I need more stalls in my big barn, oh oh...

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Marty

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Jerry's going to kill me but the 12 stall barn is already too small. It shrunk because I took one stall for a tack room which isn't enough space for me and my stuff; then Sonny and the foaling stall get a double too. So that makes me down 5 stalls right there. So now I have 7 horse stalls and I have already 8 horses here total so something's got to give. (We are doing removable walls too in the stalls by the way). Stalls are 10 X 10.

Sonny's not going to fit good in a 10 X 10 so he has to have a double.

Do I have to have a 10 X 20 foaling stall?

But the way I see it, if I am lucky to have another foal born each year, or more, I'm already out of stall space for each horse at weaning.

The only thing I can figure is to bite the bullet and do a loafing shed type thingy. But there are down sides to that. There will go the grass if they are on it 24-7 and use of hay will become like water around here.

The idea of feeding horses in a bunch doesn't thrill me either. Don't want anyone fighting for their feed. And how is one supposed to choose who stays out there and doesn't come into the main barn?

So for you guys that do use loafing sheds, how do you work this?

This wannabeabreeder thingy is not all that easy to figure out houseing.
 
With my large horse and my barn I had the same issues what I did was close off both sides of the barn with a panel and he gets to have the whole aisle.. eventually i took the panel off of one side (made a stall at the end with the other) and he has the big pen and the barn aisle and is the king of the barn saving me lots of space and letting him have more room he is a HUGE whimp and would never think of standing outside even in a slight drizzle. That alone would give you 2 more stalls if you have a pen around your barn and stuff
 
My whole breeding herd lives outdoors in dry lots with loafing sheds. I have 5 dry lots and each has a 12 X 12 shed area. I normally keep 3-5 mares per lot, keeping one lot open for weanlings, or yearlings/2 yr olds. Stallions usually run with a group of mares. They eat out of 10' feed bunks. I have very little problem doing this. I keep groups together that get along. I keep a close eye on them and make sure everybody gets their fair share of feed. The mares generally go out in the pasture for 6-8 hours per day too. I've had horses living this way for about 10 years now and it's working out very well.

I have my foaling barn with 4 stalls that aren't used much except during foaling season. My show barn has 8 stalls strictly for the show horses. They are separate from my breeding herd. This system has worked extremely well here. Hmmm... I guess I should go take a picture!
 
marty

ours are fed as a herd and most are at a very good weight. if someone is having trouble then we seperate that one horse and feed it alone. I cannot imagine feeding every horse indivually!

ours use run in sheds and do fine with that. We only have 3 stalls and a foaling stall in a seperate building.

We just dont believe in ever stalling horses unless there is a reason such as foaling or illness.
 
[SIZE=14pt]I have dry lots and sheds like Becky. I have three foaling stalls now and 4 stalls for the show horses. My horses live in the lots all year round . Even my barn that has stalls built in it has both ends open. My vet says thats why we never have respiratory illnesses here because all the free flow of air.[/SIZE]

Lyn
 
I have a combination of things here. Show horses and anyone who needs to be up is in a stall. I have a group of mares on pasture (not what you'd call lush!) and mares with foals on another. Also have a foaling barn, which I am really going to miss when we move, which is basically a long 3 sided shed divided into 7 open stalls with runs, each I think 10' wide. The runs are about 30' long so there is plenty of room for them to stretch, they can be in shade or sunshine, and have plenty of fresh air. Most of them do go out on grass day or night depending on the season, except for a couple of founder-prone mares who stay on dry lot.

My show horses also get daily turnout, for the most part in the arena.

You never have enough stalls - they are like closets in the house, whatever is there we fill up...just because it's there.
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Jan
 
All of mine are fed together as well.

YOu could do 2 things. Double them up in stalls, and/or sell some.
 
Marty,

I have a 8 stall barn but have 1 for the tack stall and 1 for the llama. Last year we doubled the horses per stall in the winter. Now we are up to 10 horses. I have one large run-in shed and 2 smaller ones. I would love to have as many stalls as horses but it isn't always possible. Run-in sheds are a "must" have.

Freida
 
I've used 10X10 foaling stalls for the past few years. They have worked fine. My mares are out 24X7 with a 12X30 run in shed. They are only brought into stalls when they get close to foaling. They are fed as a group with individual buckets tied to the fence posts. I always leave one or 2 extra buckets in case someone gets run off their bucket they can go to one of the extras. This works well for us and lots less work in mucking out individual stalls everyday. The horses seem happy and are all healthy. I do have 5 stalls (plus one feed/tack room) in my barn when needed. Right now I have 2 weanlings in one stall at night and my old mare also gets stalled at night.
 
Have a removable divider that you can take out of your foaling stall when you need to use it for a mare to foal......... Make a loafing shed /dry lot close to the barn & put two (or more) horses in it that eat about the same & get along together............ Our broodmares stay in dry lots with nice dry run in's/overhangs until time to put them on foal watch... Wild animals not a concern as our german shepherd is close by & can see into the mares lots...... How to choose- I would pick the one that made the biggest mess in the stalls. BTW, the ones that we feed together do not fight. Spread the feeders far apart.
 
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I have a beautiful, huge (well by my standards anyway, 36 x 72) barn with 8 12x12 stalls, a tack room, and office. It stands totally empty right now except when I bring a horse in for hoof trimming, grooming, or special reasons.

The only time I use the stalls is for foaling, or if I have horses in for conditioning during the show season, or, training.

I have at the moment, a 1 acre dry lot with three mares and a stallion, and a 1/4 acre dry lot with 3 mares and a stallion. I also have several 1/4 acre dry lots for foals, or individual stallions not being used at the moment. I have one seperate dry lot for my Haflinger. I still have a lot of land that needs to be fenced in for future use, and about 5 acres of wooded area with some open pasture mingled throughout that I hope to have fenced in one of these years for occassional out times. I prefer my breeding mares to NOT be on pasture though. Too much fescue around here.
 
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We have more horses than stalls, can really cram them in when the weather is really nasty in winter. Other than that, we actually cut two openings in our barn wall so that we have two dry lots that open into two 10 x 12 stalls and they can come and go. Six on one side, 4 on another, three in a dry lot with a tiny shed, then 4 with a small pasture and shed. Show horses are mostly inside in stalls. Foaling stall is 10 x 6 and no problems. Big horses have a dry lot and shed, plus with good weather we can put them out in a small pasture. Don't sweat it, if you have some that are buddies, they can share.
 
Marty Marty Marty, what are we going to do with you!

10x10 is fine for the mare and foal as long as they get out daily.

You could also make a paddock off of Sonny's stall and he would be fine in a 10x10 as well if he had a paddock.

I have dry lot paddocks around my entire barn. I bring horses prone to weight gain off pasture at night and put them in the dry lots. All of them have a run in type of cover. Off the back side of my barn is one stall area that is a run in for the back pasture which is not very lush and I pull the not to fat horses in there at night. The other paddocks are for rotating stallions and show horses through so the ones that dont get on pasture that day get out in a paddock.

My mare foal stalls are 8x15 and that is plenty big as long as they get out daily. You can feed like horses together, this takes some practice and trial and error but it does work.

I know people who divide the 10x10 stalls in half and have 5x10 stalls for thier minis. They get out each day but it allows them to be feed separately.

There are all types of options.

I also use my aisleway for a lot of my tack, for instance I have a grooming station with a shelf and a set of the rubbermaid drawers with caster wheels that I have all my grooming supplies at arms length. On the wall above my shelf I put pegboard and I can hang several things on that.

Just play with the space you have you will be amazed at how much room you really have.
 
Have a barn (hubby build last year
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) with 6 stalls, each with a paddock and doors that will close up the stall and 'open' pipe gates for air if I want to leave the door open and still keep them in (except for 1, he wants a blanket hung down so he can still stick his head out and look around, but doesn't have to actually go outside
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, a tack/feed stall and a wash room. I usually make my show horses stay up when winter approaches. Until then, after Nationals, they run out with others. And truth be known, the show horses would much rather be out then in the barn. In fact, if it's going to be really nasty I go out and shut them in their stalls. Much more for ME than them. The others have various pastures, some dry lots, and 3 sided shelters to use. Except for very cold North winds, mine will turn tail to the storm, hunker down and try to make me feel bad watching them from my nice warm home
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However, it's THEIR choice!

Pam

edited to say, for most of the horses in various pastures, we usually just put a round bale out for them. We do feed grain, but this way they can always eat and not be intimidated by another. During the winter they really don't put on that much weight (although I DO like them plumper in winter). Don't like to use round bales in summer, big bellies!!
 
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With 80+ minis and ponies, there is NO WAY we could stall them all!

We have a number of 2+ acre pasture/paddocks each with shelters. Our barn has 5 big stalls. One is for quarrantine and the other 4 are all for foaling with cameras on them.

Our barn also has a large open center area that we can house a group in incase of an emergency. We also use it to house moms with babies who are too young to be left out in shelters at night. It's not fancy but it works.

MA
 
I can see already you are going to have to build creep feeders in your dry lot to provide a means to feed a group without having to worry about a dominate one keeping some from getting what they need. Second present Jerry with a set of plans you will draw up for the addition he and the boys are going to construct on the new barn. Your style of animal husbandry is great but does tend to be labor intensive so that might be a place to look for a solution. I feed (except for grain and beet pulp) as a group and do not stall the animals. I can spent the time I do not spend feeding and cleaning stalls in giving each animal more personal attention and training. It allows me to drive the animals virtually everyday and it keeps the boys sharp and in good shape with a minimum of manual choring.
 
We have a barn, but it's not finished so it's not useable at this time. Even when it's finished we are going to only use the stall for when they are sick, showing or bad weather. My horses are great. First drop of rain and they run for cover.

We have run-in sheds. One is 32 x12. 12 ft of it is split for my quarter horse. Another 20 ft. is split so that each mini in that paddock has it's own gates to seperate each other for feed time only(or in time of illness or injury).

We have another paddock with a run in that is 20 x12 and it's split as well so that each horse has their own seperate area with a gate.

My husband just built a couple of gates for one side of the 20 x 12. It's 8 ft. He split oak fence boards into approx. 4 ft sections. So we have 2 gates that come together in the middle. We now have 2 places for horses to eat in the 8 x 12 section. Plus, we build overhangs on our run ins. So there is enough room out of the weather to feed another horse. The other 12 x12 section is split into (2) 6 x12 sections and then we built one gate in the middle of each of those sections so there is now 4 places to feed((4)-6 x6 sections( they are only for feeding). Each gate is latched back to the walls so that they are out of the way.

It's a really nice set up. It takes us 1/2 hour to feed 10 minis and 1 quarter horse. It wouldn't take that long,but right now they are getting beet pulp and soaked cubes so that takes a bit longer to eat.
 
Marty,

I think no matter how many stalls one has there is this stong desire to fill them--sort of a vicious cycle. Something I would be asking myself is why?

Accumulating horses is the easy part but if you want to give your horses a certain level of care every one you add takes more time from the others. Eventually you will reach a saturation point and alll you will be doing is warehouseing them like cattle and only picking some special ones who will get most of your attention.

While I have never owned a breeding herd I have had the awsome responsibility in the past to spend my entire day sometimes 12 to 14 hours straight of it giving complete care to a large number of horses. I finally had to back down to 11 plus my own 4 as that was my saturation point. I could simply not do that now dealing with a full time job and actually wanting to have a bit of a life in addtion to my horses and other animals.

I'm sure you like to see your horses in top form personal care-wise and that may become more and more difficult as the size of your herd grows. Just something to think about.
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We bring ours in to feed grain. we have mini-sized standing stalls for this and works great. they are brought in, fed grain, checked over, then out to their lots with run-ins where they get their hay in a group. when we are there for the day (not working) we give each group time out on grass (this is 3-4 days per week). this has worked really well for us and the standing stalls are great. we made them so the dividers can be removed to make a couple of small box stalls for emergencies. we just love them! we also have 3 10 X 16 stalls that were in the barn when we got it and we added 2 12 X 12 box stalls. we also use these to feed in. we have big horses also so we feed in 3 shifts.

hope this helps, marty! jennifer
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Marty leave poor olD Sonny in his stall
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. If I remember right he freaked when you took him to the new barn and ran back to his old stall. so for a while why not use that space. He's too old to be stressing with moving day, maybe someone else will be better off with old space as well.
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