I need an economical horse barn

Cityboyfarmer · Jul 7, 2005

In a few months, after the clean up from the tree harvest, and completion of the fencing, we are going to need to construct a shelter for a couple of horses. I would like to have two stalls and a feed and tack room at a minimum. Cost will be a major factor because of the expense of stumping and fencing.

As my screen name implies, I am pretty much a city boy, though my dad was a dirt farmer most of his life. I actually watched him plow behind a mule when I was a kid. (I was born in 1964) I have cultivated some pretty decent small vegetable gardens, but that is about the extent of my ag knowledge. I know diddly squat about horses, but my 13 year old daughter has been taking riding lessons at the local stables since she was a tot and deeply loves horses. She has demonstrated this love with a willingness to shovel horse squeeze and cheerfully perform any stable chore asked of her, hence my plunge into the financial abyss of the equine. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

So, any words of wisdom and experience from any horse people out there concerning constructing a proper economical shelter, or new horse "dad" advice will be greatly appreciated.

riptides · Jul 8, 2005

There is a slew of posts on pole barn construction under the projects and rural living forums. Search on "pole barns".

I myself have whipped up four "pole type" shelters over the last few years. The last one was a 20lX13wX16h horse lean to.
Basic contruction costs were in the 2k-3k range. I lost track because I was under my 5k budget. I used T-111, 2X4's, 4X4's and Pro-Panel Metal roofing. All from a local HD.

I am not a carpenter by trade, but I did sleep at a holiday inn once.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

riptides · Jul 8, 2005

Oh,

( financial abyss of the equine. )
Right on.

My life REALLY changed when the horses showed up. You only have one? Just wait! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Tonight when I get home, IF, I can find it, I'll dig up a book titled something like "Horse keeping on small acreage". It was invaluable with *excellent* ideas on buildings, pasture maintenance, rings, horse care, feeds, blah, blah, blah. Probably a great find at your local library. Worth a peek.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

roho · Jul 8, 2005

Hello JOHN! Read U'r profile and really hit close to my own except I'm a tad older, would trade age, if YOU want! Ok, bac to subject! I'm sure the Macon, Ga area is not much different that any where else! 1st & most important Free material! Down here a few years ago, the light company had a pole yard that a person could get on the list and get free old/damaged poles! Check out light/telephone companies! 2nd. scaffold companies can only use their 2x12's board for so long, then have to replace them! They make good siding on barns, just keep them dry & off the ground! 3rd item are pipe yards get what they call cribbing(down here it's 2x6 rough sawn oak! It's good as walls for stalls and dry & off ground too! I've got some that's been up for close to 10 yrs & it looks like it was installed yesterday! Excuss my french but **** to get a nail throu thou! 4th thing is tearing down ole barn/blding for some barn materail and last, What kind of timber YOU got on place! Even scrub cedar makes good poles/post for small pole barn! Oh wait one more, A friend of mine bought 2 40ft connex trailers and set them about 8ft to 10 ft apart and roofed in between & made temerary barn about 15 yrs ago & it's still there! Some of this stuff might or might not be free but should be cheap by the trailer load, on scaffold boards, I paid a dollar a board for a trailer load that was about 8 to 9 ft long!!! & made a good inside round pen!
Hope I helped a little roho /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Cityboyfarmer · Jul 14, 2005

Gosh, not gettin' much response here. I read a whole bunch of good info in the archives. Even read a thread by a guy like me about to enter the world of horse ownership. Lots to think about for sure.

Anybody willing to share their horse, fence & barn experience?

BigAl · Jul 14, 2005

All I can add is when put one ton of hay in the front end of a horse , 5 tons of manure comes out the back !
Allen

Whiskey · Jul 15, 2005

Cityboyfarmer:

Cheep you say.....sell the horse's and smile, now thats the best advise I've given all day.

But, if that can't be done I built mine out of telephone poles and used chicken farm trusses...dirt cheep and stout.

LBrown59 · Jul 15, 2005

( Excuss my french but **** to get a nail throu thou! )
Drill the nail holes.

Keith_B · Jul 17, 2005

I see that you are in Georgia, so that means that you won't have to worry about snow loads. That means that structurally you can get by a lot cheaper than if you were in the snow belt.

The cheapest structure to build would be to use standard 24 foot 2/4 trusses mounted on pole barn type sidewalls. I built my garage in this manner and the trusses can be placed on a four foot center if you are using painted metal roofing or galvalume. The sidewalls can be made from rough cut 2/6 and you can use old telephone poles, yellow locust or rough cut 6X6 for the posts.

I noticed that you are doing some harvesting of trees. If you are cutting these into log lengths you can take the cull logs and have them cut into lumber at a fairly economical rate. In my area we have people with portable saw mills that come out to the farms and cut the lumber on the spot.

In regards to size I would start with a 24X24 minimum.

riptides · Jul 18, 2005

( Gosh, not gettin' much response here. )

That is because we are all working on trying to keep the horses happy.

Let us see... my story is we started with one, ended up with two, looking for number three. We started with ten acres, cleared land, fenced land, custom built a barn and built lean-to's and equipment sheds. Then we decided it would be in our best interest to get more land and less house, because the horse work required more barn and more land.
So after 15 years of getting a place together with the end goal of horses being accomplished on time and under budget -
we moved and decided to "renovated" an old dairy farm.

They shoot horses don't they? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif