Warming up a barn

[Diamond J farm]

Hi Everyone,

I am just wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to warm up my barn. I t is not insulated. Does anyone have any suggestions for some type of heater or anything. Thanks

 

[wendi leigh]

I have one of these in each of my stalls, and they work great!! There is a thermostat to control the duty cycle depending on how cold it is and the horses find the heat and lay down right under them. Not cheap though... about $250 each.

http://www.kalglo.com/stallhtr.htm

 

[Miniv]

The least expensive method is with heat lamps in each stall, however they are more "spot heaters" and also have a fire risk.

I did a google search and found a couple of links for some more wide range heaters.

http://www.equinesystems.com/heaters.html

http://www.kalglo.com/stallhtr.htm

There are people on LB that use Kalglo heaters and have reported being happy with them.

MA

 

[Marty]

I would like to know more about why you think you need to warm up your barn.

I would never have a heated barn. I absolutely do not believe in bringing heaters into a barn. They are dangerous and a fire hazard.

But there are always exceptions:

I would only do it under extenuating circumstances such as a life and death situation.

If for some reason I had a horse that was deathly ill and my vet suggested that I do it to save her. Or if I had a foal born in unusual freezing temps that would compromise her life.

Heated barns in my opinion are basically unhealthy. They are unnatural and compromise the fresh air and can lead to any number of respiratory problems.

Horses grow long winter coats to protect them. And if they are in a barn for a shelter that is great. I also use deep bedding for really frigid times. In my humble opinion, that is very sufficient.

My barn is insulated, but I always keep the doors part way open in the winter months anyway for fresh air to circulate. No one is freezing half to death out there.

My brother-in-law in Kentucky raises Thoroughbreds for the race track that are worth millions. He'd never consider heating up a barn either.

 

[KenBen]

I have to agree with Marty. Horses only require a dry windproof shelter. Well fed and with there long winter coats they require no heat. Up here were I live it can get 30 below and I have yet to have a problem with my minis.

Ken

 

[Relic]

We have a fairly large barn and l would not be able to sleep knowing l had something plugged in that could

and l know of it happening start a fire. lf for any reason a foal or other horse is chilly blankets is what we use. One year we had a bulb over one of the big round bales stored inside bust but there was a sheet of plywood on top of it for some reason and the pieces landed on that but it could have had some hot glass land in the hay and again a fire hazzard. Now all the barn bulbs are non shattering rubber ones.

 

[Jean_B]

Ditto on what the others have said. Heat lamps are a major fire hazard.

And up until this year I lived in NW Wisconsin, where the winters were NASTY. My barn was open on one end for the mares to go in/out at will.

And I had no problems with a mare that foaled in March .... just plugged in my Kalglo radiant heater. It's safe for just this type of use. The foal quickly figured out where the warm area was and camped out under it. The mare didn't want the heat - she would have been too warm in a heated barn, and she stayed away from the warmth. After 2 days the foal was staying away from the heat, too so I unplugged the heater.

 

[qtrrae]

I also have a Kalglo radiant heater in one of my stalls. It is well worth the money. I have used it for new foals for the first couple of days and have used it in case I have a sick horse. I like it for the fact that it is very safe and the horses can go under the heat if they need it or have enough room to move away from it.

I had really debated about spending the money for one but have never been sorry.

 

[Mercysmom]

Horses are much healthier in an unheated barn... except for the reasons mentioned - ill horses or new foals...and I love my Kalglo heater! If the heat is for a human, humans can bundle up with gloves and hats and layers. I worked at a boarding stable where I had many arguments with the owners and boarders regarding closing the barn in and shutting the doors. We had many ill horses there and until a visiting veterinarian came in and yelled at everyone that they were killing their horses, the people just didn't get it. (Those types need to stick with Breyer horses - they were also the folks who did not want "Dobbin" to go out with other horses because he 1. might get dirty or 2. might get his hair scraped off tussling with his pasture mates

)

Bruce at Kalglo provides excellent customer service - somehow Finisterre found and unraveled the unplugged cord on my heater and was using the heater as a pull toy... Bruce had a new cord and directions how to replace it in a day or so!

Kalglo heater is now in Intrepid's stall - far away from Finisterre - and Finisterre has a new stall toy to play with - a Lickit apple device.

Denise

Silversong Farm

 

[tigeresss]

I'd also like to point out that heated barns tend to have a lot of horses that colic. Horses can't handle the drastic temperature changes. We have heated barns up here in Canada but they are only heated a teeny tiny bit warmer than the outside temperature (as in just a couple degrees).

 

[mmmorgans]

We have a kalglo heater - they are great heaters. However, I also agree that heating a barn is not the best thing to do. However, with that said - we had a colt born 3 weeks ago and because it is still very cold up here we have the kalglo heater plugged in.

We had a Morgan filly born last year - beginning of January - and our big barn is not insulated. We put tarps up around the stall so that the heat from the mare would keep the temperature warmer. We did plug the heater in a couple of times - but for the most part the temp stayed just above freezing and the foal did very well. I would much rather have foals born when the grass is green and the temperature is well above freezing - to me it is more natural. But sometimes things don't always work out that way and we need to provide a stall and some additional heat to make sure that the foal doesn't get chilled.

Keep in mind that all heaters are a fire hazard - they scare me to death!!!

 

[Matt73]

I would like to know more about why you think you need to warm up your barn.

I would never have a heated barn. I absolutely do not believe in bringing heaters into a barn. They are dangerous and a fire hazard.

But there are always exceptions:

I would only do it under extenuating circumstances such as a life and death situation.

If for some reason I had a horse that was deathly ill and my vet suggested that I do it to save her. Or if I had a foal born in unusual freezing temps that would compromise her life.

Heated barns in my opinion are basically unhealthy. They are unnatural and compromise the fresh air and can lead to any number of respiratory problems.

Horses grow long winter coats to protect them. And if they are in a barn for a shelter that is great. I also use deep bedding for really frigid times. In my humble opinion, that is very sufficient.

My barn is insulated, but I always keep the doors part way open in the winter months anyway for fresh air to circulate. No one is freezing half to death out there.

My brother-in-law in Kentucky raises Thoroughbreds for the race track that are worth millions. He'd never consider heating up a barn either.

I completely agree. If you need to, put a blanket on. Otherwise, especially with minis and ponies, their coats are excellent protection.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

We used to have an infra red heater for the Arabs- just in the foaling stall, never in the barn, per se.

It was always in a corner and the mare would get herself under it and just stand there with the heat on her back, or the foal would snuggle under it- we often had the mare straddling the foal!!

It was only ever on for a couple of hours at a time and I have to say I was always nervous- I know a lot of you have them and use them all the time but I also know that nine times out of ten they are the root cause of barn fires.

I am nervous even of electricity in the barn, to be truthful.

 

[dangerranger]

The best heat sourse Ive seen was a hot water coil buryed under the stall. it only keeps the ground just above freezing. they also had these coils under the floor of the tractor shed so that working in there during the winter was wonderful. also this is the way they used to heat schools when I was a kid.DR.

 

[mydaddysjag]

I board my horses, but at the barn there are only two rooms with heaters, and for very specific reasons.

There are 2 minis, and the rest are big horses. A few are in their mid to late twenties.

The first is the bathroom. There were some problems with the plumbing freezing when it got really cold, so there is a small electric heater in there. It is set so low that it only keeps the pipes from freezing. It has some safety features on it, and if it is knocked over it turns off.

The second is a small room that contains the hot water heater, more plumbing fixtures, and after we water we roll the hoses up and put them in that room. once again we were having problems with freezing. Nothing like going to water the horses in the morning and realizing that all of the water pipes and hoses are frozen. They have well water and I think the heaters might have something to do with that also, not sure though.

As far as stalls there are no heaters. If we are worried about a horse being cold or having health problems and needing to stay warmer, we blanket them. The stalls do have lights outside of them. They are only there so you can see in the stalls. They are the kind of fixtures where the bulb is enclosed by a glass case, and then has a metal cage like contraption around it. They do not give off any heat.

Last year there was a foal born in late january. They used a propane powered radiant heater in the isle of the barn to warm the barn up a little. Didnt want it in the stall because of the fire hazard of the straw. Someone was in the barn the whole time it was on, and it was only on for about 2 hours while baby got dried off and comphy.

 

[hhpminis]

I do have an infrared heater in my grooming area and have put them in the foaling stalls.

What I prefer to do when it is really cold is to blanket the horse if truly necessary, usually they have sufficient hair unless I have clipped. Second is to bed deeper so they can hunker down in the bedding with their legs under their body. They stay pretty warm.

In the spring once I clip I have to double and even triple blanket sometimes depending on what type of blanket they have on.

Early spring I just do a body clip and leave the unblanketed parts of the horse long.

I have been known to use heat lamps but they do scare me. I hang them very carefully, double hangers just in case one for some reason doesn't hold and well out of the way of the horse. Spaced away from any wood structure.

Also, you can put plastic up over windows etc to block cold air from getting in but you want to make sure you have adequate ventilation in the barn

If you have a room that is separate that you want to heat, such as a grooming, tack or sitting room in your barn that is a different thing and you can insulate it and put a small heater in it very safely.

 

[horsefeather]

This year we did heat our barn. Now, after saying that, I will explain. The stalls have rugs hanging over the outside (to their paddocks) doors. This lets the horse decide if they want to stay in or go out, their choice, except when I have to clip. Most of our shows are to our south and it's warmer down there. I usually clip a little earlier than I'd like, so this year I will keep them a little warmer if the nights get cold. Usually, after it warms up here, I let them out at night and keep them in during the day. (The stalls also have gates and solid doors as well as hanging rugs.) I have fought putting heat in the barn, but this year we put a wood stove (OH MY!!) up. It is, however, in the stall wash room. There is NO WOOD anywhere near and the walls are metal and the floor is cement. Hubby & I are the ONLY ones that keep the fire. We NEVER store hay in our horses's barn! Nothing is near the little stove and we are extremely careful. The stove will come out by the last of April, if not sooner (I need my washroom back!!). Actually, I fear the electricity for the lighting more than I do the stove. We once had a barn fire (were renting) which destroyed all tack. Fortunately, no horses were hurt, thank's to hubby. We had big horses then and he had to push our stallion back into the flames to get him out (the doors opened INTO the stall!) and he got just a few sore places on his nose. This is a little off subject, but please remember if you have swinging doors to have them BOTH ways, in and out, or if only 1 way, then out!

Pam