When we were looking for a new farm location last year it was hard to find everything we wanted in a property. We finally found a house, land and a location we like real well, but there was no barn. We ultimately decided it would be an excellent opportunity to design a barn to meet our own needs and accommodate our Miniature Donkeys. The considerations were numerous, but convenience was on the top of our priority list. Remembering the problems with our old barn helped us decide what was important in our plans.
We have a relatively small Miniature Donkey business so our plans were developed with that in mind. After considering several options, we decided on pole barn construction, which involves sinking pressure-treated timbers into the ground as support.
The next step was to find a good builder. We were fortunate to know just the right person for the project. He had built several other barns using this construction. As time allowed, we all helped. Our son hand-dug the four-foot deep trenches for the water lines and the seven-foot shafts for the automatic waterers. My husband worked alongside the builder for much of the construction. I painted, stained and helped with whatever was needed at the time.
As a finished product, the barn is 32 feet by 60 feet with an extension of 14 extra feet along one half of the length of the building on one side. This area was designed as an equipment storage area and extends from the addition to the center aisle, providing a space that is 24 feet deep and 30 feet wide. It has three bays each with an overhead garage door. Directly across the aisle is the sawdust bin. It is located to allow a dump truck to back in and dump directly into the bin. This area is out of the way but easily accessible to the stalls.
The twelve-foot center aisle has six inches of reinforced concrete to allow for heavy equipment. Stall mats are used in the aisle to prevent slipping. The front end of the barn has a twelve-foot high sliding door to allow for truckloads of hay to be easily unloaded and stacked in the lofts. A the far end of the barn there are six ten-by-ten foot stalls, three on each side with Dutch doors opening to each pasture and a four-foot sliding door entering the center aisle. The stalls, doors and partitions between the stalls can be easily removed to enlarge the stall area when needed.
The feeding station located next to the stalls has a frost-free water hydrant, a deep sink, cabinets and shelves. The stairway leads to the loft with an opening to drop hay next to the grain bins. At the entrance of the barn is another separate room used as a small office and as tack storage. This space is insulated and can be used for an overnight stay during foaling season.
The barn is ventilated with three revolving vents that are evenly spaced along the ridge of the roof.
Each stall floor was prepared with packed gravel and six inches of packed stone dust as a base for 3/4-inch Lock-Tuf stall mats fitted to each stall.
Our barn was designed with our Miniature Donkeys in mind but can easily accommodate most other larger animals with a few adjustments.
We have been very happy with the results. In the future we would like to add some run-in sheds in the pasture to keep the donkeys from congregating in the barn during the day.
We added protective metal covering to many of the wood surfaces (particularly edges) to prevent chewing in the stalls. The automatic waterers and stall mats have really helped with convenience. For individuals considering automatic waterers, I would strongly recommend the ones with removable stainless steel bowls for cleaning.
If you have an opportunity to build or redesign a barn, you can put many of your own ideas for convenient and timesaving features into practice.
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