Planning Our Farm

That’s very interesting as I presumed WA would be more stringent with their regulations regarding wetlands use than the areas of NW FL and SE AL that I am familiar with.

In the area of AL I am familiar with, a land owner cannot even set a fence in areas designated as wetlands.

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This is really nice. You’ll feel very safe having your barn surrounded by the dry lot. So many options for having horses be able to go in and out on their own, and a set up where a person caring for the horses when your away won’t have to move them around.

Quick story. When I was in college I took care of small stable for the weekend. Every day for the last 20+ years the owner opened the gate and horse went to their stalls. The first day I took care of them the 28 year old mare went into the barn and right out end. :joy:

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Move the poo pile (and chickens, probably) left to where the first pen is, then shift all the pens right by one. That makes the poo pile accessible for removal, and no greater distance from the barn and pens than it is now.

Having the House/Garage/MIL/Deck and Yard as a unit, around which you can drive a truck, is a very good idea. So much easier for deliveries, pick ups, a walking track for a layup, etc. I’m assuming the dry lot will have big gates that can be used to create a circle around the barn, as well. Getting new footing delivered for the arena, etc. Picking up a dead cow carcass.

I don’t see hay storage. I know you want to use the pastures most of the time, but you’ll still need hay sometimes, especially if you are adding a couple head of cattle. Does it go in the barn? Take up the spot in a pen? Where? We liked to buy our hay 1X per year (rather than several smaller orders) so the animals didn’t have to deal with hay changes.

We also used our “wall of hay” under a purpose built shed roof, as a dust stop between horses and houses. NOT very glorious to look at, but did serve that purpose… We made the hay-man’s unloading of hay (with a squeeze) into the shed part of the design. You don’t want to have to hand-stack hay.

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I guess this is a personal decision (and I suppose does depend on climate), but I would not want my chickens or my manure pile that close to my house if at all possible.

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Well the land was relatively cheap for Washington and is in a great area so we bought it lol. Hay storage will be in the barn for right now. If we need to, we will add a shelter in the trailer parking area for storage. Yes, everything will have large gates. I will check with our wetland regulations again but from what I know I am fine.

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Yeah, with all the talk of wetlands, maybe that’s not the best. Where I was, the manure pile was so dry it never smelled at all, nor did it draw bugs much. But that isn’t the case for the OP, I guess.

However, if she wants to remove manure, she needs to be able to get to it with a truck/tractor!

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OP did you ever imagine this many people would be weighing in on your ideas? You roll with this all really well!

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@Texarkana Thank you! No, i never imagined this many people would chime in :laughing: I can say though that I greatly appreciate it. This is making the process so much easier and I am adding things that I would have never even thought of!

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FWIW, you may not want the chickens close to the house if you free range - they will find a place on your deck to lay eggs and beg for treats whenever they see you. Tapping on the glass sliding door is a favorite with mine. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: I kind of love that.

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And often poop on the deck. Much to my mother’s dismay

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And the dug up flower beds.

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:joy: :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: Yes, they do those things and I still love them. On the bright side they eat Japanese beetles even jumping up to get them out of the roses.

I’ll admit, I never tell anybody at work these things. :relaxed:

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To make this easy on EVERYONE, use the Web site for acreage planning:

https://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-area-calculator-tool.htm

It is great, you make different blocks different colors, all sorts of neat things once you get used to it.

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Thank you for that link.

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I was just coming here to ask what people use to plan paddock placement and everything! Thank you so much!

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Someone posted it here a million years ago, and I happened to have it bookmarked. I used it extensively for paddock placement, arena, garden, etc etc when I was in the planning and building stages.

After consulting with family and some other stuff, here is our final(pending well placement) layout.

Changes Made:

  • House closer to the road
  • Longer pastures (since I have a AQHA that likes to think shes a race horse :laughing:)
  • Arena and Barn are connected since arena will eventually be covered
  • Figured out the size of the MIL trailer so fixed that
  • Made the wetlands into one pasture so that we can not use it when it is too wet.
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That looks really good. The only concern I would have is how much time your horses will be spending right next to the road. Might be fine or might be troublesome depending on traffic and people that pass by on foot or four wheelers, etc… I have a set up similar to that and I cannot see the donkey paddock fenceline, where it borders the road, from the house. It’s always good to be able to see what interactions are taking place.

One other thought…the barn should be easily accessible from the road for farriers, vets, hay delivery. Ours has its own gate, but you could also just make sure it’s off your main driveway, which should be easy to park or turn around a trailer. What if you swapped the storage/shop for the barn and dry lot? You could point the paddocks away from the road and not have the animals exposed to any knucklehead coming down the road. Kids hop fences. Idiots stop, pull over, and try to pet horses or throw things at them to see them run. I’ve seen some real nasty human behavior. They act like they’re at a zoo when they see animals next to the road.

I like this plan. Every thing looks easy to work with. You’ll be able to turn the horses out into the dry lot. Then gates to pastures 2, 3 and 4 make that “auto” turn out.

Looks like the barn will have easy access, the MIL parking spot is really close and there is no “yard” indicated in that area so I’d assume it will be driveway.

Also it looks like only the far pasture is next to the main road. So that should minimize people stopping. No matter where you put the pastures people are going to be able to see your horses from the road.

That said, not only can people hurt your horses but there is the “attractive nuisance” issue. Stupid law: A dangerous condition on a landowner’s property that may attract children onto the land and may involve risk or harm to their safety. Because child trespassers may not appreciate the risks that the dangerous condition poses, landowners have the duty to either eliminate that danger or make it inaccessible to trespassing children. I’ve read articles where parents have sued because the child went into a pasture and was “bitten” trying to feed an apple to a horse.

All horse owners need to have a blanket farm policy to protect them when some ridiculous parent sues you because their kid crawls under your fence to pet your 1,200 lb horse.

In my area I have to post no trespassing signs fairly close together and at all possible entrances, so that I’m not liable if a kid (or adult) gets hurt when they trespass and ride there ATVs in my crop fields! Problem - said kids regularly rip the signs down. Other problem, father puts his hunting stand in the middle of my woods - and chains it there! Fortunately that’s what bolt cutters are for.

And don’t forget to post the “hazard/danger electric fence” signs. :rage: