Barn - Do's and Don'ts

[speckles]

Hi all. My darling husband today shocked me by saying he wanted to sort out getting me a barn for my miniatures, and of course his llamas. I have been wanting one for ages, as I only have a small stable/shed and a bay in a old barn.

I have done a search on the board and have seen some wonderful pictures of barns. I am just wondering if you lucky people with wonderful barns, could give me some do's and don'ts on designing a barn. What have you found useful in your barn. what has not worked out so well? What do you think are essentials in a barn?

I would love to know what design you have found works well . I would also love to get some ideas on stall sizes - what works best particulary for a mare and foal.

Thanks in advance,

Sandra Spekreijse

Serenity Park

New Zealand.

 

[dangerranger]

There are a lot of nice designs out there. but make shure if you build new that you take into account wind direction and orentation to the sun. even the best barns if not set right can be drafty and cold or hot and stale. there are a lot of good books out on barn design. you should get at least some good ideas from them. DR.

 

[dannigirl]

We have about 36 stalls. Most of them are sized for minis with some that are bigger for bigger animals. One of the things we are happiest with is that because we have 3 long aisles, we also cut the barn longways in about 1/2 so we don't have to go all the way to the end to get to a stall on the opposite end. We also have a lot of wire gates at the intersections so that when we are moving animals, we can shut a gate to any aisle we don't want them in. I will try to attach a photo of my barn layout.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b44/Angiefoy/barnsetup.jpg

Forgot to mark the front door on this layout. It is near the tackstall by the concrete area.

This works pretty well for us, but you a probably not wanting that many stalls.

Angie

 

[Miniv]

Make sure the door to the barn is turned away from your prevailing incoming storms.

You can never have enough electrical outlets, but be sure they are installed up above your horses' heads.

A water spigget in your barn, and depending on the size or design, having TWO is even better.

Allow for the roof of your barn to have overhangs, for the option of designing a "loafing" area.

MA

 

[Buckskin gal]

Mke sure you make it big enough to expand. That was our mistake in building...we could use more space!! Mary

 

[chandab]

Mke sure you make it big enough to expand. That was our mistake in building...we could use more space!! Mary

Me, too. I'm married to a carpenter, and I still don't have enough space.

:

Although, we are working on another building that will be for feed, storage and maybe tack if I can make part of it rodent proof (wood floor as we are moving an existing building that needs a little work). Once the new building is up, I'll have another stall available in my barn, so the last mare will have her own place to go (she's not too keen on the barn, but I'd like to change that before next foaling season).

 

[SilverRidgeMinis]

Some great tips on here. Make sure you put in a good base for the barn so water will not

run through it and doors will not get stuck. My first barn was a awlful in the winter. Before you

build the barn make sure you get some in there that knows how to build the dirt pad for the barn properly.

I would also recommend putting down limesand for the bottom of the stalls. It is better than just having

dirt floors but still forgiving for those hooves.

Have fun with planning with your new barn. We are getting ready for another one. Out of room again!

Freida

 

[VerticallyChallenged]

Angie I'd LOVE to see pictures of your barn!

Angie

 

[dannigirl]

Angie I'd LOVE to see pictures of your barn.

Angie

Don't have many pictures of my barn, but have found a couple. Will try to upload.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b44/Angi...00604-12-04.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b44/Angi.../11spring05.jpg

Second one is of the North side of the barn. In winter and early spring we put tin on the top of the walls like you see here and then we take it off during summer and fall so there is a breeze through the barn on most days. We have a playing drylot area on this side.

First photo is from the West. We have a large driving, playing area on this side of the barn.

Will see if this works and then will try a couple more.

Angie

Here are a few more photos.

First are a couple of horses in the concrete cleanup, clipping and tieup area.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b44/Angi...oy3-3-17-05.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b44/Angiefoy/fancy2.jpg

Next is just an aisleway in the barn

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b44/Angi...arn31-16-03.jpg

This is one of our little ones in our round pen area

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b44/Angiefoy/daisy11.jpg

This last photo is of a mare and her foal coming into the barn from the pasture.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b44/Angi...MVC-017S-10.jpg

 

[nootka]

Ventilation and water runoff are key for us in our damp climate.

Open, airy construction with good airflow will keep mold and mildew (and thus bacteria) to a minimum. Our prevailing winds are West to East so that is the orientation of openings.

Having natural sunlight in your barn (through windows/vents/clear panels in the roof, etc.) will help to keep bacteria down, also. The UV rays kill nasty bugs, and drier is better in barns.

Since we live in a very wet climate, we found it necessary to dig out around our barn and install french drains as well as just plain dig the barn out since it's built on a hill, half of it is built with an uphill slope coming down at it, and lots of water comes down and ends up under the uphill side of the barn, making stalls swampy when we have monsoon type weather.

Downhill side is great, so I would say that no matter where you live (even in deserts I hear of flash flood type downpours that flood people's barns), make sure your barn is slightly raised from the surrounding land, even if it means adding some fill to ensure that, or selecting an area with a bit of elevation.

The more open the construction inside, the better. You can always change the arrangement of stalls easily inside once you have the general structure built.

Lots of great tips you've gotten here so far!

Good luck and enjoy. I love my barn!

Liz M.

 

[speckles]

Hi all, thanks for your wonderful suggestions. It has made interesting reading and I love the pictures. It gives great ideas. Still at the planning stage, want to make sure I get as close to what I want as possible.

Anyone else with more ideas?

Thanks heaps,

Sandra

 

[ForMyACDs]

Anyone else with more ideas?

Think very hard about the layout of your barn. If your tack and feed stall is to one far end of the barn you're going to have to carry feed a long way to the animals. However, if your feed stall is in the middle of the barn and you can't pull your vehicle in to unload feed then you wind up carrying feed a long way to your feed room. The same with water. If you're going to have to haul water or drag a hose more than 30' you're going to really begin to hate it. We have a water spigot on both ends of our 48' barn (just outside the main door). After hauling water from the house for 2 winters and dragging hoses during 2 summers it's a godsend.

Will you be storing you hay in your barn? If so you'll want to be sure you can get a hay wagon in & out of the barn or close enough to the barn area you can use a hay elevator for easier unloading. Before we were able to pull down the old shed that prevented us from pulling in a hay wagon we had to unload hay in to the back of a truck and back the truck in to the barn........it took 3 times as long and handling the bales more than is necesary is VERY tiring.

Ventilation is VERY important. Even in the winter it's important to keep some air flow thru the barn. Barns closed up too tightly lead to ammonia & dust build-up that can cause respitory problems.

You can also never have enough light!

Sit down and sketch out your ideas on graph paper and then mentally go thru a day of chores. You will find the areas that maybe aren't working so well for the way you do things and then you can change them BEFORE you build.

Our big trouble area was unavoidable. We couldnt' put the barn anywhere that we could pull up to it in a vehicle without pulling in to the pasture. It's a pain to have to have someone keep the ponies away while you pull in the pasture gate or to put the ponies up if you have to haul something up to the barn in a vehicle, but in our case we had no choice.

 

[outlawridge]

We also are in the process of designing our new barn. Isn't it fun? :bgrin One thing I have researched a bit and learned alot about is NOT to be tempted to build a loft for hay storage. It is far better for the horses to have that open air ventilation above them and escaping out the roof vents. Plus it makes better sense for fire safety as well. We are building a seperate three sided roofed simple building for hay storage and will have one room in the barn for about a week's worth of hay at a time. There is alot of good information in the book Horse Housing too.