Infrastructure projects 2025

[Ouachita]

A casual conversation drinking coffee inside The Corner (convenience store/diner), or smoking a cigarette outside on the deadpecker bench. You decide.

Barn-
Big plans this year. I may be building the lowest cost hay barn around. I bought the new steel trusses in year 2001 for $1,700. I painted them white, then life and lack of money happened.
40’ wide, clear span, with a 12’ side shed. 50’ or 60’ long. I built the pad this past fall. Still need some concrete for the footings and the sheet metal. It’ll be my first barn big enough to be dedicated to hay.

Cross-fence-
I’ll be adding a couple internal fences for better rotation, but still scratching my head about how I want everything to meet up close to the new barn.

Lime/nutrient-
I put two tons of lime per acre four years ago. I know I need more because my soil samples called for 3-3.5 tons in some newly cleared areas. Need to get fresh samples.
I scored a deal with a neighbor a couple years ago. He has two chicken houses; I get one house of litter about every 10 months. Not a clue on tonnage, but between 35-40 loads that appear to be about 9 cubic yards.

Forage-
Hoping to get some summer grasses established on the new ground. Most of the older established fields are Bermuda and Bahia, but that red River crabgrass intrigues me.

One more top-off. Got a light?

 

[mwj]

A casual conversation drinking coffee inside The Corner (convenience store/diner), or smoking a cigarette outside on the deadpecker bench. You decide.

Barn-
Big plans this year. I may be building the lowest cost hay barn around. I bought the new steel trusses in year 2001 for $1,700. I painted them white, then life and lack of money happened.
40' wide, clear span, with a 12' side shed. 50' or 60' long. I built the pad this past fall. Still need some concrete for the footings and the sheet metal. It'll be my first barn big enough to be dedicated to hay.

Cross-fence-
I'll be adding a couple internal fences for better rotation, but still scratching my head about how I want everything to meet up close to the new barn.

Lime/nutrient-
I put two tons of lime per acre four years ago. I know I need more because my soil samples called for 3-3.5 tons in some newly cleared areas. Need to get fresh samples.
I scored a deal with a neighbor a couple years ago. He has two chicken houses; I get one house of litter about every 10 months. Not a clue on tonnage, but between 35-40 loads that appear to be about 9 cubic yards.

Forage-
Hoping to get some summer grasses established on the new ground. Most of the older established fields are Bermuda and Bahia, but that red River crabgrass intrigues me.

One more top-off. Got a light?

Waiting for the sale to start gets you technical info.

 

[Little Joe]

A casual conversation drinking coffee inside The Corner (convenience store/diner), or smoking a cigarette outside on the deadpecker bench. You decide.

Barn-
Big plans this year. I may be building the lowest cost hay barn around. I bought the new steel trusses in year 2001 for $1,700. I painted them white, then life and lack of money happened.
40' wide, clear span, with a 12' side shed. 50' or 60' long. I built the pad this past fall. Still need some concrete for the footings and the sheet metal. It'll be my first barn big enough to be dedicated to hay.

Cross-fence-
I'll be adding a couple internal fences for better rotation, but still scratching my head about how I want everything to meet up close to the new barn.

Lime/nutrient-
I put two tons of lime per acre four years ago. I know I need more because my soil samples called for 3-3.5 tons in some newly cleared areas. Need to get fresh samples.
I scored a deal with a neighbor a couple years ago. He has two chicken houses; I get one house of litter about every 10 months. Not a clue on tonnage, but between 35-40 loads that appear to be about 9 cubic yards.

Forage-
Hoping to get some summer grasses established on the new ground. Most of the older established fields are Bermuda and Bahia, but that red River crabgrass intrigues me.

One more top-off. Got a light?

I planted some red river crab grass a few years ago, it's good when conditions are right but that's not as often as I'd like. It really doesn't do much until about May and if it gets dry in the summer it kinda fizzles out until it rains again. Like I said, it's good when it's good. I like to have some mixed in there but wouldn't want to depend on it. On your cross fence, have you considered high tensile electric fence? Much cheaper and goes up fast.

 

[Dave]

Worked with a bunch of chicken farms and people getting litter from them. We had a set of jump scales. Most of the time the litter ran about 2 yards to the ton. Some various so not exact but a good ballpark number.

 

[Ouachita]

I planted some red river crab grass a few years ago, it's good when conditions are right but that's not as often as I'd like. It really doesn't do much until about May and if it gets dry in the summer it kinda fizzles out until it rains again. Like I said, it's good when it's good. I like to have some mixed in there but wouldn't want to depend on it. On your cross fence, have you considered high tensile electric fence? Much cheaper and goes up fast.

One of the new cross fences will be barbed wire, but the others will be high tensile electric.

I have a 3 acre meadow that is apart from the other fields. I may try the crabgrass there and see what happens before I mix it with the bermuda.

 

[4hfarms]

Repair my farm roads. Number one PITA here. I need to cross fence for smaller fields also. We are with any luck, putting in another barn that will fit inside your planned barn multiple times. Would love to run water lines but maybe next year. Always more things on the list than I have the ability to complete.

 

[Ouachita]

Repair my farm roads. Number one PITA here. I need to cross fence for smaller fields also. We are with any luck, putting in another barn that will fit inside your planned barn multiple times. Would love to run water lines but maybe next year. Always more things on the list than I have the ability to complete.

I did my roads last year. So nice to be able to use third gear with rounds on the front and back without bouncing into the ditch. Cut my feeding time in half.
Also, with a smooth road, I can see which gate the cows are staring at. Then I can haul freight to the other one and have cubes poured before they get there and try to stomp me into a mudhole

 

[GoWyo]

Putting up a blizzard fort for the calving pastures. The labor expense is going to be way more than anticipated. West wall on the left is 48' long and 10' high, shed is 60' x 12' deep and total north wall is 96' long x 10' high.

 

[wbvs58]

I'm extending my front verandah down to ground level on a concrete slab. The new part will be 12m x 4m (40'x14'). Half will be semi closed in with lattice in open area and I'll put in a fire pit or wood fired pizza oven. The other half will be fully enclosed and I'll be bringing around my lathe and milling machine and what goes with them, I am pretty confident I will be able to power them with my off grid power even if I have to crank up the generator. It will make things a lot more user friendly than having to go 15km around to my shed to do small jobs plus it will be well sealed off to keep the vermin (swallows, rats, wasps) away from it.
Another project this year will be putting a new surface on my daughters dressage arena. I'm not going to live long enough to do everything I plan.

Ken

 

[chaded]

I am going to finish ripping out the loft in my one barn so I can get round bales in that side. Probably only get 30-35 rolls but it’s worth it. I also am adding a sweep tub to my adjustable alley and make a new pen. I just need to get it done before March/April when are second set of twins are born..

 

[Silver]

I am going to finish ripping out the loft in my one barn so I can get round bales in that side. Probably only get 30-35 rolls but it's worth it. I also am adding a sweep tub to my adjustable alley and make a new pen. I just need to get it done before March/April when are second set of twins are born..

Congratulations on your family expansion! That could be cause for further infrastructure expansion in and of itself.

 

[Dave]

Fence and more fence. They weren't much in to start with but the fire took care of what was there. Three or four miles of it.

 

[SmokinM]

The [QUOTE="wbvs58, post: 1885756, member: 16453"
Another project this year will be putting a new surface on my daughters dressage arena. I'm not going to live long enough to do everything I plan.

Ken
[/QUOTE]

Now your in my wheel house. What do y’all use for arena surfaces over there?

 

[4hfarms]

Fence and more fence. They weren't much in to start with but the fire took care of what was there. Three or four miles of it.

I feel your pain. I ALWAYS have fence to do. It's a never-ending joke round here....
It's on the list....

 

[504RP]

A casual conversation drinking coffee inside The Corner (convenience store/diner), or smoking a cigarette outside on the deadpecker bench. You decide.

Barn-
Big plans this year. I may be building the lowest cost hay barn around. I bought the new steel trusses in year 2001 for $1,700. I painted them white, then life and lack of money happened.
40' wide, clear span, with a 12' side shed. 50' or 60' long. I built the pad this past fall. Still need some concrete for the footings and the sheet metal. It'll be my first barn big enough to be dedicated to hay.

Cross-fence-
I'll be adding a couple internal fences for better rotation, but still scratching my head about how I want everything to meet up close to the new barn.

Lime/nutrient-
I put two tons of lime per acre four years ago. I know I need more because my soil samples called for 3-3.5 tons in some newly cleared areas. Need to get fresh samples.
I scored a deal with a neighbor a couple years ago. He has two chicken houses; I get one house of litter about every 10 months. Not a clue on tonnage, but between 35-40 loads that appear to be about 9 cubic yards.

Forage-
Hoping to get some summer grasses established on the new ground. Most of the older established fields are Bermuda and Bahia, but that red River crabgrass intrigues me.

One more top-off. Got a light?

Tornado took out my barn I guess 2 summers ago. And I am still trying to figure out my best route of replacing it.

I hope you will post pictures of your barn as your building it so that maybe I can get some idea that might help me decide on my next barn build.

For what it’s worth and am sure you have already taken this into consideration. I wish I had of given my foundation design more thought.

The reason I say this is because I built one barn about 25 years ago that is still standing out of telephone poles, chicken house trusses, and chicken house tin. The barn was 80 foot wide by I think 100 foot in length. May have a picture of it.

When I built my second barn I wanted to build it better and improve on its design. Which worked somewhat. Instead of sinking telephone poles 6 foot deep into the ground like I did on the old barn. I went with 24 inch sonic tube 4 foot deep with rebar, concrete, weld plates. And used red iorn structural steel
Framing, and R Panel siding and roofing. That the tornado picked up high enough in the air that it carried 40 foot from its foundation over and past a 6 foot barb wire fence. Flipped it completely up side down before body slamming it into the ground. So much for my failed attempt at building my second barn better than the first one.

 

[Ouachita]

Hey there 504,
My trusses are custom fabricated welded angle iron, much like chicken house trusses.

When I ordered and bought them in year 2001, I didn’t have cows. I was planning to build a nice shop. Luck and money laughed at me then, but I still have the trusses now.

I also have cows now, so I’m going to use them to build a hay barn.
Sometimes my plans don’t work out. Probably because they are my plans.

It’s taken me a long time, too long, to realize that I’ve been nudged this way and that, from hither to yonder, but only because I’ve been curious enough to listen.

I’m hoping to get started in a couple months. I’ll post pictures. Heck, we’ve gotta keep up with Silver!

But if I remember correctly, you aren’t that far away from me. Where are you located? Maybe you can come visit?

 

[504RP]

Hey there 504,
My trusses are custom fabricated welded angle iron, much like chicken house trusses.

When I ordered and bought them in year 2001, I didn't have cows. I was planning to build a nice shop. Luck and money laughed at me then, but I still have the trusses now.

I also have cows now, so I'm going to use them to build a hay barn.
Sometimes my plans don't work out. Probably because they are my plans.

It's taken me a long time, too long, to realize that I've been nudged this way and that, from hither to yonder, but only because I've been curious enough to listen.

I'm hoping to get started in a couple months. I'll post pictures. Heck, we've gotta keep up with Silver!

But if I remember correctly, you aren't that far away from me. Where are you located? Maybe you can come visit?

I bet your plans work out pretty good and you're just being modest. Yes we aren't all that far away. I am close to Fort Smith. Have some business in Mena that I have to look into pretty soon. Will check and see if you have a few minutes to talk when I am down that way ? Probably be in a month or so.

I really need to get started on my barn rebuild too. I have always tried doing as much work that I can do myself before I have to look at hiring someone to do it. But my back gave out on me almost a year ago. And up until recently I couldn't do much at all and for the most part still can't now. But plan on doing all that I can to save money.

One thing I would recommend and you probably have already done this but really give a lot of consideration to not only the design but like the direction your barn is facing.

I am trying to get into selling horse hay and will need my barn design so that I can stack square hay using hay grapples to pick up 12 squares at a time and stack them. So I need one if not two sides of the barn open. So that I can stack easier and faster.

 

[504RP]

Don’t have a picture showing what the front looked like. You can get some idea by looking at some of these inside pictures. And see a lot of mistakes or things I wouldn’t do again.

That barn was facing South ( Its open side ) Most of our Storms in my area come from the South to the South West during Tornado season. And that’s where the Tornado came from when it flipped this barn over. Because the South side of the barn was open the wind treated it like a Para sail or Para Shoot. It pulled it up in the air like a Para sail and carried it across that fence you can see behind it.

There are three other structures with in a 2 mile radius of my barn that sustained major damage and all but one I know were hit from South winds. One was an old 2 story hay barn that was close to a 100 years old. I was sitting in a Ford dully ton truck and saw that happen and the truck I was in when it happen was lifted enough that it was blown a couple of feet off the road I was on.

So my new barn won’t be facing South West. And there are several other things that was wrong that I am going to do different.

 

[wbvs58]

The [QUOTE="wbvs58, post: 1885756, member: 16453"
Another project this year will be putting a new surface on my daughters dressage arena. I'm not going to live long enough to do everything I plan.

Ken

Now your in my wheel house. What do y'all use for arena surfaces over there?
[/QUOTE]
Currently we have about 2" of sand on a decomposed granite base of which we have an abundance of but she reckons it is too slippery when it is dry. A friend of my daughters husband specialises in building high end dressage arenas and he had a look at it and said our granite sand had too much silica in it which made it slippery. I think the plan is to strip the sand off and get put in a 200mm (8") layer of crusher dust, (biproduct of crushing rock for road metal at the quarry) and then just a 25mm (1") layer of a special river sand. Daughter will be paying for the materials, I'll be doing the work.
It has been a good arena, made from materials that were to hand. She was able to work her horse on a good surface all through a couple of very wet years we had but she has just bought a young warm blood that she will break in at the end of this year and she wants the upgraded surface for him.

Ken

 

[SmokinM]

Now your in my wheel house. What do y'all use for arena surfaces over there?

Currently we have about 2" of sand on a decomposed granite base of which we have an abundance of but she reckons it is too slippery when it is dry. A friend of my daughters husband specialises in building high end dressage arenas and he had a look at it and said our granite sand had too much silica in it which made it slippery. I think the plan is to strip the sand off and get put in a 200mm (8") layer of crusher dust, (biproduct of crushing rock for road metal at the quarry) and then just a 25mm (1") layer of a special river sand. Daughter will be paying for the materials, I'll be doing the work.
It has been a good arena, made from materials that were to hand. She was able to work her horse on a good surface all through a couple of very wet years we had but she has just bought a young warm blood that she will break in at the end of this year and she wants the upgraded surface for him.

Ken
[/QUOTE]

Thanks, that is pretty similar to here. The sand is the key and the hardest part to source. Dressage riders like a lot of response in their footing so you are on the right track. The only way to do that affordably is to shallow it up so the base gives the footing its bounce. Otherwise it is expensive high end sands that pack and expensive synthetic additives to work as a binder. Best of luck to her with the new horse.