Farm design help needed

[Feliz]

I’ve read lots of great posts in here on farm/barn layouts and designs and I’m feeling really stuck with our place. Biggest question is should we build a shed and a barn? - we’ve been here 2yrs and have made it work but it’s not perfect and we’ve just inherited some family money so could do it without adding to the mortgage which is amazing.

Background:
Live in NZ, so the climate is very mild, frosts in winter but the grass grows almost year round. It’s very wet through winter though – 3-4mths of mud is A Thing.
Property - 9.5 acres, flat, all in pasture except for the house site. Low lying peat so is soft but drains pretty well
Horse management – 3-4 horses, in winter they’re kept off the paddocks overnight in some basic sand yards up by the house. Out 24/7 the rest of year unless it’s ridiculously wet
Fencing – we’ve redone most of the fence lines in electric horse rope – but the fenceposts are pretty old and soft. So moving fencelines isn’t out of the question.

Potential option One:

Add to the existing shed hodgepodge of sheds and yards. This is the area I have already been using – in orange in the picture
Pros: cheap, close to the house & road, infrastructure mostly there (power, lights)
Cons: still only functional to use rather than being actually easy, further to bring horses in/out, already very bitsy so not especially attractive

Potential Option Two
Build a storage shed and a horse barn down in the paddock closest to the house – in yellow in the picture
Pros: able to set up a really useable space that would make winters easier for me. Will be an asset and add value to the property (if done in a way that’s multipurpose ie not just for horses)
Cons: lots and lots of money. Lots of earthworks required plus more driveway to get there. The current yard area would then not be used.
Note: if we do two structures under a certain size (110m2/1184square foot) we won’t need to get consent. If we build one big building instead we will need consent – which will add cost, complexity and time. Shed: hay storage, trailer parking, tack & feed room, covered area that would work as a tacking up area/wash bay/farriers area. Horse barn: nothing fancy, just decent sized stables

Honestly, I keep flip flopping back and forth on what to do – one day I want to spend the money and have a great set up, the next I think that a few little tweaks to the existing area would make it more workable and I’d rather spend the money on other stuff.

Thanks for reading if you got this far

[Simkie]

Is there a reason why knocking down your existing sheds & rebuilding something functional isn’t an option? Little earth work, little electric, little water. Doesn’t solve your further to bring horses in and out issue, but does look to address all of your other concerns & avoid nearly all of the cons of building in another area.

[Feliz]

Good question - anything we build there should really be consented due to how close it is to the road. I talked to the planning office and they said that consent is unlikely to be given.

[mmeqcenter]

Personally I’d go for option 2. I’d probably do something like a 32’x36’ center aisle barn with 12’ aisle, four 12’x12’ stalls, and two 12’x8’ rooms for a tack room and a feed room.
Since it’s personal use, I’d probably plan to mostly tack up in the aisle or in the horse’s stall.
I’d do an outdoor wash rack.

Then whatever size you need for hay and trailer storage for the second building.

[fourfillies]

Absolutely no expertise in NZ building but in my part of the world there is a nuance between consent for new building vs a renovation that stays in the same footprint (ie doesn’t add new impermeable surface). For the convenience of location, existing access, etc I would fully explore a full renovation/rebuild at the better/improved site before a scratch build further from the house with all the dirt work, etc. either way you will spend to get what you want. If you going to be there so worth the removing the everyday headaches of a bad set up.

[clanter]

@fourfillies

Absolutely no expertise in NZ building but in my part of the world there is a nuance between consent for new building vs a renovation that stays in the same footprint

At one place when a new building permit was denied we kept one corner post of an equipment shed while staying within the original footprint of the building converting it into a multi-use office building