randiliana
Well-known member
Last fall, we decided it was time to add another barn to the property. As we will calve out around 450 head (about half are custom cattle) our 32x56' barn just doesn't have the space we would like. When you're getting between 15 and 20 calves a day, and you get a couple of nasty weather days it gets pretty crowded with only 6 or 7 stalls... And doubling up newborns is just asking for trouble, although we have been really lucky in the past.
So, my father suggested we look into the canvas buildings which are available for pretty cheap through Ritchie Bros yard sales. So we picked up one of them, a 30x65' peak style building. And in November, with the help of some friends we got her up. Other than the end walls (really cheaply made) we were pretty happy with it. A little concerned that the wind might rip the pegs out of the ground but, it looked pretty good. And, the wind did come, the night we got it put up, and other than some minor damage (destroyed the end walls) it survived. As we planned to replace the end walls with wood it wasn't a big problem.
So, the building made it through 3 more major winds, some of them with 60+ mile an hour gusts. And in late Jan we finally got around to the end walls. We tore out one of the fabric end walls and got started on the wood, and that night another wind came along. But, once again the pegs held the building down.
However, it appears that there must have been a major down draft or plow wind, and looked like something was dropped on the middle of it. The middle support was about 6"off the ground. But, the pegs held. To the point that we had a LOT of trouble removing some of them.
So now we were about 6 weeks from the start of calving, and back to having only the one small barn. A bit of a conundrum. What to do now... So we looked into a post frame building, thinking we'd be really lucky to find a company able to get one put up before the end of calving season, let alone the beginning.
It was delivered on Feb 8
They started building on Feb 16
And it was finished on Feb 18.
It is 40 x 68'
Now we are in the process of finishing the floor and assembling the panels and maternity pen. It should be ready before the first calf...
So, my father suggested we look into the canvas buildings which are available for pretty cheap through Ritchie Bros yard sales. So we picked up one of them, a 30x65' peak style building. And in November, with the help of some friends we got her up. Other than the end walls (really cheaply made) we were pretty happy with it. A little concerned that the wind might rip the pegs out of the ground but, it looked pretty good. And, the wind did come, the night we got it put up, and other than some minor damage (destroyed the end walls) it survived. As we planned to replace the end walls with wood it wasn't a big problem.
So, the building made it through 3 more major winds, some of them with 60+ mile an hour gusts. And in late Jan we finally got around to the end walls. We tore out one of the fabric end walls and got started on the wood, and that night another wind came along. But, once again the pegs held the building down.
However, it appears that there must have been a major down draft or plow wind, and looked like something was dropped on the middle of it. The middle support was about 6"off the ground. But, the pegs held. To the point that we had a LOT of trouble removing some of them.
So now we were about 6 weeks from the start of calving, and back to having only the one small barn. A bit of a conundrum. What to do now... So we looked into a post frame building, thinking we'd be really lucky to find a company able to get one put up before the end of calving season, let alone the beginning.
It was delivered on Feb 8
They started building on Feb 16
And it was finished on Feb 18.
It is 40 x 68'
Now we are in the process of finishing the floor and assembling the panels and maternity pen. It should be ready before the first calf...