My Industrial Cabin Build

[buckeyefarmer]

I was surprised I had internet to upload a picture.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

It's interesting to see how your doing what I did. Start out with a few goats, build a small shelter, fence in an area for them, and buy some square bales.

That's exactly what I did. Then we got a few more goats, then a boy goat, and pretty soon we where selling baby goats and thinking we had it all under control. But we kept a few of the girl babies, and then a different boy, and all of a sudden, we went from ten goats to thirty, and it seemed like that went up to 60. I'm at 50 right now without a good way to handle them. I have people wanting to buy goats, but I can't catch them, or hold them for somebody to come get them.

We ran out of square bales real fast, so we tried round bales. That lasted a lot longer. We started out putting them on pallets and tarping them, but eventually, that was too much effort as we bought larger loads of round bales. Now they are lined up to keep water out of the ends of them, and as close to the gate as possible. I only buy round bales with netting since they sit out in the weather and the netting helps shed a little bit of the water. By Spring, about 4 to six inches of the outside part of the bale is ruined. I really need to build a hay barn to keep it dry, which will happen after I finish my fencing and build a bigger barn.

My biggest lesson with fencing has been to spend the money for the best fence possible. But even more important, is to remove every try that can damage your fence during a storm. I didn't learn the most important lesson, which is to have everything done before getting animals. Now I'm playing catch up and doing everything at least twice. I'd be better off just burning my money in a fire, but it is what it is.

I think you described part of my situation. I wanted to load up on square bales for winter but everyone around here quickly sold out of those. So I bought round three round bales. I will pull off pieces of those to put in the feeder. All hay storage is under plastic or tarps which is dodgy because strong winds/ storms blow it off and I’m back down there covering it up again. But thats the trivial part.
Buildings and infrastructure are the real obstacle. I am trying to make plans on how and where I can build a structure that allows some storage and housing for animals as well as the ability to separate them when needed. And all of those lofty goals are complicated by the ridiculous inflation that we’ve seen over the last few years. Add to that, the interest rates and borrowing money to build would be suicidal. If I cant build out of pocket, right now, I’m not doing it. As material costs soared, and my timeline stretched out, Building the house cost more than I planned and I downgraded material choices along the way. I don’t think we will see interest rates back under 5% in the next decade. Thats just my gut and the bit of reading I do. I don’t have a crystal ball. But I always felt that interest rates were artificially low and expected that to end. I had hoped/ planned on getting into the house before that happened. I missed the mark. And what I am paying now for the debts I incurred, would have built me a very nice barn just two years ago.
But focusing on the bright side, I still get to live here and I can still chase some of my dreams, just on a smaller scale.
Having to do it all again, I might do some things different but I’d still do it and I’d still have to deal with the unforeseen.

 

[EddieWalker]

I understand about figuring out the barn build. I'm also paying cash for what I do, and if it takes longer then I want, that's kind of become normal with everything I do around here. My original plan was to have everything under one roof, but now I'm working towards three separate buildings, plus a few small, stand alone stalls.

My current barn was designed located so I could add on to it in the future. It's for livestock that already has two massive chicken coops, a hatching/chick room. I'm going to add on two big areas for my goats and for my cattle. Both of those feed areas will be part of my catch system that will lead them into separate handling facilities. Small one for goats, big one for Herefords.

I want my hay barn away from everything else, but with good access for deliveries, and also getting the hay from the barn, to the feed area. It's going to be wide, like a loafing shed. I'm also going to build a fence line feeder. I've been watching YouTube videos on them and I really like the idea of not having to go through a gate when carrying a hay bale to the hay ring. When the animals see me coming with the bale, they all bunch up at the gate to great me. This creates more work in scaring, pushing, fighting them to get out of the way.

And finally, my work shop that I will be able to park my tractors in and have enough space for all my tools. If I didn't already have animals, this would be my number one project, but the reality is that the animals come first, and me having a nice place to build and fix things is way down on the list of what's going to happen.

It's a lifetime of work that I don't have the time or money to do, but will find a way to make it happen. The struggle is doing it the best way possible, and not cutting corners or going cheap.

Right now I'm reading up on buying bulk feed. I'm not a fan of the big white one ton sacks, and lately I've started looking into buying a feed trailer that can haul a couple tons of feed. I have an area that I can park it where it's out of the weather, and accessible to the barn where we feed the animals. If I do this, it will be a huge savings over buying 40 pound sacks of feed.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Right now I'm reading up on buying bulk feed. I'm not a fan of the big white one ton sacks, and lately I've started looking into buying a feed trailer that can haul a couple tons of feed. I have an area that I can park it where it's out of the weather, and accessible to the barn where we feed the animals. If I do this, it will be a huge savings over buying 40 pound sacks of feed.

What a friend of mine did was buy an older stock trailer and modified it. He put a 3/4 inch piece of plywood across the rear to hold the feed in and closed up the side openings. He cut large openings in the roof and installed lids on them to keep the weather out. He'd go to a feed mill and open up the lids to fill and hauled the feed home. It worked pretty good and was cheap.

 

[747driver]

Nice hay feeder you built from materials you already had ! Those totes find more ways to build things is crazy !

Are you going to build a roof that spans and connects to those 2 containers brought in over the summer ? That shouldn't take to much to do.

You are correct i believe in thinking the cheap interest and banks willing to give loans will not come back any time soon. Most of us who build have gotten caught in a prefect storm in terms of time, money and materials !

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Forgot to post this one this morning.

 

[airbiscuit]

Well, that's better than watching goats.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

I killed a nice deer on Friday morning. I didn’t see a TBN hunting thread so….
It was the beginning of a hot weekend. 58 degrees when I went out. Buck showed up behind my stand at 840am. Quartering toward. I was trying to place the shot at base of nech going into chest cavity to hit lung. I hit a twig 8 feet in front of me and hit low side thru liver and stomach. Usually if you think you have a questionable hit you pull back and wait. But it was already 65 degrees. I pushed on and tracked him for hour and half before putting a second arrow thru him. Then I had the long drag back thru woods and thru the swamp bottom. I went and got the Ventrac once I reached the edge of the field.
I seldom feel bad about deer I kill but did with this one. I hate having them suffer. I also felt kind of bad that he didnt get a chance to mate this year. Id like to see more like him in the future.

 

[EddieWalker]

Congrats. Opening day is this Saturday for me and I'm hoping this buck shows up. He's been a regular for months, but hasn't been here for the last few weeks. It makes me crazy how they just disappear like that!!!!

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Congrats. Opening day is this Saturday for me and I'm hoping this buck shows up. He's been a regular for months, but hasn't been here for the last few weeks. It makes me crazy how they just disappear like that!!!!

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Holy smokes. Thats a big one. That other deer isn’t too bad either.
Yeah, its amazing how they seem to know when they can and cant come thru. They are in pre rut behavior here so I was surprised that he came thru like that. I think he was working a rub line.