# Small cow barn - need ideas pls



## holliehmstd (Apr 26, 2012)

I am in the process of finishing framing on my chicken coop and I will finish that soon so I am starting the planning phase on our cow barn. I need a small-ish barn that can house up to 2 cows and a calf - ultimately I guess 3 cows. I think I would prefer a barn with a large open space and then a milking stanchion. This does not need to be anything complex, I just am not sure about design and sq footage. This will be our first forray into cows. But I am not a carpenter or builder. Just a homestead wife who does the bulk of construction - I married a city boy I am slowly converting!


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

I would build a pole barn the width you would need in the future. 24' is a good width, 24'x24' for the open part. Then a leanto 12'? wide x 24', same length as the main barn. Later you can add on for more space. Another good thought is place it so you can add on where you can put a driveway straight into the end or side for a future garage or machine shed. Additions are cheaper than stand alone, leanto's are the cheapest way as sidewalls are shorter to side. Another thing is to take into acount open sides or doorways into a livestock shed (any really). Do not place on the prevailing wind side, here N and E sides are the protected sides....James


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

Do you have a south, southeast or southwest facing hill side you can build into to ? If so, I'll show you in pic how I build mine.


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## holliehmstd (Apr 26, 2012)

jwal10 said:


> I would build a pole barn the width you would need in the future. 24' is a good width, 24'x24' for the open part. Then a leanto 12'? wide x 24', same length as the main barn. Later you can add on for more space. Another good thought is place it so you can add on where you can put a driveway straight into the end or side for a future garage or machine shed. Additions are cheaper than stand alone, leanto's are the cheapest way as sidewalls are shorter to side. Another thing is to take into acount open sides or doorways into a livestock shed (any really). Do not place on the prevailing wind side, here N and E sides are the protected sides....James


Oh my goodness! I am so not a builder. I will try not to sound like a total dip. I am going to try facing it south east due to the way that the pasture is and I only need it to house animals. We have other buildings for hay and machinery. That and I have to consider fencing so there is a lot of work to get it done.



TnAndy said:


> Do you have a south, southeast or southwest facing hill side you can build into to ? If so, I'll show you in pic how I build mine.


I wish I had a hill, then I could build a root cellar too! Flat property. But you can still show me what you did.


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

A po,e shed is the way to go that is what my cow barn is I'm in a hilly area of virginia with lots of woods when we built the barn saw mill cull 1 inch lumber was cheep we cut trees for the upright poles then more to nail on top to support the raftors which are smaller trees then we nailed boards across these for laths every couple feet to have a even place to nail the second hand tin on for the roof then we boxed it in with the lumber . No square or level or electric .a 24 x 30 barn for my milk cow and calf not counting the nails the lumber cost 80 $ we used second hand gate hinges for the door it is sturdy as heck . a chainsaw hammer and 3 cousins did it in 3 days around 1987 . We built another 24 x 40 shed for a picnic table and mallases furnice and cane mill again with snow fallen trees but as the strength of youth gone we used a tractorto set the up right poles and rafters again second hand tin for the roof but no side walls my rabbit shed is 10x 24 but I used treated 4x4s for the frame and 2x4s for the rafters this is what I sudgest you use for your cow barn only use 6x6s and 2 x 6s . I was in the oppisite with my ex going to the nail salon divorse lawyer ect. So I'm still alone on the farm so watch out trying to convert a ciity person   . Wish I could show ya these buildings but if you have flat land your not near here . We dug into a steep hillside and made my root cellar out of concrete blocks buried on three sides never freeses .


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

arnie said:


> A po,e shed is the way to go that is what my cow barn is I'm in a hilly area of virginia with lots of woods when we built the barn saw mill cull 1 inch lumber was cheep we cut trees for the upright poles then more to nail on top to support the raftors which are smaller trees then we nailed boards across these for laths every couple feet to have a even place to nail the second hand tin on for the roof then we boxed it in with the lumber . No square or level or electric .a 24 x 30 barn for my milk cow and calf not counting the nails the lumber cost 80 $ we used second hand gate hinges for the door it is sturdy as heck . a chainsaw hammer and 3 cousins did it in 3 days around 1987 . We built another 24 x 40 shed for a picnic table and mallases furnice and cane mill again with snow fallen trees but as the strength of youth gone we used a tractorto set the up right poles and rafters again second hand tin for the roof but no side walls my rabbit shed is 10x 24 but I used treated 4x4s for the frame and 2x4s for the rafters this is what I sudgest you use for your cow barn only use 6x6s and 2 x 6s . I was in the oppisite with my ex going to the nail salon divorse lawyer ect. So I'm still alone on the farm so watch out trying to convert a ciity person   . Wish I could show ya these buildings but if you have flat land your not near here . We dug into a steep hillside and made my root cellar out of concrete blocks buried on three sides never freeses .


If you could find a sawmill in your area this can be a big saver in the cost of building


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## holliehmstd (Apr 26, 2012)

arnie said:


> If you could find a sawmill in your area this can be a big saver in the cost of building


Thanks arnie. There is a saw mill up the road a ways from me so that is actually something I will check in to. Thanks for your other post too. I've got the graph paper out now trying to figure out the lumber I will need.


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## jaredI (Aug 6, 2011)

I just finished up a small barn myself. I live on very little income, so I try to use any salvage I can find. I had a couple old grain bins 18 feet in diameter. I took some rings apart and erected them on their side, Quonset style. Paying particular attention to the overlap of the panels so the watershed stays on the outside of the barn. My little barn is 9 feet tall x 18 1/2 feet long x 18 feet wide, with the ability to add on to it anytime I choose. Hopefully next year I'll pour some footings of some sort, with angle iron at the top to bolt the sides of the barn down solid. At the moment I have a large post set on each end of the barn, and some steel posts drove in along the side to give a temporary anchor point. It takes two people to put all the bolts in easily. For the end walls I bolted some salvaged 2x6s to the walls, and screwed some salvaged roofing tin to that. I think I have about 40 hours labor invested total and maybe 10 dollars worth of screws. For what I'm after, I simply left a 6'x6' hole on one end, covered with old baler belting to stop the wind, and the other end I left about a 3'x3' opening for the pigs, belting on that as well. I simply strung some sheep wire down the middle to keep the cows and pigs separated. 
Looks very redneckish I guess, but it keeps my 3 cows and 12 pigs nice and comfortable. The price was just about right too.


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## farminghandyman (Mar 4, 2005)

some places you can buy skid-able animal sheds

a good wind break may be just as good, three are millions of cattle that have no sheds at all, 

http://www.hlqualitybuildings.com/custom_frame.html 

http://gobobpipe.com/cattlesheds.htm
there are a few who build some thing like in the web site posted, 

the nice thing about the skid-able units is one can move them when they get to be a mess inside, 

for a quick building is one of the Portable car port/garages, and then fill in the sides and end with a few extra pieces of tin, http://www.carolinametalcarports.com/portable_car_ports.html

http://www.carolinametalcarports.com/carports-metal-steel-portable-metal-steel-carports.html

web sites for info only not a recommendation of company,


ONE more thing, now some may not like this statement, but by using panels and portable sheds and the like, if the cow manure hits the fan and one has to sell out you have some thing that is sale able, and not some thing that only goes with the land that may or may not be beneficial to the next owner,

one ties up a tremendous amount of money in live stock equipment, and small permanent sheds some times are good and some times are not worth much at all, but I know in our area, stock panels will nearly bring new price, at an auction, and the skid able sheds are desired, by many, 

actually I am surprised that some one has not come up with a goose neck hitch and a wheel package for moving the skid able sheds to temporary pastures for wind breaks and calf sheds, applications, especially with small calves, some put a solid fence that calves can get under so the calves can enter and not the cows so they do not get covered by snow drifts and smother in blizzards,


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## holliehmstd (Apr 26, 2012)

thank you for this. Since I am currenly in no position to be doing heavy lifting and hubs is not really a builder, something like this that I can modify/add on to, may be the ticket. Thanks for the advice!


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## holliehmstd (Apr 26, 2012)

jaredI said:


> I just finished up a small barn myself. I live on very little income, so I try to use any salvage I can find.
> Looks very redneckish I guess, but it keeps my 3 cows and 12 pigs nice and comfortable. The price was just about right too.


Hey, sounds good to me. Sometimes we have to make do and end the end it works out better than something more expensive anyway.


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