Put a new stable in a old barn

[Bruce from Can.]

This old barn has sat empty for the most part , the
last 5 years. I'm the first picture you see the barn
getting some roof repair. The main barn is 40x80 ,
with a 40x40 L attached. The stable was just all
open, gutted out, and not really suited to our needs
. So this fall we changed it into pens for calves of
various sizes, from post weaned baby's in the
second picture. The third picture is of the 40x40 L
section, for big heifers. And the last picture shows 4
pens in the main barn , were calves can be grouped
according to size. The whole barn can be cleaned
out with a skid steer, and large round bales of hay
and straw used for feed and bedding. I have also
poured a pad beside the barn to place a hopper
bottom feed bin on. New heated water bowls
throughout the barn with water lines down 4 feet
under the floor. This little project also requirered me
to upgrade the electrical pannel , and some wiring
upgrades. New steel penning , new steel support
columns, and several truck loads of ready mix to
redo the floor. Don't really look like much, but sure
cost a few $$$ . This has given new life to the old
barn , and makes my calf chores a breeze. Bruce

 

[Philip d]

Looks great to me Bruce! Anytime you can convert something old and unused I to something new is money in the bank.

 

[Olliejunkie]

Thank you for sharing. Always like to see old barns and tractors. If they could only talk.

 

[showcrop]

How do you feed the round bales out in there? One of those unrollers where the bale sits on end on a turn table?

 

[Hank ABAB]

What a great looking old barn!
Nice to see that you could fix it up a bit and put it to good use again.

 

[gtractorfan]

Yikes, looks like someone is up on the roof and no safety rope?

 

[coonie minnie]

It is always nice to see an old barn with cattle. Are you able to keep enough airflow in there to keep them healthy? That is always the challenge with old barns. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Bruce from Can.]

I simply push the bales down the feed alley , and they unroll. All the bales are
silage -wet wrapped hay. I guess I am just strong like Bull, and smart like
streetcar ! In all seriousness , It is not all that tough to do , bales wouldn't
weigh much over 1000-1200 lbs , and start to get smaller as soon as you get them
moving.

 

[SweetFeet]

Bruce from Can.,

That's great! Just love to see old buildings saved when possible.

Always like your posts... had two uncles in WI who were dairymen and spent some time staying there and helping cousins with calf chores when I was a kid.

I once said to my cousin, "You're SO lucky that you get to do calf chores!". She replied, "Well, actually when you 'get to' do it everyday... it's not quite as much fun as it maybe seems like to you." LOL

 

[Bruce from Can.]

I am hoping so , barn has 4 fans , and I expect it to get cold in there in the depth of winter. That is why I broke up the floor , and buried the water lines to heated bowls. Didn't want to try to keep the water from freezing by not running fans to keep the air fresh.

 

[jacksun65]

love them old barns like that they have character. You sure wouldn't catch me up on that roof though.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

Sweet Feet , I think your cousin might have been on to something , lol. Thanks for the kind remarks. I enjoy working with livestock , and always have, and sharing some of my day to day things with others , is also kind of fun too. I like to tell folks that I have been lucky , because I haven't had a job in 36 years , I just stay home and do what I want to do. Bruce

 

[centash]

Sure is nice to see those stately old barns used again. All to often they fall into disrepair and are torn down. Around here even the foundations are removed and the cleared land farmed. Ben

 

[Pete in Holland MI]

Dumb city-slicker question, but why are all the spindles in rails where the cows poke their heads thru at an angle?

Pete

 

[centash]

Less tendency for the cows to back up while eating and waste feed.Ben

 

[Kickinbull]

Looks great. Great you can use barn. Also like that you can feed and clean pens without hand labor.

 

[JD Seller]

Bruce I am glad you using an older building over tearing it down and building totally new. Too many of the great old barns are gone around here. Most modern farming does not have any need for them so they get torn down.

A metal pole barn or a hoop building is just not the same.

 

[Brown Swiss]

You sure like those old barns better then I do! My dad helped in my disliking them, if I opened a window or the door to let in air he would cuss up a storm telling me I was going to give the calves phenomena, I always told him I was tying to give them fresh air poisoning! There was plenty of times walk in the barn and moisture was dripping off the ceiling, never could raise cattle that way. Then the entire thing was hand labor putting hay in the barn, feeding the hay and then cleaning up after. I was able to get another shed and yard for the yearling cattle and let the cows have the one next to the barn, and got rid of some hogs then made pens for the calves in the hog house, my death rate went way way low after doing that and I am getting so many replacement heifers I need more shed space before next winter. I still have the barn full of cows over night in the barn but they have ventilation now, anyhoo glad you saved the barn and could make great use of it.

 

[Donald Lehman]

Jeff's barn is sort of a geographic record. The upper most section was built in the 1800's, the middle section was built in the early 1900's, and the lower section was built in 1949. The upper and middle sections had caved in by the time Jeff started farming, but we rebuilt the middle section. It still has the original stone walls(about 18 inches thick) with the horse hair mortar, though. We plan to rebuild the upper section next summer. That will be a curtained type of construction but some of the original stone and horse hair mortared wall will be utilized. The upper end of the barn was in a T configuration in relation to the rest of the barn. That will not be continued, simply because of ventilation problems with the old configuration. The finished project will be a straight line barn. I think it is cool that we will be able to retain some of the original 1800's part of the barn.

Looks like a good job, Bruce.

 

[larry@stinescorner]

I wonder how much it would cost to build a barn exactly like that now a days? It propbably wouldnt be exactly like it,,it was probably built with old growth lumber you cant even get now? Nice barn!!

 

[sjh]

lARRY

I'm a GC on a timber framing job. The building is 67x30 with 16' walls. Before I got involved quotes they had were $100,000 and $120,000. I will save them about 50 grand by logging and sawmilling there trees.