How big of a barn do I need?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

Well, my wife and I have talked through the dairy animal project and we're good to go for planning it in. Today, in order to finalize where I'm going to put the fruit trees & bushes, I completed lining out where the pasture fences will run so now I'm down to the barn.

The property came with a nice workshop but it's not in a good location for use as a barn nor do I really want to sacrifice the space inside for keeping animals so I'm going to have to build one. This leads to needing to determine how large a barn I need. I figure you folks who are out there doing could probably give me some good advice.

I've got about four and a half acres of needs-to-be-improved pasture and am planning on slowly working up to a maximum of two cows and four goats. I'd like to store all the feed in there and have the milking parlor there as well since I've got water already running past the barn site and I think I can run power from the workshop (not that I know much about electrical wiring but I'll learn). The poultry are housed in portable coops so they don't need to be considered for this, other than storing their feed. The site that I want to use will allow for a building up to thirty feet deep and seventy five feet long without having to remove any trees and no trees nearer than four feet to any side of the building.

How big should the barn be?

How should it be laid out and subdivided inside?

Suggestions for construction methods? I'm thinking post and beam would be cheap and sturdy but am open to suggestions for other methods.

I can find barn plans aplenty, even have a couple of books of them now but that's not the same as knowing what you're looking at and knowing what you need. Thanks for any suggestions.

...........Alan.

-- Alan (athagan@atlantic.net), January 23, 2002

Answers

You need to consider how much Hay that is needed for the winter and allow space for this. Other feeds will take up about 4x4x4 for each ton stored. The Type of construction depends where You live. Snow losd determines how steep the roof needs to be and wind load if in a huricane area (as we are in Tx). I just finished a 49x25 shed from the back of a 12 eave building and have 10 ft or so eave on my low side. This was made by welding 12 inch I beam on top of 12 inch columes I anchored these to a concrete pad 6 feet x 4 feet by 2 feet deep with 24 inch x 3/4 inch bolts. Across the top I used 8 inch perlins and used PBR roofing panels. Total cost for all materials including welding labor is around 3000$ (concrete included) This is a clear span with 3 colums on each end 24 feet apart.Hope this may help. Email me with more details and your area and I may be able to help more. We have 40 goats here and this is large enough for all our needs.God Bless.

-- Charles Steen (xbeeman412@aol.com), January 23, 2002.

In my experience, do all the math you want to determine what you need and then build way bigger... twice as big if you can. You'll use it, trust me on that. I hope this helps.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), January 23, 2002.

I agree with Gary always go bigger than what you think you will need. You want to figure at least 15 sq. feet per goat, if more room you will need to clean less. You also want to have room for kidding and raising the kids. Four does kidding will probably give you 8-10 kids, perhaps a couple of more.

-- Leslie in Western WA (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), January 23, 2002.

Visit farms who are doing what you think you may want to be. Layout of your barn is never going to suit you if you do it now, so think movable. Though you want a secure outside permanant wall, think cattle panels or the like for the interior pens, and always think about cleaning. Remove all the panels and you can box blade or rent a small bobcat, to clean the whole barn in an hour, the other alternative is wheelbarrow :( Animals put off incredible amounts of mositure so an enclosed hay barn to keep the keeping quality of your hay or keeping your hay in another building, and only storing a few bales in the feed room is another idea. A feed room with a locking door which is always kept shut! Feeders that you can walk down a center isle on YOUR side of the barn to feed, nothing is worse than having an up close and personal with every animal to feed, when you have to run to town! Ventilation! Drainage! If I had to do it again, I would have a cement footing all around the outside of the barn, and around he interior walls. The only cement you want in the barn is where you work on the animals and store your stuff (grain, hay, tack). Paint or stain it as soon as you are done, before you move anything into it :) vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), January 23, 2002.

I agree too, build one as big as you can afford. You will use every inch of it! Best wishes

-- cowgirlone in OK (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), January 23, 2002.


Determing the amount of hay you plan on storing plus how its bailed makes a difference. Small square bales are easiest to store though large square bales are cheaper. You would need someway to unload large bales. Also access to unload the hay is key. 2 milk cows would probably go through a bale a day during the winter months. Hay is alot cheaper purchased during haying season then the winter time when its about 20-30% higher. Hay also needs to be off the ground and circulation around it.

Ease of access for feeding is critical as this is usally a twice a day chore and the less time you have to spend hauling hay around the better.

-- Stacia in OK (OneClassyCowgirl@aol.com), January 24, 2002.


I hadn't considered hay storage. It'll have to be square bales as I probably won't be able to afford a tractor to move the big round bales for quite a while.

Leslie says at least 15 sq ft per goat. Does anyone know how many square feet per cow? The cows will probably be one milking cow and one steer for slaughter. The goats will likely be two milking does and two wethers or the kids from the does. We're still not sure which type of dairy animals we're going to go with yet.

How big should the milking parlor be?

I know it needs to have a solid, cleanable floor and I'm thinking a raised wood floor but may go with concrete. I want to minimize the impact on the two big oaks that'll be shading the barn. They're young and a fair size and I'd like to keep them around for a while.

Vicki, I like the idea of the removable stock panels to open the barn space up. Hadn't thought of that before.

........Alan.

-- Alan (athagan@atlantic.net), January 24, 2002.


Alan, you need a lot of planning. :) Don't build something & be sorry later. In general, a big open barn will be best, and you can partition it off into pens & storage areas later. If you change your herd/needs, it will be less expensive that having all pre-built pens & walls locked in as perm parts of your building.

As you are thinking about it, remember that it is not the best to combine too much storage into one building. You don't want hay & straw stored with gasoline vehicles or oil & fuel - for obvious reasons? Likewise machinery & livestock doesn't store so well together. The moisture, heat, dust, & salt from the livestock tends to rust away at the machinery.

Even feed (grain or hay) doesn't store so well in the same building as packed livestock - the humidity can sour the feed. This is more of a problem for those of us up north, when we really need to enclose those moms & kids in the cold, and condensation is really bad. For your small herd this shouldn't really be a problem, but thought I would mention it. A wall keeping the feed area seperate would solve this problem - it is why many hay mows are built above the barn, insulation & keeps the feed walled away from the livestock, but very near by.

Check out the following web site, they have 100's of plans for all sorts of ag buildings, feeders, etc. It's Canadian govt sponsered, so it probably can withstand good snow loads, wind, etc. :) You need Adobe Acrobat to see most of it, but _very_ good source of basic ag building.

http://www.cps.gov.on.ca/english/planmenu.htm

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), January 24, 2002.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ