I DO have a 16' alley in middle and entire length of farm. I usually keep a couple CPs hooked to a post by fence. Sometimes I've had a "jail break" and didn't want to open a gate. Goats, ya know. Gates at each end of alley. Convenient to drive thru and feed sometimes. I have an offset about mid way that's big enough to turn a truck if need be. Underground water lines run entire length and close to, on one side of, fence line. Water cutoffs above and below ground at various places. Reinforce fence corners well. They love to congregate and argue there.

In same mode, plan for your catch and containment to treat any animal. And special areas for males vs females (breeding farms) as well as weaning young, both housing and paddock, pasture, etc. Fast, temp housing sometimes...tart & CP.

I do have water and electric at buildings. A few electrical outlets out and away. But solar hot boxes for far pastures. Not AS hot as plug ins but enough if trained.

Every farm is different and the same. . Ageing thoughts? Don't. But since that can't happen, learn to adjust. Consider weight of item, gates swing free, etc, things on wheels, a rope pulley, a sled in winter.....those types of things. Always have a few temp fence panel for repair....damage is always when there's no time to repair properly!

 

[canesisters]

Whatever size barn/shed you are planning on - double it.
If you're planning on a dirt floor - see if there is any way to raise, gravel or concrete it. Damp/Wet floors in the winter are miserable; and are moldy in the summer.
Try to plan out every possible water & electric need and run underground lines. A few years of running 200feet of hose from the house to the barn - and having to drain that hose every night during the winter (across the dog's yard ) and I was ready to get a 2nd mortgage if necessary to get water at the barn! I WISH I had electricity in the chicken coop, but they're pretty easy and the headlamp is enough - usually.
If you're planning on livestock - have at least 1 paddock that is 'escape proof' AND has easy access of water & feed. Having somewhere to put the moms & newborns for a couple of weeks - or - somewhere to stuff that stubborn Houdini cow/goat/ram/pig until you can make other arrangements will save your sanity a 1000 times over.

 

[Margali]

Sketch out your master plan and then figure out how to implement in stages. Money doesn't grown on trees unfortunately.
For example Phase 1 was new driveway and utilities to house for ~$25k. I've spent past year without electric at shed and using 350ft of hose to water sheep. I'm starting Phase 2 utilities to sheep shed and driveway. The water line and electric panel were setup so it will be easy to add to them.

 

[Baymule]

I’m in a new place. I’ll be going through a lot of the same stuff you are—all over again!
My barn in Lindale had a 12’ wide alley. Not wide enough! Needed to be 16’. It was 15’ high, could drive a cab tractor through it.

I’m on the fence for barn/shelter for the sheep. I don’t know if I want a big central barn or smaller barns in each field.

The driveway runs between field 1 and field 2. So one barn would require moving sheep across the driveway twice a day.

Also thinking a starburst pattern from barn/shelter and a lot with gates for each “Ray”. Open pasture gate, water and feed at the barn and I don’t have to fool with water in each pasture.

Then I like the alley down the middle with pastures off each side, but my property is not square or rectangular.

Here’s an idea for you, I went to the survey office and got extra copies of the platt of the land. I’ll make copies to scribble on and take the best scribbles to transfer to a platt.

 

[SageHill]

• Like @farmerjan said -- walk the areas you intend to fence. I had grand plans for the pasture/turnout --- but on walking it found that one of the long sides was riddled with runoff trenches 18-36 inches deep and fairly wide. I had to move where I wanted that fence-line. We could've dozered or bobcatted those - but with the way the land here is when rain happens I'm sure it would be a recurring nightmare.
• Water lines to your different pastures/working areas - with cut-offs close to where you are sourcing the water. Good for freezes as well as emergency shut off without having to shut off all your water.
• Tractor and UTV --- I use both and very glad I have both.
• Sort/squeeze chutes.
• The aisleway in my barn is solid rubber pavers - Softstep. Love them. When I had the crazy horse they were what saved her from flipping - long story for another time. Easy to clean and looks great.
• Nice to have and not costly - solar lights that you can put on gates. Solar Predator Eye - we've got local coyote pack (~5 or so animals) - I've got these in the pasture/ turnout and in/on trees and various fence lines. Thought being that it is a nighttime deterrent. I have yet to see a coyote or other animal go through areas where they are (knock on wood).
• Automatic waterers. Filling buckets takes a lot of time.
• Hang on to those wood palettes - great for all sorts of things.
• Something I like - though with reservations - I have Softstall in all my stalls. great stuff (thick rubber pad covered by a thick rubber sheet/top- but be prepared for "extra" cleaning of urine and using a fair amount of shavings.

 

[Margali]

A planning tip, search county name or town name plus "GIS server". That will get you the official map of your area where you can turn on layers like parcel borders, elevations, flood zones depending on how it's set up. You can see examples on my ranch journal.

 

[whinneysfarm]

Such great advice from all, thank you everyone!

Building on farmerjan's last thought, desensitizing the animals to the chutes and trailers is invaluable for both animal and farmer. I live in a wildfire area so evacuations are a constant threat, and running the animals through routine roundups and loading in a calm setting will greatly help their chances of survival in an emergency. Likewise, having a nice setup with chutes and trailers easily accessible at all times will make this task much easier.

It looks like the verdict is a minimum of 16 feet width for anything and everything! Very good to know, that will be my magical number when planning the layout. On a similar note, plenty of cross fencing like separating pastures and alleys/aisles is beneficial in so many ways, to easily herd animals to different areas, rotate grazing, or make the Houdini animal work a little harder to escape

 

[SageHill]

I live in a wildfire area so evacuations are a constant threat, and running the animals through routine roundups and loading in a calm setting will greatly help their chances of survival in an emergency. Likewise, having a nice setup with chutes and trailers easily accessible at all times will make this task much easier.

YIKES - How can I forget the trailer!!!! We are also in a wildfire area. We actually got ours in OK -- it was a lot more affordable than here in CA (and the truck in IA much much more affordable than CA).