So, Here's What We've Been Up To

[randiliana]

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...

 

[Craig Miller]

Very nice. I'd like to see what you have going on on the inside when you get it finished.

 

[randiliana]

Planning to add photos of that when we're done.

 

[Craig Miller]

It looks to be incredibly well built compared to the pole barns put up around here.

 

[Nesikep]

Wow.. that is quick work!, and it looks pretty good too I must say. Winds are powerful forces... We built our hay shed really strong, with a lot of extra bracing.. Neighbor cheaped out and half of his collapsed..
One of my buddy's father is a builder, and was putting up a hay shed when a fierce gust of wind came along when they were nearly done putting up the trusses... they dominoed and the whole works fell to the ground as a pile of kindling... very expensive lesson learned there

 

[uplandnut]

They put that up fast, I'm sure you'll be much happier with that than the canvas building.

 

[Supa Dexta]

I'm not a fan of the canvas buildings. We get a lot of high wind back here along the ocean and they just don't hold up. Even the HD pricey ones seem to need a new cover every 10 or 15 yrs. Steel building should stand there for 50 easy enough.

Likely a lot of builders looking for work out west these days. You'll appreciate that 'real' building much better anyways, built to last.

 

[creekdrive]

Very, very nice! I'm jealous! One day we will have something like that. We make do with the little barn that we have (it's set up for horses with 2 stalls...), but a real calving barn, with an indoor maternity pen, would sure be nice.

Good luck come calving - time sure seems like it's flying by!

 

[randiliana]

I think the canvas buildings aren't bad, if they are in a more protected area. I was quite surprised at what happened to ours, would have expected it to blow away. But for $6000 it was worth a try. We have built 2 calf shelters and are planning to build some panels for me to travel to horse shows with, so I guess it is not a complete loss.

I really like the way this new barn is looking. It is 40x68', so lots of room. I plan to use it to ride in for the rest of the year, in the summer when raining and in the winter when its too cold. After all it won't be used much other than calving season.

Price wise it was a LOT cheaper than I expected. Right around $36,000 built. Plus the cost for the clay that we had to put in the floor to level it. I'll get some photos shortly of the set up inside.