If you could build the perfect barn what would you do?

[ladyhk13]

If money was not your number one concern and you were going to build a new barn to house a couple of cows and horses, hay and room for storage how would build it? What types of things would you add to make feeding, milking, mucking and such easier? What kind of ventilation would you have? Windows for breeze? Think off grid and maximum comfort for the animals (warm in winter, cool in summer). Can the doors be automated by solar to open or close on timers so that if you can't be there the animals can be trained to come in and out on their own?

Use your imagination .

[mitunnelrat]

Its been a while, but from what I recall there's a plan somewhere for making a barn that meets above-ground bunker standards. I'd build one of those and it would also be part of an interconnected tunnel system to various other points of interest on my property

ETA: that's my starting point anyway. I'll be back later with more particulars after some thought and a little research.

[helomech]

Can't answer all your questions, but I would make it twice as big as I think it needs to be.

[mitunnelrat]

After a little thought I think I'd like to have 12 head of cattle total. Three Irish Dexter mini-herds of one bull/ 3 cows be cause they're a small, docile, multi-use breed for draught use, milk, and meat. My theory is I might be able to maintain a viable breeding stock this way. Since cattle herd up anyway I'd hazard a guess I could get away with 3 communal stalls and 3 more smaller stalls to separate the bulls. I'd also need a minimum of 3 milking stations, a quarantine area, and exterior access from same to a holding pen. Itself leading directly to a detached food processing/ fur shed.

It seems to me I can recall some further accommodations being needed for calves, but I can't remember what. My dream barn would have them though ;)

Horses? I have nothing against them but think I'd rather use the acreage needed to keep them fed to produce bio-diesel instead. In a similar vein, and if it can be done safely, I'd use the space horses would require to partition my dream barn and produce methane for home gas needs in lieu of propane.



Have I mentioned yet my dream barn would require me to have minions? It'd be a lot of work!

Let's see... I'd have a hay loft and storage basement. Grain silos next to it, and I'd have to make it cat friendly to keep other vermin down. It would have its own water supply and PV array. And this just reminded me... if i were to have an area like my grandpa did, the "blacktop" outside will not be solar, just warm. A cousin from the city learned that the hard way at a family reunion... :D

Finally, I'd want a pig pen, tack/ storage rooms, and maybe an indoor exercise yard of some sort. In other words, I want the moon!

[ladyhk13]

Good ideas. So when you say it would have its own water supply, would you try to use rain barrels to collect water to use for cleaning? We looked at a property once that had hay storage above all of the stalls with a hatch door above each one where you could drop it down into the stall and not have to go in. I think it was designed that way if there was a horse in there that was dangerous for whatever reason and you couldn't get in there at that time. The feed box was right below it too so ya could even drop oats down into it.

An inside arena would be awesome for horses. Would you have some sort of kitchen area to sterilize your milking equipment/bottles and have extra space to store the milk? I was thinking of some sort of drain system in each stall so that they could just be hosed down instead of having to use a shovel and wheelbarrow.

[mitunnelrat]

The rain barrels are a good idea, but several places I've seen share a well with the house. Every place I've seen uses some BIG tubs or water troughs to keep their cattle/ horses/ mules hydrated. At least during the summer months. I'm not sure how winter is handled since I have no recent experience and didn't pay attention as a kid. As for drains, you'd probably be better off with a lightly sloping floor and a central drain outside the stalls. Better yet would be a grain shovel width grated trough. at least imo. Ive mucked enough manure to know I don't want to take a knee and dig it out of a drain pipe.

I forgot about trapdoors in the hayloft. I was always cautioned against going near them as a little kid. As heavy as hay is I suspect they're there as a labor and time saving measure.

What I did remember is my grandparents would take the milk to the house, and I've heard stories from my mom of churning butter and making cream in the kitchen. They also used to store some things in a well house, under running water, but I can't remember if that included any dairy. They quit milking cows before I was a teenager. Either way, I suspect this is all because the barn itself isn't a sanitary enough environment to safely process it. Some of the larger dairy farms may be able to do things differently, with automated processes and such, but I'm not sure how they handle home processing. I've only seen what they truck out. I still like the idea of a separate food processing building/ summer kitchen for this, meat/ fish, fruits, and vegetables. Whether domestic or wild.

[ak474u]

Built into a hillside with 2 stories above grade, the basement level would be cast concrete walls, and concrete roof (think walkout bunker) with stalls and storage in the lower section for winter with a single door area leading to a loafing pen for animals to spend outside time on nice winter days. I would add an underground cool room below the basement level for the produce wed make with the garden, with full bunker capability for 4-6 people. The 1st above ground level would be the every day barn, full bath, tool and equipment storage with automatic watering system for animals, floor drains for easy cleaning in every area, a large equipment wash bay that could be used for washing livestock as well. The upper level would be feed and hay storage as well as a farm office. The entire (above grade) building would be 5.5" spray foam insulated for maximum animal comfort with a battery bank and solar on the roof for an air exchange system to remove the animal stink 24/7 HVAC when needed, would be a geothermal system. Exterior features would be: attached greenhouse with solar ventilation fans. 10kw generator house attached to exterior? The barn roof would have a rainwater system feeding a 10,000 gallon cistern. The roof would be outfitted with sola-tube skylights for passive heating and natural lighting to cut energy usage.

Oh and I forgot, a cupola on top of the barn with a quad .50 turret. Too much? Lol

[Brownwater Riverrat 13]

Its been a while, but from what I recall there's a plan somewhere for making a barn that meets above-ground bunker standards. I'd build one of those and it would also be part of an interconnected tunnel system to various other points of interest on my property

ETA: that's my starting point anyway. I'll be back later with more particulars after some thought and a little research.

You're on target and tracking........all of you! I just hope there's enough money left over to build our house............:(

[ak474u]

You're on target and tracking........all of you! I just hope there's enough money left over to build our house............:(

No kidding, it would be expensive, I forgot to mention that my cattle stalls would be made of solid gold, and the lights would be 19th century crystal chandeliers. Lol

[greg48]

Make your plan then double your original size, still won't be big enough. I'd go with a barn built into a hill, facing the early morning sun, possibly lots of windows to harness the warmth.

[ladyhk13]

Built into a hillside with 2 stories above grade, the basement level would be cast concrete walls, and concrete roof (think walkout bunker) with stalls and storage in the lower section for winter with a single door area leading to a loafing pen for animals to spend outside time on nice winter days. I would add an underground cool room below the basement level for the produce wed make with the garden, with full bunker capability for 4-6 people. The 1st above ground level would be the every day barn, full bath, tool and equipment storage with automatic watering system for animals, floor drains for easy cleaning in every area, a large equipment wash bay that could be used for washing livestock as well. The upper level would be feed and hay storage as well as a farm office. The entire (above grade) building would be 5.5" spray foam insulated for maximum animal comfort with a battery bank and solar on the roof for an air exchange system to remove the animal stink 24/7 HVAC when needed, would be a geothermal system. Exterior features would be: attached greenhouse with solar ventilation fans. 10kw generator house attached to exterior? The barn roof would have a rainwater system feeding a 10,000 gallon cistern. The roof would be outfitted with sola-tube skylights for passive heating and natural lighting to cut energy usage.

Oh and I forgot, a cupola on top of the barn with a quad .50 turret. Too much? Lol

I like a lot of your ideas. These are some of the things I have been thinking about...can the geothermal be run by solar power?

[ak474u]

I like a lot of your ideas. These are some of the things I have been thinking about...can the geothermal be run by solar power?

I'm sure it could, its just a pump. How much solar I dunno.

[ladyhk13]

I'm sure it could, its just a pump. How much solar I dunno.

That would be perfect for ac and heat. Been thinking of that for a house too. Haven't been able to find out about the solar part yet but never thought about putting it in the barn. Genius!

[bacpacker]

This topic has been on my mind for a couple years now. I have given this some thought at different points and had various ideas. Mind you my plans are for our eventual BOL, not where we are now. We don't currently have enough land to raise the animals we would like to here.

At this point, and plans are likely to change as time goes by, is to have a earth bermed barn preferably bermed from the north. The lower level will be for animal housing consisting of no more than 4 horses, depending on circumstances between 10 and 50 head of cattle, and several goats. For the horses I would have 4 stalls large enough for a mare and foal. For the cattle 4 stalls for heifers with calf. The rest of the cattle free to come and go in a large pen in the barn. This would also be used to feed sweet feed to the cattle in season. There would also be 2 small pens to be used for milking 1 cow at a time and a smaller one for milking goats. Run one animal in, milk it, and run it out, next. I would also have a area to hold the goats in, plus 2-3 small stalls for does with kids. I figure keeping female housed and protected with young for a few weeks would be good for them both. Goats and horse would be housed at night, cattle would be free to come and go as they please. Also from past experience in this area animals do fine winter and summer, coats thicken up in the winter, and shed off in the spring. These areas would either be open or have door that left like a garage door. This would facilitate cleaning with a tractor and front end loader. It would also have a cold room for quick chilling of the milk.
The second level would be for square bale or loose hay and feed storage mainly. And the idea of feeding from the next level is exactly they way we always fed. It works very well. I would also have a room to store all feed in that is secure from vermin. I would also have a couple cats hanging around, as well as a blacksnake or two. This upper floor would also have 2 other rooms, one for a small office, the other for storing all electrical switch gear in.
The roof would have plenty of solar panels on it and the room would have lots of batteries, plus controllers and inverters as needed. It would also be fully guttered and ran to a large storage tank to catch all the rain fall and plumbed to keep the animals watered while in the barn.
One thing I keep coming back to though. I would like to keep the hay seperate. I have saw two barns burn from folks putting up green hay. I would hate to loose everything like that. So I have also given a lot of thought to having a second barn just for hay storage and keep the animals seperate, just have enough to store current feed needs. I would also want a seperate tractor shed/repair facility for working on all the equipment/vehicles for the farm. It would have a small machine shop, weld area in it and most likely a pit to get under the equipment to work on stuff.
BTW, I LOVE THIS THREAD! Can anyone tell?

[ladyhk13]

BP your ideas are great. Having extra large stalls for mama and babies is perfect plus I think practical as well for when ya have to be in there with a large horse it's nice to have room to move around. I've been in stalls that are the standard 10x10 and I just don't feel they are big enough especially when the horse gets antsy. I think of their comfort too and it would be nice for them to have room to move around when they have to be stuck in there for hours.

Your point about barn fires and green hay is unfortunately all too true and having the bulk of it stored separately is a good idea.

I love seeing all these ideas from you guys. BWRR might not be so enthused as my plans expand though ;)