30 X 40 ft BARN DESIGNS for a Hobby Farm

[scaredychicken]

I tried to find an existing thread for this topic, but nothing was close, so starting a new thread ...

My plan is that in a year or two, I would like to replace the existing chicken coop and sheds on the yard with a nice 30 x 40 pole barn type barn with aluminum siding and perhaps a partial mezzanine for extra storage. Something like a Future Steel Structure perhaps. There would eventually be a lean-to on either side for equipment and workshop area respectively. I'm intending to build it in stages, as the budget permits, but the concrete pad would be at the initial stage along with the shell of the building.

I need segregated areas for layers, broilers, chicks, ducks, turkeys, and potentially pigs, goats as we alternate critters over time. The back end of one of the lean-tos would probably become a horse paddock in time.

Thinking that adjustable / removable interior wall panels would work, and one small corner room for specific needs.

Probably a large garage door and a walk in door on the front, and another garage door on the back wall ... for a drive-through option.

Thinking that my initial stage build ... concrete slab, framed / aluminum barn structure, electrical / water, and labour would be about $25,000 Cdn.

Lots to plan, so starting early.

I'd love to hear from others on design and experiences. Thanks.

 

[EddieWalker]

Sounds like you are going to put a lot into one building. Manure removal is gong to be a constant issue. How are you going to deal with that?

Why aluminum? Do you have a source for it? Will urine damage it? I've heard that aluminum horse trailers suffer from urine, but it's just something that I've been told and I don't know this for a fact.

I would draw it on graph paper and figure out where you will store feed, how you will get feed to that location and how you will separate your animals during feed time.

 

[Peter 315]

Sounds like you are going to put a lot into one building. Manure removal is gong to be a constant issue. How are you going to deal with that?

( I've heard that aluminum horse trailers suffer from urine, but it's just something that I've been told and I don't know this for a fact.)


True it will rot out the floor in no time I clean out the trailer every time we use it...

 

[KennyG]

You probably don't want to hear this, but I think animals and equipment don't belong in the same barn. I would suggest two structures. You didn't mention height. For equipment or shop use, you want a high ceiling. For animals a minimum height building will be more heat efficient.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

30x40' sounds way too small.

Also, I'm thinking something similar to what they do for fairground exhibits around here, the self standing put together style dog kennel fence panels. They can be taken down, moved, resizing areas, etc, and taken completely out for cleaning and washing down floor and walls.

 

[scaredychicken]

just my initial concepts, I am drawing it out too. Perhaps aluminum is not the right thing ... I see a pole barn style nearby that I like, and I thought it was aluminum or tin - perhaps it is steel sheets ? I know that the frame is wood, like a dressed up pole barn.

the birds would each have their own area inside, and an outer run, so they would not be mixed. Cleaning out would be through the inside doors into the centre, and then with use of the tractor. The fairground exhibits style, is what I was initially considering, yes. I would not have all of those animals in at the same time - more of a rotation on what we would raise, I just want to accommodate different types ... eg turkeys / pigs / broilers would be brief and seasonal, layers would be year long, chicks would progress to the larger runs, an option for pigs or goats, and likely for 1-2 horses. Basically chickens, would be the main critters.

as far as equipment and workshop, that is what the lean-tos would be used for. My desire is for one structure. I don't need much for hay or sawdust, just a corner area, it's small scale.

In this area WITHOUT quota (my goal), I could have 100 layers, 200 broilers, unlimited ducks, chicks, and the roosters (don't count in the mix, and a handful at best). As for other animals (turkeys, pigs, goats) maybe only 4-5 enough for our needs and purposes. It's a big plan, but not a big operation.

Biggest reason for the Barn build it to add value and convenience to the property to maximize the potential of our 7.5 acres. The current coop contains about 90 birds, and though the size is adequate, it was never intended as long term, and it needs better functionality for breeding, rehabilitation etc.

In a year or two, that coop will require a new floor, to that is my timeframe to dismantle and build. Current coop was built from leftover and used lumber and has a 16 x 20 structure with 1 lean to, and a huge run, in the spring / summer the birds free range the property also.

Thanks for all of the responses, it is tweaking my planning for sure.

 

[rgr33]

I don’t know how much property and equipment you have, but I have a 36x48 plus a chemical shed and they are both stuffed to the gills with tools and equipment I didn’t have when I originally built the barns.
You will be surprised at how fast you outgrow the original barn, if you can, think bigger.

 

[BrokenTrack]

I built what you are looking for back in 2015. Mine was 30 x 48 and I built it for $4450, although I did already have the concrete pad.

Most of the money was in buying the new steel for the roof, but I saved a lot of money by sawing my own logs into lumber. Still, I built it chicken-barn fashion in that it was framed four feet on center, then purlings for the roof, and board and batten siding.

The overall design was it was a through-barn, so using pipe-gate ends, then using self-tapping screws to attach steel roofing I was able to get the ideal mix of being draft-free for the sheep and lambs down below four feet, but a lot of ventilation above. In the first year I went from a 11% mortality rate on the lambs, to less than 1%. It really was amazing the difference a barn made.

Mine was primarily for sheep, but it amounts to a (7) car garage, so I have stored a SUV, a bulldozer and a tractor inside while riding a blizzard out on one side, and the sheep on the other. We split the main barn in two for support, but it allowed us to have the sheep on one side when we cleaned out, and then put them back on that side, as we cleaned out the other. Fold-up hay racks worked well too because hay racks save a lot of hay with sheep. They also self-shut them as they pushed against them for those last strands of hay. This allowed them to be out of the way of my tractor when cleaning out. And that was where lining the insides of the barn with steel roofing helped. It kept the manure from sticking, so I could push out a pile of manure all at once.

In the half-wall that separates the two main bays, we put in gates to cross from one side to the next. Then with pipe gates in the center, it allowed us to have (4) pens for the sheep, so we could move the sheep from pen to pen without chasing them. It really worked well. In fact, normally we build something, and then in a few years refine the design, but this barn worked so well that we would not change a thing.

In the smaller area of the barn (12 x 24) was our lambing pens. This was insulated, with 4 x 6 pens for the newborn lamb and eye to get acquainted. With a few sheep in that area, with the insulation and their body heat, it never got below freezing. In the alley way leading from the main barn to the lambing barn, I put in an in-floor foot bath. The other area of the barn (7 x 24) we made into four foot pens, and had this as our "Medical pens" which was for any sick sheep that needed to be separated. This could also be a place for chickens, pigs, or cows though too.

Over the medical pens is a 7 x 24 foot area for overhead storage, though I will tell you the truth, my daughters use it for a "fort" instead! (LOL)

I have been sick for the last three years so I no longer have my sheep, but I still use the barn to this day. The lambing barn is now my shop and generator shed, and the rest of it I use for a garage for my tractor, equipment, lumber and cars. It was probably the best $4450 I ever spent.

 

[BrokenTrack]

More pictures of my barn...

 

[scaredychicken]

WOW - Broken Track, this is impressive, it sounds brilliiant, well thought out and functional. Thank you for all of that, and the photos also. If I wasn't on the complete opposite side of the continent as you, I'd be inclined to come out for a coffee.

I hope that one of my bookkeeping clients (concrete & finishing) will square up on an overdue invoice, and pour me a concrete slab one day. That would save some money.

I have a physical disability (cerebral palsy, and a back injury) so I will need to have most of the structural labour done by others. I think that my budget of $25,000 should cover it though ... $15,000 material, $10,000 labour (I can probably get some of the labour done via friends and the youth team at church though).

I'm wondering about the dimensions a little bit. Initially I was considering 20 x 30 but that is too small, so 30 x 40 seems about right. Perhaps 28/32 x 40 would br optional dimensions. I'll figure out what is easiest for labour ...

rgr33 - thank you. I do have a double garage that is 30 x 30 with large bays, a water room and current workbench. this is attached to the house, offers lots of starage also. If I selected the optional build site, and budget permitted, I could think about a 30 x 60 barn ... so, having options is good.


Getting excited to continue saving for this barn build.