Best Horse Barn Tips for Small Farms
“A lot of people don’t understand what goes into a horse barn unless they’re true horse people.”– Tim Noble.
Building a house seems like a never-ending roller coaster ride of emotions, hard work, and finances. These three elements make this journey a memorable one. Building a home for yourself and your pet animals is two different things, and the requirements of both places are different.
Building a barn house for your horse depends on your level of expertise. If you are an expert, you know the drill. For someone new, it is overwhelming. Building a barn is not overwhelming because of the effort it needs but because of financial stress. Once the damage is done, it’s done. To fix the damage, you would have to spend a lot.
Horse barn needs additional features as per their psychological and physiological needs. It is always a good idea to get help from the builders and nutrition experts such as Fox Equine Nutrition. The combined effort of both consultants will give your horse a safe and healthy environment to spend its days.
Following are some tips and tricks to help you save yourself some money along with building a beautiful and healthy environment for your horses:
The Appropriate Design
Designing the barn is the first step. Remember that you are planning this house for an animal, and their living requirements are very different from your living requirements.
The size and location of the barn depend upon the number of horses you have or are planning to keep. You can build your barn far from your residence if you have an appropriate transportation system; otherwise, it is better to make it near your house.
The barn house for the horse must be spacious. The essential of a barn building is that its ceiling should be tall and has a proper ventilation system. Considering weather conditions is necessary, keeping weather alterations in your mind while designing a barn will save you a lot of effort and money during seasonal changes.
Keep Your Plans In Mind
Stalls in horse barns are like rooms of the human house. The barn must cater to the needs of the horse. If your horse is miniature, that doesn’t mean it will be small forever. Build stalls big enough to accommodate a big horse.
Another essential thing to remember is the count of stalls. Building two extra stalls are better if you’ve four horses now; even if you are not planning to keep more horses, it’s still wise to build extra in case of storage needs.
The bigger the stall, the better. Horses are big animals, and they need space to move around. Build one stall to accommodate two horses this way; you will never make the mistake of building the wrong stall size.
Flooring Is Important
Like humans, horses don’t want to be on uneven, rough surfaces. The only benefit of uneven surfaces is that they will save your horses from slipping accidents.
For starters, concrete and gravel flooring are good options. Concrete is long-lasting and best when used as a washing surface; its only drawback is that it is slippery. To counter this problem, we can cover it with a rake to avoid slips and injuries.
Ditch The Traditional Way
The traditional way of building a barn is on the designated site. This way of building barns requires a lot of effort and finances. The current method, which is widely used, is to buy pre-built barns. These pre-build barns come in pieces; you can quickly build them once they reach the site.
Because they are built on industrial levels, they are efficient, strong, and long-lasting. The best part about these pre-build barns is that they are easy to shift. Buying a pre-built barn is convenient for people in the horse breeding business. They can expand their setup by adding more pre-build stalls in their barns with few changes, and voila! They are good to go.
Washer Stall Is Convenient
The idea of building a washer stall inside the barn is to save the effort of tying the horse to the tree. A washer stall inside the barn is multipurpose. You can groom your horses, bathe them, and wash your tools. It will also save your horse the trouble of cleaning outside in winters.
Drainage in the washer bay is essential. Make a proper drainage system and ensure it’s clean from hair and manure to prevent it from clogging.
The location of the washer stall is also significant. You wouldn’t want the water from the washer to mix with the hay storage or manure of the horses.
The size of the washer must be appropriate as it deals with bathing animals. Not all horses love bathing, and handling them in the washing area can be tricky. It is essential to give them space to move around so they can be calm during the bath.
Ventilation And Light
Animals need natural light and ventilation, and if any of them is missing, they can get very cranky.
Maintaining airflow in every nook and corner of the barn is crucial to prevent moisture-locking and bacterial growth. Using ceiling fans and overhead ventilation is a great way to maintain the temperature inside the barn.
Natural light is vital for animals to promote a healthy environment. Natural light stabilizes an animal’s mood and helps them store vitamin D.
Conclusion:
Whether you build a small barn or a large one, keeping the health and comfort of the horses in mind is essential.
Use material that doesn’t release toxins and is recommended by experts like Fox Equine Nutrition. Daily maintenance of the barn will cost you less than monthly maintenance. The cleaning of the barn is what will keep your horse healthy and free from disease spread.
The size of the barn should be manageable as per the human resources; if you have suitable staffing, it will be easier to clean and maintain the large barn; otherwise, it is advised to build a small one.