Barnyard Layout

[Virginia_mike]

Hi All,
Does anyone have a barnyard layout? I have been looking all over the WEB, but I can't seem to find a good one.
I am looking for two barns, one for livestock the other for equipment.
Maybe throw a chickcoop and pig pen in also.
The house would be there also .

Thanks Mike

[moopups]

Need more info here Mike, acreage? Type of live stock? Terrain? Water availability? Budget? Square foot requirements? Ect.

[Virginia_mike]

Hi Moopups,
Thanks for the reply

Acreage? I have 64 acres of which about 50 is all woods, 15 in old pastures, in Virginia. I plan on clearing another 5-10 more. The rest would all be older woods.

Type of live stock? I plan on having 1 Milk cow maybe 2-3 beef. Maybe some goats to help with the clearing. Chickens (Free range) 2-3 pigs.

Terrain? Rolling Hills

Water availability? 3 streams in a good water year.

Budget? Right now I have a pretty good budjet but I plan on retiring again in 4-5 years

Square foot requirements? For the barns, 1 large enough to store enough forage for the animals so I don't have to buy feed. An area for milking the one cow. 1 barn for storing 1-2 tractors and equipment with a work shop.

Mike

[bluetick]

Have you checked out the Have More Plan? If I recall, it was written over 50 years ago, but has some good ideas, and is still in print. The Countryside (magazine) bookstore may sell it.

[Tater Farm]

In one of John Seymour's books he has drawing of plans for homesteads on one, five and ten acres(?). I think it's called The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It(?). I'll have to check that one out again at the library Wed.

[MullersLaneFarm]

Our house is on the south side of the property. The predominant wind is from the west. The barn yard & buildings sit to the north of the house.

The out buildings are to the north west, north and north east to the house forming an upside U to the house.

The work shop is north west of the house. The gardens are to the west of that. The garden shed is attached to the west side of the work shop. On the east side of the workshop is the blacksmith shop and the wood shed.

The large barn is north east of the workshop. The alley doors are on the east and west side of the barn with a main sliding door on the south side. There is the pasture that is on the west side of the barn that is separated with a gate from the pasture on the north side of the barn. The paddock area is to the east side of the barn. The paddock is connected to the north pasture and a larger pasture east of that.

The machine shed is south east from the barn (north east from the house). There is another gate next to the machine shed that leads to the east pasture.

The chicken house and yard sit between the barn and the machine shed

There is a lane that comes along the south side of the east pasture up to the house. This lane is lined with fruit trees.

The hay field sits on the west side of our property

[Liese]

Cyndi makes a good point about wind direction, we have taken that into consideration as well. Winter weather for the rain and mud needs to be addressed a bit since the grasses died out this summer. We are also making plans for planting more trees to the west for wind break (further out) and shade (close in). Keeping buildings clustered does save on distanced walked but concentrates that mud and dirt, also cuts down on any views. I noticed in south England last year that most the farms have a wall surrounding the farm yard, usually the house, barn(s) or other outbuildings made up some of that wall - stone of course. Lovely to look at but I wonder about the sea of mud come March. As you are setting things up on paper keep in mind those free ranged hens will be everywhere, at least mine are. Sometimes fences are good for keeping others out as to keeping them in! Since you are thinking of goats for clearing, I'll recommend Kencove's electro netting & the Parmak 12 volt charger - it'll allow you to move them around and play with fence ideas. We haven't had much success with cattlepanel/tarp hoophouses for the goats but it's worked well for the sheep. So you might think about having a small 3 sided shed that you can drag with the tractor, we made 1 that comes apart and that has served the bucks very well. By having the shelter moveable you'll be able to keep them ranging and healthier. We have lived here just over a year and use mostly moveable structures or converted a small shed. A good weather resistant structure for hay is a must, 3 wings off of it work well for round bales, storing the tractor and the season's firewood.
But placement of all this depends so much on your own little spot. I'd recommend tho that you live there a time to get a feel for wind, water flow (a friend's old barn routinely gets flooded), being from MI we still pay alot of attention to where the sun is winter to summer - stuff like that. You might also want to read some books on permaculture just to get the ideas flowing.

[Virginia_mike]

Thanks everyone for the info, I went out and bought the Book by John Seymour "The Self Sufficient Life" and it really is a good book. It has two very good farm layouts in it, thanks Tater!

Mike

[Snuffy Smith]

Where can you buy that book?

[Tater Farm]

Snuffy Smith - I know Amazon has it available and I've seen it advertised in a lot of the homesteading type mags. I've borrowed it from the library a couple of times. Probably time for me to buy a copy, too - it really is a good one. -Shelly

[cougkid]

"Introduction to Permaculture" is a must have book for any homesteader. The primary focus of the book is on developing a sustainable and efficient homestead layout. Great book.

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-P.../dp/0908228082

[hotzcatz]

As a draftsperson, folks are always describing what they want to build to me so I can draw pictures of it for them. The folks that have a list of what they want and have laid out at least a rough diagram usually end up with nicer places afterwards.

You can make a map of your place with notes on where the stream, woods, wind and sun all come from and go to. It doesn't have to be terribly accurate since at this stage you are just doing a rough layout. Then a few paper cut outs of cows, with their required areas for pasturage and paper cut outs for stalls, etc. (No, you can't draw them smaller to fit more of them in!) You can move them all around the map and imagine yourself walking among them. How would the sun be in the morning? Would it shine in your bedroom nice and early and wake you up with the roosters? Which way would the wind come in from? Which way does the rain go? Sometimes just sitting with a list of what you want in the middle of your property will tell you where things should go.

[minnikin1]

Some things to think about:

How will you clean the barn and where will you dump the manure?
How close will that be to your garden? How easy is it to get to.

Can you arrange your buildings so you have minimal snow removal to
access from one to the next?

Make you gates bigger and wider than you think you need.
Give plenty of turning radius and back up space for vehicles.

If you have to bring in feed and hay, how will you get it to the barn?

Is the kitchen near the garden and compost?
Is the clothesline far from the goats and manure, but close to washing area?
Is it sunny and breezy?

Where will you locate wood piles so they are not near your main buildings,
(bugs and rot contaminate good wood, and fire hazard) but close enough to be easily accessible. Can you reach it without excessive driving over your pastures? Does it have shade if your splitting wood on hot summer day?

WATER! How easy will it be to plumb for you, animals and gardens?

Is your head spinning yet? If you design as much as you can to be impermanent and moveable, you will make your life much easier.
You'll change your mind, your needs will change constantly, and taxes are lower on impermanent structures.