Barn Raising

[Blameitonbrio]

We are building a barn so that we can move our Arabian mare, TWH gelding and two new Pasos home finally. I am very excited. Tony (my husband) and my dad have been clearing trees where the little barn will go. We are planning on building a bigger barn later, so we will have a barn in both pastures.

Many of you may know that we bought 12 acres a couple of years ago with the purpose of building a home and barn where our family, dogs and horses can live. We are planning on having a riding ring and a nature/bridle trail about the perimeter of the property with gates, creek crossings and anything else we can dream up to make trail riding fun and exciting. (Maybe some backpackers hiding in the bushes and saying "Hey there" just as your horse passes by so the horse can go beserk! :roll: )

Anyway, the trees are coming down, and a sawmill is coming in on Thursday this week to make lumber from our trees. We are going to build our barn of green lumber (treated wood where it touches the ground). I thought my dad was nuts when he suggested that, but hen I did some internet research and found out it can be done!

Here are pictures of the site...

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/DSCF0322.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/DSCF0321.jpg

And here are some pictures of the logs waiting for the sawmill. My dad's Suzuki is in the back ground of one. They used this to drag the logs, since we don't have a tractor yet!

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/logswaitingforsawmill.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/logswaitingforsawmill2.jpg

I should also add that we have our priorities straight...we built the garage with an apartment over it for now. We are living in the two-bedroom apartment and will build the house after the barns are built!

[appyday]

Please post pics along the way.

[CarolU]

Garage with apartment? Sounds perfect. Now build your barn with an apartment too. You can live in the barn. He can live in the garage. Sounds like marital bliss to me! ;-)

[Jane Hurl]

I'm curious about the building with green wood. How does that work? (And, I agree. You DO have your priorities straight! Garage with apartment, then barn ... THEN house!)

[Blameitonbrio]

Appy, I will be glad to post pics along the way. SHould have pics of sawmill and stump grinder at work this next week!

Jane, I thought it was nuts (and it might just be!), but then I read up on it on the internet. And of course, my dad knows of a lot of old building built with green lumber. A lot were a long time ago. Of course, the green lumber will shrink, this is why board and batten style was created. The batten covers the gap between the boards that results when they shrink. For the most part, we are using green oak for the siding. The main frame of the barn will be treated wood. Here are some of the sites I found:
http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Green_barn_siding.html
http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1976_July_August/The_Owner_Built_Shed
http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1976_May_June/The_Green_Wood_House

Oh no, Carol! Are you having a bad day with the hubby? :shock: I do like your idea of having a place to send him to when he's on my last nerve. I can send the kids with him too! Me, my dogs and horses can stay in the barn!!

[Barbwire]

We have 3 buildings here that were made from green "roughcut" native pine. Yes, the wood does shrink a bunch, so make sure your battens are at least 3-4" wide. One thing we learned about the green wood is that while 12" wide boards look nice and walls go up quickly with them, they will split as they dry and are not airtight. I would use boards no wider than 8". JMHO.

[Got Brio?]

our place looks like a lumber camp :lol:

[SandyMM]

Just curious - how do you go about hiring a sawmill to come out and cut your lumber... cost? Did you take the trees down yourself?

[reuben T]

I used to do it, (saw lumber for hire) got tired of it so I quit taking jobs.
Now the mill sits in the shed and I saw anything i need for our own use.
I use air dried and green lumber for everything except finish work in the house. It will shrink, and warp a little sometimes, but for barns that's nothing. I charged $150 - 1000 bd ft. It's funny, My great grandfather had probably the first portable sawmill in existance in 1900, pulled it around on 2 heavy wood wagons with an old steam engine which also ran it when set up. 2 uncles had a normal sawmill for a while in the 60's and 70's, then I got one in '89.

[Blameitonbrio]

As for the lumber, Tony and my dad have taken it all down. We are getting a stump grinder (just ordered) to take care of stumps, and they used my dad's Suzuki Samarai to haul the logs to a pile. They have been working their tails off!

As for the sawmill, we talked to our neighbor who is a builder, and he gave us the name of someone who has a portable sawmill. I supposed you could also call someone in the State Forestry Department to get a list of names. I will take pictures of the sawmill at work and post those. It comes on Thursday and leaves Friday.

Yes, Barbara, I agree with you. Everything we have read says to use a more narrow width of board, because the shrinkage will be less. I would love to see pictures of what you all have built with green lumber.

I am just happy we are able to used these beautiful oak trees that are going to have go to make room for horse pasture. Now, they can make rooms for the horses. We had talked to people about just clearing, but it made me sick to think of the trees being hauled away for pulp. I wanted them to stay here -- one way or another!

[Blameitonbrio]

The sawmill is here today, and I have some pictures of our trees becoming lumber!!! (Anybody know a good use for sawdust?)
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/sawmill1.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/sawmill4.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/sawmill7.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/sawmill8.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/sawmill9.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/sawmill10.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/sawmill12.jpg

[Cindy]

Wow, your property looks just like ours. Very spooky. We did the same thing as well. Built the barn from the trees that we cut down.

[CarolU]

Looking good!

How much wood will you get? Enough for the whole barn? If so, that is too cool.

Have you got barn plans yet?

[sherry k t]

Love the pictures!! thanks for sharing your progress, isnt great to be gettng your barn ready so you can have your horses home with you!! Like the idea of the apt over the garage. comfortable place to live while you get the rest done. I really like the idea of a perimeter trail. we have been meaning to do that here and just havent got it done. not sure if i need to just bring a bobcat in or will it need to be something bigger. would be great to have a trail to be able to ride to keep horses in shape when unable to trailer anywere due to time. would be alot better than riding down the gravel roads, which i am so glad to have available to me, but you never know what your going to run into on the gravel road. A trail would be alot nicer. keep us informed how you do yours maybe we will get ours done. wonder how many miles of trail you will have?

[Blameitonbrio]

Sherry, I am not sure how many miles of trails we will have -- not really sure how many miles you can get out of 12 acres!!! Our trail will be more of a short walk in the woods after ring work trail. But it will be enough to keep the horses sharp for when we trailer them somewhere for trail riding. Also, the girls are interested in showing, and trail class is most appealing to us -- and country pleasure.

There are a lot of gamelands around us with trail too; of course, we have to abstain during hunting season. My dad doesn't mind riding his horse in there with orange ribbons all over him, but then again, he is a hunter! The thing that worries me the most about riding on gamelands here is no the guns -- it is the dogs. People here run the deer with dogs (an eastern NC thing -- I am a western NC native, so this does not the kind of hunting I am used to) and wait by the road to shoot the deer. I worry about how the dogs and horses would react to each other if they met. So, our perimeter trail will have a fence around it and lots of no hunting signs (for the dogs that can read). :razz:

I will definitely keep you all posted on this thread.

[Blameitonbrio]

Oh, I didn't see Carol's question...we are going to build a barn that looks like this one, except it will be 6 stalls long.
http://www.applevalleybarns.com/noff/hcody.html

It grew from 4 to 6 stalls because my dad is involved. I was afraid he was going to suggest a back deck with a hot tub! This will be our only barn for a while, and then it will be tractor, hay, equipment storage with two stalls available for front pasture shelter. Our big barn will be built later out of our wood (we have LOTS), and it will look more like this
http://www.applevalleybarns.com/noff/hmonterey.html

We have a lot of wood, so both barns will be made of oak and pine. I hope to have enough to put wide plank red oak floors and pine ceilings in the house -- whenever we get around to builidng that!

[Fino1]

Awesome buildings!

[CarolU]

They are both very nice barns...where will your apartment be? ;-)

I personally like a break area in the barn, with a fridge, table and chairs. Unless you have a mud room with a bathroom easily accessable to the back door, a toilet in the barn is nice too. That way you don't have to take your boots off or dirty the whole house to take a potty break.

I imagine you will insulate that part. An old washer is a nice addition. That way you can wash horse blankets, halters, etc. and not mess up your good washer. And you may not be thinking water heater, but if I could, I would. Horses DO appreaciate warm baths to cold ones!

[Blameitonbrio]

Oh, the apartment is over our garage. We have a house plan which has a garage connected to it with a breezeway. We have already built the garage with apartment over it, and we are living here now. The barn will not have an apartment. I guess I made that more confusing than it had to be! :eek:

Our garage is a three-car garage, and we have a two-bedroom apartment over it. The downstairs has a washer and dryer and a half-bath. Right now, the washer and dryer are the only ones we have. Once we build the house, we will have another washer and dryer in the house, and the ones in the garage will belong to the horses and dogs (complete with me as the laundress!). We may decide on a bath for the barn later, but who knows? I have to decide if I would rather clean another toilet or walk a little farther to go! We do plan on having hot water in the barn and a washrack instead of one of those stalls. We are also going to finish out one stall as a loafing/tack area. We only need four stalls for horses. :shock: The little barn will have extra stall space for my dad's horse or any horses that make us break our four-horse rule.

[LynnG]

nice pictures of the sawmill in progress.......almost free wood!

Looks like it will be one sturdy built barn with those beams.
and nice woods to ride in...YEA!
;-)

[Blameitonbrio]

Time for an update on the barn raising! Tony and my dad have set the poles, and Tony has been working on grinding the stumps in the barn area -- in his spare time! Here are some pictures of the poles, the stacks of lumber which were milled from our trees and the stump grinder.

Framing is scheduled to start January 9th!

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/DSCF0005.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/DSCF0009.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/DSCF0007.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/DSCF0010.jpg
[/list]

[LynnG]

Is this the 4 stall shed row barn or the main barn? :shock:

coming along ...WOW!

[Blameitonbrio]

This is the shedrow barn, but it has grown to 6 stalls! Two of the stalls will be finished for feed and hay storage. It has grown from 2 stalls to 6 stalls!

[Carol Nelson]

You are so lucky to have free wood!!! Isn't it fun watching your barn go up though...it was so exciting when we had ours built last summer! I'd much rather watch my new barn go up than a new house!! :lol:

(Actually, if anyone saw our rickety little old house sitting next to our big, shiney brand-new barn...they would think we were nuts...but my girlfriend said, "Horse people will understand!" :lol:
Heck, we could always go live in the barn! ;-) :D )

[Terry Wallace]

Hey Jeany...since you have so much lumber...you maybe ought to build yourself an awesome riding ring like Cindy has...saw a photo of hers once....got all kinds of GREEN with envy.... as I look out upon my own
panel type round pen...and my training pen is cold-rolled steel panels....

Will your barn have a dirt floor? or will you pour some concrete in areas?
The pouring and leveling of concrete, we hired done for ours. The barn is steel here.

[Blameitonbrio]

Now I need to see a picture of Cindy's arena!

The floor will be dirt for now; although we plan to put screenings or maybe gravel in the stalls, level them and put down mats.

There is something called overburden that we can get from the quarry for nearly nothing. It is the leftovers from making crush and run. I was thinking that might be nice up under the overhang area. SOmeone also told me that we could use it as footing in the arena, but I am not sure. Does anyone have any ideas about that?

Carol, I guess in a way it is free wood, but it sure cost a lot of sweat!!!! Also, we paid a guy to sawmill it. The lumber for that barn costs about $2000.00 to mill, which is a pretty great price. I would love to do a price comparison at Lowe's when I get the time.

[CarolU]

This is the shedrow barn, but it has grown to 6 stalls! Two of the stalls will be finished for feed and hay storage. It has grown from 2 stalls to 6 stalls!

Oh...purchasing horses, THAT is how barns grow! LOL

It looks like you are coming along fine. I have to agree with Terry, if I had the wood here, I'd have nice arenas all over the place. My round coral is also steel panels and my barn is steel, or steel wrapped wood uprights. I went with wood (should have done metal poles), and the horses think they're there for teeth sharpening, so I wrap them with metal.

Wood IS prettier...but it's tastier too.

[Cindy]

Here is my round pen.

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/4384343843P1010040-med_(2).jpg

And here is our barn that was built from the trees that we cut down. Not the best picture to see the wood on the barn but it is the only one I have on Pethobbiest. This is from when it snowed last year.

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/43843barn.jpg

[Cindy]

And, yes, crush and run without the rocks makes great footing for both arena and barn aisle. They actually call it sand here. But it is the same as M-10. Has different names everywhere but it is all the same thing. We need to redo our aisles and arena.

[Blameitonbrio]

Thanks Cindy! That's good to know about the "overburden." My neighbor is a builder, and he said that the quarries will often give it away, but you have to pay a delivery fee. Your place is beautiful, and I hope ours will be so pretty some day. That looks like what I want for a riding ring too. What are the dimensions of your ring? What are the advantages vs. disadvantages of square vs. rounded corners for the ring? I love the courtyard in your barn. What kind of things do you use it for?

Our TWH and one of the Pasos are beavers, so we will have to hotwire to be sure they don't chew!

[Cindy]

I knew you were going to ask about the dimensions. I don't remember exactly but I will guess around 120 by 60. It is not very big. I would not go smaller than that. I like the round corners better for young horses as it you can keep them on the rail and kind of use it as a tool without having to steer them so much if that makes sense. Some people like the square corners though. I guess it's just a mater of preference. I can "make" a corner when I need it but I cannot "make" a round. The courtyard I use mostly for showing horses to people. The design makes for a very open and airy barn which I like and feel is better for the horses. We have much more heat than cold here so a closed up barn is not really needed for that. I do have dutch doors on the backs of the stalls and closing the top doors does make quite a bit of difference in the winter. It is also built so the wind comes from the direction you are looking in the picture so if you close the top doors it pretty much keeps the wind out. The opening that you see is where my wash rack is so the breeze comes through there in the summer. It's not great for the winter as the breeze comes through then too but, like I said, we have much more hot than cold so just live with it in the winter.

Your property looks just like ours in the picutures. It was eery when I saw them.

[Barbwire]

Thanks for sharing the photos of your progress. A while back I started posting similar photos of my tack room/office, but alas the cash cow dried up, so no progress has been made in quite a while.

[Blameitonbrio]

Those dimensions sound about like what we want to do. We do have a TWH horse who is learning that he CAN turn at a running walk or canter! WHen we got him, another bossy gelding ran him into (and through) a fence a couple of times. We saw it happen: he just didn't think to turn because he was intent on not getting his butt bitten. Now that he has been a lesson horse with a couple of kids in a ring, he has learned that he can turn at a higher rate of speed. Our daughter ride her Arabian saddleseat, so it is nice to have at least a hundred feet to get going into a big trot. I have been back and forth on round or square corners, so it is good to hear your take on that.

I am going to have to add your farm to the list of Paso Farms that I would like to visit -- that is, if you have visitors! 8-) I would love to see how similar it is to ours. If you are in western Ga, then the trees and other flora should be similar to ours -- further north and further east. I would love to hear about how you cleared pastures and things like that (that we are embarking on now).

Barbara, our cash cow is now in serious condition! :razz:

[Cindy]

You are welcome to visit any time. We are in North Georgia. Not West. Kind of in the middle but they include us in the North East sometimes for the weather. I don't really have pasture. We have one that we fenced but have never quite finished. All my pasture horses go somewhere else. :lol: Just let me know when you want to visit. Turista is here for the winter. He would love to see you.

[motorgypsy]

What a fun thing to do - built your own barn with your own lumber! Just like the pioneers - well almost! It looks like it will be so great!

Cindy I LOVE your barn!!! It reminds me of Colombian houses with the couryard in the middle. Let's see - some hanging baskets with impatiens in them would add just the right touch - hmm - maybe not - I don't know about your horses but some of ours will eat anything!! When were even older and more decrepit maybe you can rent us a stall with a porta pottie to live in?? ;-) ;-) ;-)

One thing people in the warmer parts of the country should always think about is building an overhang area on the outside of the barn to provide shade and an extra place to tack up, clean up and so on.

Have any of you been to JD Fountain's barn in Bethune SC? He has arabians. It reminds me so much of the barn I learned to ride in because it has a really great indoor "club room" with a kitchen, bath, furniture so you can sit around in, a breakfast type bar with stools I think and the tack room is adjacent to it. It's all done in knotty pine and is so friendly looking. I'd love to board there but they're a bit far for us right now. I'd love to live over a barn and have a room like that downstairs to just hang out in when you finished riding. Heaven on earth!

[appyday]

Awsome...coming right along..keep posting the pics...

[Cindy]

Kyles, the guy I get my Woodypet from is from Colombia, knows nothing about Paso Finos by the way, and he said the same thing. He was in the barn one day going, here would be this room and here would be that. It really is a cool design for a house. Especially one that holds big extended families like they do so often in Colombia. You are also welcome to visit any time.

[motorgypsy]

Thanks!

[Blameitonbrio]

Today (January 7), we had a crew of five working on the barn, and we hope to have it under roof by Tuesday. Today, they got the band set up around the poles to hold the rafters and cut the poles off at the same height. Tomorrow the rafters start going up!

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/rafterbands1.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/sawingposts.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/rafterbands2.jpg

[Kerry W]

:shock: Wow! It's lookin' like a barn! :lol: Give Tony a brownie and tell him "atta boy!" for me. :D

[LynnG]

I think I know some Paso Fino horses that are going to like their very own luxury digs!

[Blameitonbrio]

Lynn, I can't wait to get this barn ready for them!

Here are pictures of our progress in the last three days. It is under-roof as of today.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/rafters1.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/rafters2.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/rafters3.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/purlins.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/roof1.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/roof2.jpg

[Barbwire]

I like the nice, easy slope of your barn roof. Ours was so steep that we chickened out and hired some young bucks to do it for us.

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/65061roof_bb.jpg

[Blameitonbrio]

I like yours Barbara. That steep slope comes in handy with your NY snow too, huh? Your barn is beautiful -- and finished!!!!

We started out with the plan that I showed the link to earlier in this thread, and we ended up with an enlarged modification with a 12' overhang.

[Barbwire]

Not quite finished, if you look closely, you can see there are no battens upstairs. The inside isn't done, but at least it keeps out the snow and rain and I have a place to hang out when the hubby & son get on my nerves. :smile:

[Kerry W]

Oh I just LOVE that red roof! Lookin' good! I'm jealous! :lol:

[Trail Rider]

Barbara, it is good to see you provide TV for your horses. Do they like Animal Planet or RFD best?

[Barbwire]

The way they act, I think they spend all their time watching Comedy Central.

[Pasomom]

Jeany, A ways back, in this thread, you asked if anyone had a use for sawdust. I don't know how ya'll do it up north, or if it works for ya'll up there, but pine sawdust is what I use in my stalls. It is very easy to muck out. I also have mats down in front of their feeder and hay nets, -- Saw dust goes around and sometimes on top of the mats.---Mats keep any "pawers" from digging up the stalls. We go get our sawdust from a stationary sawmill about 20 miles from our place.

So, if you haven't disposed of that sawdust yet, hang on to it. pile it up and use out of it. I started out with white sand, then went to wood chips, and now use the sawdust and like it the best.

I don't know if there would be a difference between pine and oak sawdust, but I would think both would work equally well. :D

[Barbwire]

I've always heard that it is not safe to use sawdust made from hardwoods like oak or walnut because it causes laminitis.

[CarolU]

Jeany, I'm so glad to enjoy your pictures of the barn building! It's nice to see it grow from a dream into a reality. Looks like it will be beautiful - and I too love the red roof (you'll be able to find 'home' from a long ways off! -- well you could if you didn't have all those trees in the way! ) LOL

Larry, we have a TV in our equipment shed, my husband watches TV while working on the boat up there. He frequently watches it with the barn cats in his lap and he often leaves it on. And I don'tthink they care for it on. (same with radio). I think horses prefer to be able to hear clearly.

[motorgypsy]

Black walnut is the one that is supposed to cause laminitis. Don't know about oak??? Don't see why it would but I'd check around.

[LynnG]

Looking good, glad the roof is on as the rain I have been told is coming this way (fast!). 2 hrs west from here... (just got a report) they got about 1/2" and it came down hard for about 30 minutes, then gone.... I like the red roof too! Luxury digs! I better get back to my barn before the rian comes and put up some stuff and lodge a few horses until it passes.
only thing I know about shavings is it can be dustier......coming from an owner of a heavey horse.

Congrats!!!!!

...your dreams are becoming reality!

[Brigitte]

Looking good!

[Blameitonbrio]

I have two pictures to share. They are not as dramatic a change as getting a roof, but they are progress! The first one is of the nailers going up to which we will attach the siding. My dad (on left) and Tony (right) are in that picture. The second is a picture of the stall partition Tony build yesterday.

We are going to order stall fronts, and we are shopping right now. Any advise would be welcomed!

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/nailers2.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/stallpartitions.jpg

[Barbwire]

I have used RAMM fence in the past to get stall mats, kits for making dividers, doors, and stall hardware. They were great to deal with and did all they could to get me the best shipping rate. I would do business with them again in a heartbeat.

One thing I want to suggest for your stall dividers is the u-channel system that allows you to take down a divider easily if you want to make two stalls into one for foaling or whatever.

RAMM's URL is: http://www.rammfence.com/

[LynnG]

Check with Dick Lockhart at Midwest Source, a PFHA corporate sponsor. They give a % of each sale back to PFHA. He owns Paso Finos too.
http://www.midwestsource.net

[Blameitonbrio]

OK, here are the latest pics taken in the past week. Last Sunday, they finished the ends of the barn, and this weekend, we started installing stall fronts. The barn is 6 stalls long, and we are finishing the two stalls on the end first, so we can get two Paso babies moved next weekend. Then Tony will finish the next two, so we can move Mack and Nisha.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/nailingboards.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/finishedends.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/stallfrontsinstalled.jpg

[CarolU]

Gosh...I never thought I could get "barn fever" from this thread...but I have!!! I LOVE your barn!!! It looks great....and I confess to coveting it. I WANT!!! :shock:

(okay...I'll behave. I know it is TOO FAR away to steal... :evil: )

[LynnG]

Hey, I want it too! Having an old farm/barn in place already..I do more converting and adding too. It looks great to start from scratch. The horses won't know such royal accommodations and won't want to leave their new stalls! They will love it. Its a beautiful barn and you and Tony should be very proud! I know where the 2 girls will be spending their free time (well Jeany too). We have had pretty decent weather this winter to work outside too.

Jeany..what about the roof water run-off especially on the back side which is more of a slope grade behind...gravel ditch pipe drain....? So with extra stalls, you can have horses come visit like Mama Maja at foaling time or at 2006 weaning time... (just kidding).

[Linda Y]

So, whos stall fronts did you end up using? How do you like them?
Great looking barn, by the way. :mrgreen:

[Blameitonbrio]

Linda, the stall fronts are by Preifert. We were dazzled by the feeders! They were a splurge, but we saved some much on the barn that we justified the splurge to ourselves. The fronts are very nice. Tony has to put the wood in them and they will be ready to go .

Lynn, we are going to put gutters across the front and back and then pipe it away from the barn. If you need to send Mama Maja over, go right ahead. But I might have a hard time sending her back!!!

[LynnG]

I figured you might say something like that....... well have the light always on at the Hicks Horse Hotel. Have you got a farm name yet?

[Blameitonbrio]

No name yet, but we are pondering a few.

Well, we have two stalls ready and will pick up the Paso babies tomorrow. I am SO excited! Here are some pictures of the feeders. I love these things. You can open the door to put in hay (Am I easily amused? :lol: ) and tilt it in to drop grain into feeder. So, pics of that first...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/feeder1.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/feeder2.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/feeder3.jpg

Here is the planer that we had to use to plane the board to the correct thickness to slip them into the stall front-frames. Yikes, oak is hard to plane!
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/planer.jpg

Here are the two finished stall fronts. Of course, we still have to finish two more stalls and get our other two horses moved here too.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/stallfrontsfinished.jpg

Here's a picture of the inside of Marisa's stall.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/Danceswlabs/insidestall.jpg

[CarolU]

Very nice. And beautiful!!!!

I suggest a 4' square piece of rubber in the corner under the feeder. The flake from the hay will fall out and not land in that little bucket. That is the horse's favorte part (and most nutritus too). They'll eat/inhale a lot of sudust trying to pick it up if it falls on the stall floor...and waste alot.

Absolutely beautiful.

I'm glad you explained what the planner was. I saw it and wondered what it was.

[Got Brio?]

All I know is that our horses better like it! :lol:

[LynnG]

Its looking mighty fine! Mama would love to come visit her young'ns if she saw that barn.
Yes, Marisa will drop her grain while eating and then clean it up under the bucket. Her grain feeder here is that same kind, but she still drops it outside on the ground. ET is better about keeping his nose in the bucket, probably because the two babies usually eat together or with side by side buckets ... so their noses don't go too far away. Also consider some water repellent on the wood behind the water bucket.

Take pics when they arrive Saturday and check out their new digs! seeya.

lynn

P.S. Nisharox .... I'm sure they will like it, especially if food is included. They just have to get settled in first... 8-)

[Blameitonbrio]

The rubber square is a good idea. I have been wondering how long it will tak e them to pull all their hay out of those hayracks and stomp it into the shavings with poop! Our other two horses are pigs in their stalls; I am kinda hoping I will have at least one non-piggy horse. :lol:

[CarolU]

Your horses should be Favorito offspring! Great inheritable trait...they poop in one spot!

Zar is the easiest horse to keep clean I have ever owned! Amazing.

[Heidi]

I've noticed Q poops in one corner only of her stall/run-in.
I really like your barn.
I bought Kenny a planer for Christmas several years ago and he has made some beautiful picture frames out of some Red Oak he bought for a song. I have plans for Oak bookcases for the office, my tackroom floor will be red Oak, Q's round bale feeder is the rough cut (un-planed) red Oak, and I want him to make me two saddle racks out of the Oak.
Strong, durable wood!
Heidi

[CarolU]

Q's round bale feeder is the rough cut (un-planed) red Oak

Sounds tasty! Does she like it??? ;-)

[Carol Nelson]

Love your barn! All that beautiful wood!!! We went with a metal pole barn as the heat, sun and humidity are tough on wood here.
I was particularly interested in your Priefert stall fronts...those are pretty nice. I almost went with the Priefert stalls, but opted instead for Horseman's Edge from Tractor Supply simply because of cost...I wanted the galvanized (no painting, no maintenance) and theirs was the cheapest. Priefert's galvanized were quite a bit more expensive.
Didn't you love putting the wood in...with a 36 x 84 double sided barn we had a lot of wood to add...had a regular assembly line going. The builder would cut the pieces and hand them to us and we'd insert and slide them into place! :D

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931DSC00002.JPG

We did opt for the Priefert's stocks though...with swing out emergency release sides. We just added the mats last week...they are anti-fatigue mats with holes for good traction, comfort, and drainage being they will be in a high water usage area.

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931breedingdock.JPG

Next we're going to put a polyurethane sealer on all that wood (outside of the stalls only).

[LynnG]

Nah... the poop and the hay dropped on the floor only mix is if the hay feeder is on the other side from where a window or look out place is... Plan your poop piles to be like that...where ever they tend to stand the most. Best is just pick them regularly. In Lowes or Home Depot...they have large plastic black rectangular tubs for mixing concrete in, that look like they could be inexpensive ground feeding tubs or placed under a hay rack to catch loose hay. Just think of young horses like young kids... when it comes to room-keeping. Do they care if there room is messy?
;-)

[CarolU]

You know, it's very interesting how everyone does their barns, the options they pick, the types of equipment they buy.

Carol...what are you feeders like? Judi has the same front doors you do and her water buckets are inside (fills nightly with a hose) the gate. She feeds on the ground in tubs.

[Carol Nelson]

I do the same as your friend, Carol...I use the blue tubs from Walmart with the rope handles (with the handles taken off for baby areas) for my water tubs. I do this as I want to be able to clean the tubs daily to keep the water fresh.
For feeding I have single stall mats on the floor under the feed door, so they eat right off of the stall mats. I don't have the finances to do all the stall flooring in mats.
The barn floor is koleche (sp) hard-packed from our pond floor (we didn't have to order any dirt for the foundation)...and trucked-in washed sand on top of that...we probably got a little over zealous in ordering sand as it's a little deep to walk in but that will pack down in time.

[Heidi]

Q's round bale feeder is the rough cut (un-planed) red Oak
Sounds tasty! Does she like it??? ;-)
Likes the hay, leaves the wood alone. So far. ;)
I am also interested in the options everyone chooses. My barn is fairly simple and utilitarian, but it serves its purpose.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v618/78SilvAnniv/ch.jpg

[Blameitonbrio]

Heidi that is awesome! I have envisioned something similar to that if we ever decided to feed round bales. I was thinking that a cover over it (tarp maybe?) would allow it to be put in the pasture, and you could make sure it could be dragged with a tractor.

Yours is really nice and I think better than the ones you can buy.

[Heidi]

There is no reason you couldn't build it on a "sled" with a hitch so you could drag it where ever you needed it to go. If you used tall enough corner posts, you could firmly attach a roof over the top.

Ours is permanant with a wood floor about 12" above the ground to prevent moisture from ruining the hay. The left side has an open cattle panel to allow for air flow, there is a broom head screwed to the post for scratching/rubbing and the right side will have a drop down door (I want expanded metal for air flow) that will be strong enough for us to rest it on the trailer to roll the hay bale into the feeder and lift the door/gate and pin to close.

Q does like to "tunnel" into the hay and she does pull some out and it lands on the floor. I scrape it up every morning and fling it back on top. Rubber mats help keep waste down. If you made the above mentioned sled you could put mats on both sides to keep mud from developing and still be able to salvage some/most of the pulled out hay.
Heidi

[CarolU]

That is a very nice feeder, with a lot of thought put into it. I think it is impossible to avoid waste when horses have free choice to round bales, just goes with the territory, they're going to toss stems to get to the 'good stuff'...

I'm afraid I'd have to limit access to hay like this...or my horses would all be as round as the bales in no time. LOL

[Heidi]

Yeah, since the grass went away Q has spent an awful lot of time "grazing" on the round bale.
Heidi

[Minouri]

Just wanted you to know how much I've enjoyed looking at your barn going up!