Another farm layout thread!

[SugarCubes]

We are closing on a 5 acre piece of land this month and I would love ideas for the layout! I have played around a little but am having a hard time
visualizing and know so many of you are awesome at this sort of thing! Land is currently a hayfield, so no need to establish pasture.

This is our third horse property, so I definitely know what I do and don’t want at this point! First property was too small with too many neighbors, current property is too big and way too much work, so we’re hoping this one is just the right size

There will only be two horses on the property who get along very well. They cannot be on pasture more than 8 hours a day, and will be dry lotted at night year round.

After having our large property with endless upkeep, we want to simplify things. We don’t want a huge front or back yard to mow, and would prefer most of the property to be fenced for pasture.

Property to include:

• 4500ish sq ft house
• fenced backyard for dogs
• center aisle barn, all stalls on the same side, all opening to 100x100 drylot
• drylot with gates opening to 3 different pastures
• 100x200 outdoor arena
• separate driveway to barn, and large parking pad and turn-around behind barn
• hay storage shed behind barn
• septic field

And goooo!

[Christa_P]

What is the lay of the land? Is it a flat, open parcel or are there woods, streams, or other features that will affect the layout? Also, where is the road access?

Do you need to worry about snow removal or other weather issues?

[SugarCubes]

Flat, open parcel. A cul-de-sac is located maybe 100’ down from the iron rod on the top boundary line, along the 713’ boundary. 302’ boundary line, and 489’ boundary line have wooded tree line on the boundary. We get some snow but not enough to worry about removal.

@Christa_P

What is the lay of the land? Is it a flat, open parcel or are there woods, streams, or other features that will affect the layout? Also, where is the road access?

Do you need to worry about snow removal or other weather issues?

[clanter]

is water from city or a well?

if well I would add some sort of water source (swimming pool?) for a fire engine since the house is 4500 sq/ft

[trubandloki]

I am confused, where is the road?

[2DogsFarm]

So… No buildings on the property yet?

If I could reconfigure my 5ac, I’d move the house from where it sits now: at the intersection of 2 roads, set back about 50’.
Just 2-lane roads, but added housing (subdivisions) has increased traffic so the noise can be irritating to me now

I built the barn about 250’ from the house at barnbuilder’s advice to avoid a low-lying area.
He was right, barn never floods, but if I could have put it closer (legally must be 50’ here) I would have.
I have a 36X36 metal pole barn - center aisle with 2 12X12 (interior measure) stalls on the East wall. Barn faces N/S, prevailing winds here are N & W.
Stalls have Dutch doors that open to drylot, drylot surrounds South-facing front of barn & opens to pastures E & W.
Access to pastures can be controlled with gates.

In hindsight, I wish I’d perimeter-fenced most of the acreage. Leaving maybe 1/4ac for house (already there, 1400sf) & the rest in pasture.
Less mowing!

Barn is attached to a 60X120 indoor, no outdoor as there are 12X16’ sliders on all 4 sides.
After I built, builder offered half-height sliding panels that would almost make it a covered arena, but aftermarket was $$$

Pastures are sparse, but provide enough grazing so I feed substantially less hay when there’s grass.
300 40-50# small squares are my year’s supply.
Hay is stacked on pallets across from the stalls, takes up ~12DX24WX12H.

All in all, I’m happy with the layout.
Had 2 horses on it for 12yrs, added a mini 6yrs ago.
They have free access to stalls 24/7/365.

[js]

That seems like a lot to arrange on 5 acres of land. I recommend you do cutouts of each building, arena, pasture, driveways etc. to scale in relation to a drawing of your land and play around with moving things to best suit the land.

That said, there is a property for sale a few houses down from us that is 5 acres, has a 3500 sq ft house, two barns and two pastures to either side of the house, two small dry lots to either side of the barns and one dry lot in the back where they rode. All buildings sit in the middle of the property, so it ends up with no driveway space for trucks and trailers to get in turn around, park or get out. The layout is not the best, so it would pay to do some diagrams, cutouts or whatever works for you and try different things to maximize the use of all your land.

[SugarCubes]

See on the top of the picture, where it says set iron rod? It comes down that 713’ boundary line about 100’ and ends in a cul-de-sac. We are on a dead end.

@trubandloki

I am confused, where is the road?

[SugarCubes]

@clanter

is water from city or a well?

if well I would add some sort of water source (swimming pool?) for a fire engine since the house is 4500 sq/ft

Well. We are planning on putting in a pool so that should work out just fine

[SugarCubes]

Your set up sounds perfect! Yes, that’s exactly what I’m thinking for the yard too. I’d like the perimeter fenced to cut down on mowing and increase grazing space! I’ll doubt I’ll do an indoor, but do like the idea of the arena being right there connected to the barn to save on footprint. Barn will also be 36x36.

[SugarCubes]

Yes for sure, I’m sure I’ll be playing around with it for a while.

Our “too small” horse property was only 3 acres and had a 5000sqft house, 3 stall barn, 90x70 drylot, 160x90 arena, and 2 pastures (I think around 3/4 acre each?). Like you mentioned though, I didn’t have a huge area for turning around trailers and didn’t have much storage. So I’m thinking of a similar layout to that property but with more pasture and less yard to mow.

The shape of this property is just so different I’m having a hard time picturing how to set it up!

[clanter]

@SugarCubes

We are planning on putting in a pool so that should work out just fine

advise your insure carrier that you will have backup water available, we are lucky to have a fire hydrant on our property that is on an eight inch water line

[candyappy]

@SugarCubes

• 4500ish sq ft house

I am not faulting you OP. None of my business I know but you included it in there.
Cutting that in half would be a huge savings on upkeep and cost I may add! What is the deal with houses being so huge?

Even in our very rural area, it seems like every new build I see is enormous? As a very modest sized house person, can I ask what people do with all that space?

[TheJenners]

@candyappy

I am not faulting you OP. None of my business I know but you included it in there.
Cutting that in half would be a huge savings on upkeep and cost I may add! What is the deal with houses being so huge?

Flip side, other than not knowing if OP has four kids or both sets of in-laws, is that getting financing and resale can definitely impact how big of a house you build. I had a helluva time getting a bank to give me a construction loan on a 1200 sq ft house on nine acres because small houses on large acreage was either outside their portfolio or they deemed it high risk because of lack of resale value.

[SugarCubes]

Nope, really none of your business but I’ll bite…we have owned houses bigger than and smaller than this one. This size fits our lifestyle. We have a large extended family and we enjoy having the space to frequently host family gatherings and holidays. We have four large dogs and a baby on the way. We have the financial means, so why not?!

I’ve never felt our smaller homes were any easier to maintain, in fact, it felt like they were more work with everything crammed into a smaller space and more foot traffic throughout Different strokes…

[candyappy]

@SugarCubes

Nope, really none of your business but I’ll bite…we have owned houses bigger than and smaller than this one. This size fits our lifestyle. We have a large extended family and we enjoy having the space to frequently host family gatherings and holidays. We have four large dogs and a baby on the way. We have the financial means, so why not?!

I’ve never felt our smaller homes were any easier to maintain, in fact, it felt like they were more work with everything crammed into a smaller space and more foot traffic throughout Different strokes…

That is why I asked, because you put the size of the house in the OP and it seems like a lot for just a 5 acre tract. Or I should say it used to be but I guess not anymore.

[OnAMission]

Not if it’s two story or full basement finished though, the footprint could be small. Not that it matters, she can build the house she wants. I’ve found a larger house is easier too, not that I’ve had one very often. I like to have some elbow room and storage. Just a random thought.

[mmeqcenter]

@candyappy

@SugarCubes

• 4500ish sq ft house

I am not faulting you OP. None of my business I know but you included it in there.
Cutting that in half would be a huge savings on upkeep and cost I may add! What is the deal with houses being so huge?

Even in our very rural area, it seems like every new build I see is enormous? As a very modest sized house person, can I ask what people do with all that space?

Home loans on acreage can be difficult to get. Traditional mortgages (IME) typically require that the house makes up 80% or more value of the total property, and the acreage value 20% or less of the total property value. Therefore, large houses on small acreage lots are easier to sell, because they’re easier for buyers to get a loan for.
Farm Credit flips those value number requirements, but has more strict qualifications.

[TheJenners]

@mmeqcenter

Traditional mortgages (IME) typically require that the house makes up 80% or more value of the total property, and the acreage value 20% or less of the total property value.

Learn something new every day, I was just told my loan didn’t fit portfolios. Would have been nice for those banks to have explained it to me!

[PeteyPie]

The first thing I would do is draw in the offsets and easements and restrictions. You need to know these things before you can plan anything. These are some ideas to start with. Other posters will give you great advice for specific tips for horse properties.

Well and Septic
For planning purposes you need to mark several things on your plan in order to figure out where your well and septic CAN go. After you place those restrictions, you can decide where you WANT them to go. Of course, septics are cheapest in areas of deep, well-draining, non-organic soils without bedrock, so that is a factor to consider.

• Mark location of all wells and leach fields on the neighbors’ properties.
• Mark setbacks on your property which are required by the government for placing your well and septic. Usually, you cannot locate either item within a certain number of feet from your property line. Find out exactly what that is and be diligent. The front, back, and sides of the property might have different offset requirements for the well and/or septic tank. Roads may or may not have different setback requirements.
• Find out what the minimum distance is between wells and septic tanks/leach fields. For example, if the distance is 100’, that means your well must be at least 100’ away from your septic field AND from any neighbor’s septic, which is why you need to know where those things are located on the neighbors’ properties.
• It sounds like you don’t have waterways nearby so that is not an issue, but if there are any water bodies, streams or wetlands, they will have setback requirements. These requirements might be from a different governmental body, such as the federal government rather than your state or county.

Easements
If there are utility easements, mark them in with a dashed line. The dashed line on the lower part of your drawing looks like an easement but I can’t tell. Make sure you know. Same thing with road rights of way or anything else like a train track. Your drawing suggests the road has no easement on your property but make sure.

Setbacks

• Draw in another dashed line to indicate your property setbacks required for buildings. It may not be the same on every side.
• Draw in more dashed lines for any other setback requirements. For example, my county has setbacks for housing animals which are different than residence or outbuilding setbacks. Can your pasture fences run along your property line or do they have to be set back? How about locating an outdoor arena?

Do you have a floor plan? If your house is going to have two or three stories, the footprint will be much smaller than a one-storey house, so take that into account.

Do you have a view? Is there anything unsightly which you don’t want to see?

Do you have any preferences for exposure? For example, I like to have morning sun in the kitchen and I don’t like my bedroom to be on the hot side of the house. In California, I love having a view to the north where the sun doesn’t fry my house and my large windows always look clean because the sun doesn’t shine through them. Conversely, in Alaska, I love having southern exposure with maximum sun and warmth. Deck and outdoor spaces also have totally different requirements in different latitudes and climates. Some things to think about for planning purposes.