I’ve seen these used on openings into cold areas of grocery stores.
FarmTek is advertising the use of them for stall doors. I suppose they’d keep out some of the rain and snow, but I wonder if the individual strips would blow enough to spook your horses. If anyone is using them, I’d appreciate reading your experiences.
Thanks.
We used them until the wind whipped them to pieces, which took some years.
Horses love them, even when the wind is flopping them around, horses love to stand under them and let them “massage” them.
We have not found not one horse scared of them.
Since those are very expensive, we may try next those windscreen strips, see if they stand better to our wild winds.
Something similar to this, maybe:
http://horseflynet.com/blog/?page_id=888
They work great in blizzards, keeping the wrap-around snow off the inside, helping it blow on and away.
Here is one spot under our barn, the year before the strips, similar blizzard the first year after we installed them:
Wow! I think I’m sold. They should pay you a commission. Did yours go all the way to the bottom of the doorway?
[QUOTE=Hermein;8875543]
Wow! I think I’m sold. They should pay you a commission. Did yours go all the way to the bottom of the doorway?[/QUOTE]
Yes, they went all the way down, but I think you could go a foot or so above and still get all the benefits.
I think they would work better on a small opening like a door, not in our 20’ spans.
It also helps with heat in there in the winter sun and cool in the shade in the summer heat.
We were afraid it would get too hot in there, at first took them off in the summer, but then left them up and it was fine anyway.
Also much less flies get in there and the horses like to rub any flies off going and coming thru those.
We would like to try the shades to see if there may be more airflow thru those and still as much protection from rain and snow getting in there.
My friend installed them in her barn for one horse, horse is afraid of them, it is a work in progress what she will tolerate, but she will not go thru if entire doorway is covered. There has to be an opening…
A good friend has them across her barn doorway/run-in. I believe her opening is 12’ wide, its definitely at least 10’, and she loves them! Horses aren’t afraid, and they don’t blow around much at all (however, her doorway is not usually getting a direct wind either). I’ve thought about getting them for my barn, I just haven’t gotten around to spending the money yet :lol: There’s always something else that needs buying…
We live in a town whose name translates to “howling winds”.
I generally leave the outside stall doors into the paddocks open and sometimes have to sweep the rain out of the stalls.
I have thought to try the plastic strip doors, but worry that the wind will blow them into the stalls and I’d have even MORE water in there running off the plastic sheets!
Not sure they’d be heavy enough to withstand the wind?
Those of you that use them, could you give some advice on where you bought them, weight, etc.?
Very timely topic, as the wind and rain is a comin’!*:eek:
We use them in our dairy barn, between the holding area and the milking parlor. It really helps to keep the heat in the parlor.
Some of our younger heifers do get nervous, but we found that by moving one or two strips off to the side, they can see through to the other side and have no real issues.
[QUOTE=BeckyS;8877143]
We use them in our dairy barn, between the holding area and the milking parlor. It really helps to keep the heat in the parlor.
Some of our younger heifers do get nervous, but we found that by moving one or two strips off to the side, they can see through to the other side and have no real issues.[/QUOTE]
There were times when we opened them a bit to let more air in there, like in this picture:
[QUOTE=Sing Mia Song;8877280]
Are these the ones you’re looking at? Bluey, what thickness did you use?[/QUOTE]
That is where we bought it, the metal strips to hang them and the rolls of plastic strips, already cut to size.
We called their salesman, he told us what had been working best for our situation, our winds, or spans and that is what we bought.
May have been heavier strips than for small, protected spaces like stall doors.
It was several years ago, don’t remember which kind it was or that there were that many choices then, but I think most any would do ok?
We want to try screens next, as they catch less wind and that may help here.
Plain old shade cloth (sold at big box stores) acts as a wind break–at least it tames the wind to a breeze. I’ve also seen it used as an outside ceiling for a patio, and it turned moderate rain into mist. Don’t know what it would do with snow.
I put them in some of my exterior stall doors this spring. The horses and donkey had no trouble learning to walk through them and I have never seen a spook related to them. I left a gap for a few days then added the rest. They go to within an inch of the ground, as the manufacturer suggested. They have held up very well–no damage or wear whatsoever.
I think they may reduce the rain inside the stalls to some extent, under certain conditions. However, if the wind is blowing into the stalls at all strongly, they can almost make it worse because they blow into the stall and the water collecting on them drips off. They haven’t been as effective as I hoped for that.
They also get grungy and no longer transparent, and I’ve been putting off cleaning them. They tend to make the stalls a little stuffier on days when a breeze would otherwise come in. I have also seen horseflies trapped inside by the strips more than once.
So all in all, not sure I can strongly recommend them although maybe they’ll be useful against snow and I just haven’t experienced that yet.
I bought mine at Hoover Fence: http://www.hooverfence.com/strip-doors/index.htm.
If there is a curb on the outside of the building, would the strips still blow in? For me, from the inside of the building the curb is 4". From the outside I think it’s around 8"? I see that strips come in various widths even 12". How wide are yours?
[QUOTE=Color of Light;8881433]
If there is a curb on the outside of the building, would the strips still blow in? For me, from the inside of the building the curb is 4". From the outside I think it’s around 8"? I see that strips come in various widths even 12". How wide are yours?[/QUOTE]
I believe mine are 8" wide. I have a pressure-treated 6x6 across the bottom of my exterior stall doors, and that’s what they almost touch. If they were long enough to go past the top edge of the “curb” they wouldn’t blow in as much, but I didn’t do that because I figured a horse would eventually manage to step on the end and rip the whole thing down.
[QUOTE=Libby2563;8881475]
I believe mine are 8" wide. I have a pressure-treated 6x6 across the bottom of my exterior stall doors, and that’s what they almost touch. If they were long enough to go past the top edge of the “curb” they wouldn’t blow in as much, but I didn’t do that because I figured a horse would eventually manage to step on the end and rip the whole thing down.[/QUOTE]
Thanks! Did you, Bluey, others with strip doors go with aluminum, galvanized steel, or the plastic ones, and if you mounted them on outside of building (not in doorway itself), did you go with 1’ longer than the opening mounts?
We used the treated ones to keep bugs out which worked very well. The horses were afraid of them at first until they realized there were no mosquitos or flies in their shelter and then they basically refused to come out. You’d show up to feed and instead of a stampede to the gate you’d maybe see and ear and an eyeball poke out between the strips. They did love to stand with just their heads out too. We didn’t have a lot of wind but they held up fine for the 3 or 4 years I used them.
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