building a barn from scratch(here's a drawing what do you think?)

[patandchickens]

My experience is that my barn is NOT any dustier with 400 bales of hay/straw in my loft.

Right, I do not dispute this -- as I say, some barns with haylofts are *not* dustier. However IME the majority of them *are*. Thus, I think it is a legitimate possibility to consider.

And, Pat, you gotta have the equipment to MOVE those big bales.

Not of your own. I have bought 650-700lb big squares for the past 5-6 years, without owning a tractor -- the hay guy lives just down the road, he puts it into my barn with his tractor. No biggie.

(Actually, b/c the ceiling downstairs is so low -- yes, I actually *have* a loft, not by choice but just b/c it's the way the barn is -- he uses his tractor to put each bale onto a dolly in the doorway, which we then push quite easily to its ultimate storage location and then tip it off onto a pallet. Or, the few times I've bought big roundbales instead, he puts them in the doorway with his tractor and we just roll the bales into place. I use the bales by cutting the strings on a bale and taking off however many flakes I need to weigh and feed. There is no risk or difficulty involved at *all*. And it is a darn sight cheaper than equal-quality hay in small squares.)

Of course my point is certainly not that everyone should use big bales all the time -- my point is that with ground-level storage you CAN do it if circumstances require, e.g. in hay shortage years if that's what you can GET, whereas you can't do that in a loft. Or you can use part of your hay storage for unexpected animals, or parking, or a workshop, or any sort of thing. Ground-level storage gives you flexibility, always a good thing, especially if you just want to build one barn once

JMHO,

Pat

 

[ducks4you]

You're very fortunate to have someone move those 750 pound bales for you. With MY luck, I'd roll one over on me!!!

It might be a lot drier where you live than where I live, too. In Central Illinois we have 4 seasons, starting in January:
Very cold and damp
Starting to warm up, and damp
Very HOT, and, oh yeah....damp
Cooling off and..........damp

 

[Beekissed]

Joel says that bank barns were the worst things ever built, as they have too much moisture and humidity for good hay storage and for proper ventilation for livestock.

I've only seen one in my lifetime and it was pretty wet in there.

Speaking of Joel, I like how he has his laid out with the feeding in the middle and one side for hay storage, the other for carbonaceous bedding materials.

I know this.....I LOVE barns and would spend the majority of my time in one if I had a proper one on the place.

ksalvagno, I think that is a wonderful design that I have seen in other barns....where you can drive the hay wagons right into the barn. This makes for a great place to unload hay and to put hay in a hurry during a rain storm.

Anyone store their hay loose on here, besides Free?

 

[patandchickens]

Anyone store their hay loose on here, besides Free?

I sort of do LOL because my barn was built (not by me!) on nearly the wettest part of the property and with the interior floor of the barn about a foot below outdoors ground level, thus before I got our drainage ditches improved and the second sump dug in the barn, and even now if the power goes out during a thaw or giant thunderstorm, parts of the barn flood. Which means, since very few of the 650-lb big squares are moveable by hand (although some ARE, actually, if they are laying where you can use a rope to pull the bale over onto the dolly to wheel it elsewhere in the barn) I sometimes have to disassemble one or several bales and carry the bits, a couple flakes at a time, to a higher place atop a stack of pallets.

My main comment on storing hay loose is that it is amazing how much more space it occupies than a good tight bale of the same weight of hay!

Pat

 

[xpc]

Free stall pole barn

 

[Farmfresh]

I agree with xpc.

I like the options a free stall pole barn gives you. You can change the stall layout to suit current needs.

I would probably only concrete PART of the barn. Like a work/office area, (MAYBE the isles) I would dig out the rest add a gravel base, install a ground fabric of some kind and then reinstall the dirt and level for good drainage in the rest of the barn. In actual stalls I would use rubber stall mats and bedding over them. That provides great drainage, uses less bedding over the long term, is easy to clean and easy on the animals. Concrete floors can be cold, which requires more bedding, and are hard on the animals as well, sometimes causing joint problems. Since they don't allow urine to drain away they tend to become more damp and you can even sometimes develop lung problems if the bedding gets urine soaked or too damp.

I vote for no overhead loft as well. I have lived both ways. If your area is cold, just insulate the roof with one of the new foam board products.

I don't worry too much about the dust problem, but they just take more work. First you have to get the hay UP and then you have to get it DOWN. The exception was a barn that I worked at years ago that was built into a hillside on the narrow end. The loft space was built strong enough that they DROVE a hay truck into the loft to unload! Then the hay was dropped though chutes to the mangers beneath.

If you have hay storage at one end of the building or IDEALLY in an adjacent building. Loading and stacking is so much easier. Then feeding is a matter of simply loading up a little wagon or cart and rolling it to the stalls.

One of the most over looked aspects of most barn is the ventilation. Any new barn that I built would DEFINITELY have a cupola on the roof with an operable vent control. I would also install several good windows and a roof peak fan system.

Keep in mind. When studies were made the average farm person needed to make significant changes in his buildings due to changes in needs about every 10 years!! Keep that barn as flexible as possible.

Finally place it were smells and flies will not become a problem for your home

 

[xpc]

I agree with xpc.

I like the way you say that...

You were a bit more verbose then me but said what I wanted.

 

[patandchickens]

xpc is totally right

I'd pour a slab in the area where you want the chickens, as even though this will require a tad more bedding in wintertime, it is irreplaceably marvellous at keeping rats and bigger things from tunnelling in. Which yes they can do even through rubber mats.

Pat

 

[Farmfresh]

I agree with xpc.

I like the way you say that...

You were a bit more verbose then me but said what I wanted.

I am a bit more verbose than EVERYBODY!

 

[patandchickens]

I agree with xpc.

I like the way you say that...

You were a bit more verbose then me but said what I wanted.

I am a bit more verbose than EVERYBODY!

Not more verbose than ME!

Oh, wait, that was a short succinct sentence... oops.


Pat