Hello, I’m a new member here and found this place because I’m researching barns. Now that I’m a member I can’t find any more info, ironically. I am building my first barn ever starting this summer. It’s in Montana, and I currently live in Central CA. It will be my one and only barn so I want to get it right. I currently have one horse and 2 donkeys. I would like to have a few goats again once I move and was hoping part of the barn could be for them. Originally I was thinking a 4 stall RCI barn with a tack room and feed room. I came across a design of a Wyoming barn that has 2 stalls, tack room, feed room and a large loafing area that’s covered. That might be better. I really don’t want my animals to live in the stalls. It would just be for extreme weather or layups. The property has 6 acres and I will have a couple of turnout areas. Not living in an area that gets snow, there are things I won’t know to consider. I want hot water in the barn and am wondering if I should have my feed and /or tack room heated. Also, what is the best way to keep water troughs from freezing? I will have power in the barn but what about out in the turnout areas? There is not power close enough to have insulated troughs. Also, what are your must-haves in your barn? FWIW, the area is in a sort of banana belt and, while it does get very cold, there’s not typically a lot of snow. Any suggestions and info are greatly appreciated. We are starting phase 1 this summer so I need to get it figured out.
Build a few more stalls than you think you need. Maybe you decide to get an extra horse, one of yours goes lame or needs to be retired, you need space for a new riding horse while retiree enjoys his pension. Maybe you get a pony for your niece/nephew/grandkid/kid. As you said, you only want to build once - build for what you might need 5 or 10 years from now, not just right now.
The loafing area sounds like a waste. Goats can go in stalls in 2s or 3s easily, confining too many in a slightly larger but still too tight space and you’re going to get more squabbling, so you’ll still need the option to break it up. Or if you decide to try your hand at dairying the goats, that means baby goats and separating the birthing mamas.
Keep your gates as close to the barn as possible. If you plan to turn in and out daily (vs stalling in only the worst weather), have a snowblower. Even not a lot of snow is a giant pain when you have to truck through it multiple times a day, and it can compact into ice. Better to clear a path (I have 18" of snow on the ground right now and no snow blower, but I also leave my horses out and pull hay around on a sled).
Insulate the tack/feed room at least, but having a heated tack room is a very nice luxury for sure. Insulating it gives you more flexibility for adding heating later if you decide not to do so right away. Keeps your saddles from being icy on your butt and your horses back, and gives you a place to thaw out without going in to the house. You can also work on tack cleaning in the winter without bringing your stuff into your house, and thaw out frozen hoses and the like in there.
You need heaters, an agitator/bubbler, or auto waterers. ( have 0 experience with outdoor auto waterers, so I can’t speak to how well they stand up to the cold). You can have an outlet (or outlets, if your paddocks are spread out) run out to the edge of your paddocks underground, with an outdoor rated outlet for you to plug things into. Otherwise you’ll have to use extension cords, which basically every water heater ever has directions NOT to do.
Factor this requirement into your barn construction and power supply. Have them add separate breaker switches for the outdoor outlets individually, because water heaters draw a LOT of power.
Supposedly you can fill plastic jugs with salty water and they will keep ice from freezing, but I wouldn’t expect that to work in Montana level winter, it certainly doesn’t work here when its -40*C. My heaters do.
Wide aisles are a dream for me, and properly textured concrete floors so that the horses have good grip to walk on. Think about where you want to place ties, even if you would normally groom/tack in a stall, because your farrier and vet won’t want to do everything in their stalls. GOOD LIGHTING! Also space for seasonal storage of blankets.
And hay storage as well, if you board you probably don’t even realize how much space hay takes up and how much you will use! Hay is especially important in cold areas through the winter, as that’s how they keep warm. My hay usage on a -40C day vs a -5C day is double or sometimes more. Make sure you factor in low temperature increases in consumption when you buy hay, and buy more than you think you need.
photograph just where you bury water and power lines… might even place a large piece of scrap metal in the trench every so often so you can relocate the lines using a metal detector if needed.
Have shut off valves for every water line
I agree with lifeishorsesarelove - build more than you need. This includes extra stalls, extra storage (for feed, hay, tack, first aid, blankets, tools, etc.), electricity and water run to all fields. At the very least insulate the tack/feed rooms to help keep your tack nice but you can always revisit heat later if it isn’t in the budget now. Think about if you want a tank water heater or instant (tankless) and optional washer/dryer (stackable or side by side). Washer/dryer is something I would add to my barn if I could. I can tell you SO hates me bringing barn stuff home to wash- he’s apparently not a fan of horse hair on everything. If you do a center isle, make sure it is wide enough for two horses (or donkeys) to pass each other without any “personal space” issues (especially if stalled creatures can hang heads into the isle). 12’ is pretty standard and you can drive a truck through if needed. Go bigger if you plan on having any large equipment, although probably not necessary for 6 acres.
If you want to really upgrade- maybe set up space for a generator. You say the area doesn’t get much snow but if you get any storms that knock out power its nice to know you won’t be feeding in the dark or hauling hot water to buckets.
If you possibly can, have stalls with a door to a pen outside, preferably with an overhang so it can be used as a shed if you don’t want them in the stall.
You are right that you don’t want to spend your time cleaning stalls, figure a way to keep them where being in the stalls will be minimal.
Unless you are showing and competing seriously, you don’t need stabled horses, they are fine coming and going.
Night lights. Put a couple of bulbs on a separate switch that you can operate from every doorway.
Think of the number of steps you will take to get from any point to any other point. Minimize steps! You think it’s fun exercise now but when you’re 9 months pregnant or on crutches, you won’t.
Create routines that anyone - including anyone without horse experience - can execute. Can a farm sitter, or neighbor, or older child dump grain and hay and fill water without going into a stall, paddock or pasture with animals? See comment above about 9 months pregnant or on crutches!
Would anyone be willing to post pictures of their barn, inside and out? Stalls, run-ins, fencing, etc. PLEASE??
Talk to people with barns in cold climates! We have very different horse-keeping in CA and you’ll find a world of difference with S-N-O-W and M-U-D.
I have a friend in Fort Collins, CO that has a great setup for weather (at least more weather than we have in CA!) which consists of a big pole building with stalls built in with a concrete center aisle and tack and wash stall, lots of room for hay, and a big enough open area to longe in. There’s a dividing wall between the stall area and the open area with a roll up door, so the horse area can stay warmer.
Best thing she has is large overhangs on each side of the barn, one over the stall runs and one on the other side for equipment or extra hay storage. In the winter her horses have a 12’covered transition area from their runs into the barn that stays dry because she put in some kind of drainage with small gravel or cinders on top, and it’s a nice shady place for them to hang out in the summer without actually being in their stalls.
You’ll get a ton of great advice here- but look at local builders in Montana for important tips too… and enjoy your new place!
Heated auto waterers in cold climates are pretty much a necessity (IMO). I’ve never had them before moving here 10 years ago, where it gets COLD in winter (-35C). Shut the heat off to these from the breaker box once cold weather is gone for the year.
There is nothing colder than a horse locked into a stall in a cold environment. I don’t use them unless absolutely necessary. Horses can stay warm being outside in a cold climate by being able to run around, that is the “natural” way horses survive and remain healthy. Once you lock horses into stalls, you have to keep them warm since they can no longer keep themselves warm. Then people “close the barn up, stop all the drafts” to try to keep the barn warm. This makes for sick horses, clean fresh air is far healthier for horses. I have run in sheds, and horses live communally, eat together and play together. I have a few separate areas that I can use if I need to separate somebody from the bunch.
Listen to your local new neighbours, see how they keep their horses, see what works for them. I find that new horse owners moving into our area, the first thing they want to do is build a barn and stalls for their horses, and put them in the stalls in winter. A few years later, they are no longer using the stalls they built, and the horses are living communally. Because dry cold is good for horses, it is an easy environment for horses to live in.
Insulate and heat your tack/feed room. Make it rodent proof, they will want to move in if possible. Oil filled electric heater works for me. I thought I wanted a hot water heater too, but I’m fine with just a kettle in the tack room, it makes enough hot water for bathing injuries, etc. Hot water heater tank will burn a lot of $.
Thank you Nancy for all the great pointers. Yes, I don’t plan on keeping any stalled up. I just would like a couple stalls for injuries or whatever. I do want an overhang (porch I think some call it) off one side to get out of the weather but NOT be enclosed and indoors.
You only need one stall for the injury situation. Also use this stall for your grooming stall, with access to the communal area, AND access directly to your tack room. If you need to use it as a “stall” for an injury case, remove your grooming supplyies, and put bedding in it.
I have a plan that divides a building into four quadrants, no aisles. Maximum use of space, no wasted space. Make the quadrants as big as you like. Four quadrants are: Communal horse shelter, hay storage, tack room, one duel purpose stall for grooming/tacking or injury care. Your goat accomodation can be stuck on the side somewhere as a lean-to, head room is not an issue for goats. Central wall at mid line of barn. Communicating doors for access between the “quadrants”.
Well, we didn’t get started this summer as planned. I do have more questions, if anyone happens to see this follow-up. We need to deer-proof our hay. I do have a separate post on hay barns from last year, but am wondering the best way to keep hay out of the rain, snow and away from deer. Currently my hay is tarped except for part of my stack this year is in a barn. Much to my chagrin, there is still some moisture from rain on the outsides of the outside bales. But right now I live in central CA where we get 12 inches of rain a year and the deer don’t come close enough to the hay.
It was suggested that I check out barns in the area and see how people keep their horses there. Well, I’m finding that there are no horse barns near our place. People don’t use them. So I will be the odd person out in that respect (and others, but that’s a different discussion…lol).
@Miss Motivation Your friend’s setup sounds a lot like what I’m envisioning.
It’s exciting and frustrating trying to plan this barn, never having one. I do have my equines at home, but don’t have a barn.
Well, the best way to keep your hay dry and away from (most) critters is to put it in a loft. Some people use a separate hay shed/barn/building. We never had the $ for that, so we use our loft and we use a spare stall as well. I’m in TN and have actually never had an issue with deer (and we have plenty around here) getting into my barn or eating my hay. The neighbors dairy cows on the other hand, are another matter. :rolleyes:
Suggestions for your barn:
- at least 3 stalls (if you have 1 horse and 2 donkeys, you need to be able to put them all up in case of really severe weather or emergency, but I'd do a minimum of 4 myself
- have the stalls open to the aisle of the barn and also to the outside, with each stall or pair of stalls having a small paddock
- have an overhang of 10' on the wall the stalls are on, making a run-in area for shelter and keeping the weather (rain/snow) out of the stall since it opens to the outside
- put the stalls on the south wall of the barn if possible
- Make your feed room twice as big as you think it needs to be - trust me on this! LOL
- Don't forget a storage area for bags of shavings - they take up a good bit of room
- Don't make your center aisle too narrow - you need to be able to drive a tractor or large SUV/Truck down that aisle, so go 12' or larger (ours is 13' and that works well enough for our purposes).
- If you have farm equipment (tractor, riding mower, etc.) make a lean-to or extra bay on your barn for their storage
@4LeafCloverFarm Thank you! All of your suggestions are things I plan on, except hay in the loft. I’ve heard too many stories about keeping hay in a barn and fires. It would make it one less thing to build, however. I guess I’m not totally sure. 
My favorite things in my barn in order:
- Heated, auto waterers
- Stalls that open onto individual weatherproof paddocks
- Heated, dehumidified tack room
- Dedicated horse blanket front load washing machine (technically this is in our shop, but if I had room it would be in my barn)
- Fridge
I have no experience in my nearly 50 years with horses of hay fires. Not that it doesn’t happen (it does). But unless you are putting up hay you cut and cure, hay you purchase (I believe) is not a danger when stored properly. Not putting it on the floor/ground, max airflow all around, not stacking it so it touches the ceiling or walls, not stacking where there are glass windows, minimize stack depth and leave a bit of room between each bale,
That said, there are additional advantages to storing in a separate building (other than piece of mind). Not having to haul it into a loft is a big one! Much easier to load/unload to a building on the ground. Also, less dust/chaff in the air of your barn (good for humans with allergies and horses too). I’m actually allergic to hay, which is why we wanted to store it elsewhere. We’ve just never had the $ to convert another out building (or build a new one).
The advantage of a full loft with hay storage in colder climates is that it insulates the stalls/barn, keeping it much warmer than if the stalls are open above. Even if I weren’t storing hay, I’d still have a loft, if not a full loft, loft area over all stalls and use for storage, shavings, etc.
Unmentioned, is grazing capacity of your land. I have been in parts of Montana where stocking rates were one cow/calf to 100 acres. Six acres for 3 larger animal might be over grazing. This means you will need to provide hay all year, not count on feeding much grass. That could double or more, the amount of hay you need to purchase and store each year. Add in goats who graze close to the soil, you might end up with 6 acres of dirt.
I strongly suggest you plan for indoor hay storage, in the barn or a separate building. The deer get hungry too, are relentless in trying to get to that hay outside. I know folks have tried dog kennel panels, corral panels, farm panels of heavy wire, actual fence wire, which take damage by the deer in varying degrees of success kepping hay from being consumed. You do have to access the outside piles, so it can be hard to feed going thru all your safety measures. Count your blessings if there are no local elk, they are awful to keep the hay away from!! And they eat a lot after smashing down the high fences or eating over too short of fences. Walls, roof and locked doors are best for keeping your hay safe, dry, ready when needed. Get tall doors so you can drive in with loaded hay, not carrying bales or round bales in for storage. It will take extra time hauling bale between buildings, over keeping hay in the horse barn.
Fire hazards can depend on your barn keeping habits. No motorized vehicles in the barn. Hot engines over dusty, hay chaff floors are easy fire starters. Things left plugged in, overheating cords, outlets, wiring. Not using heavy wire in metal conduit, van let rodents chew it. Dusty light bulbs, fixtures, can self combust. Keeping cement aisles clean, not any fuel for fires. Hay in a barn is not the only way to start barn fires.
I am in Michigan, want a draft free barn for winter stalls. We have great air exchange thru roof vents, no stinky smells here. However all the stalls only are accessible by the center aisle. I have no run out stalls with pens. Those extra doors add a lot of cold drafts with winter wind blowing. I believe horses do better with daily handling, a look-see for injury, as they get led in and out to pasture. Horses accept confinement when we go other places, nothing new. The “laying on of the hands” daily, being fed in stall with people in and out by them, prevents them going feral, thinking horse gets a vote in what we do! This newer thinking, type horse keeping of total turn out, hay over the fence, shed for shelter, seems to get many equines believing they run the show! They disagree with people, not cooperative when you actually wish to use them, mess up their nap schedule!!
I do not have time to be out picking small stall runout or paddocks daily either, we have fields i can mow and drag. You will need picking clean often, with small outside places so it is not a big manure area. Weather may not break manure down there like other geographic locations having rain and wind can do. I believe horses need to have enough room to run fast, hang with other horses, even as valuable horses. So ours go to pastures with friends daily, act lIke horses. Gates are set up so we usually don’t walk far for turnout or bringing them in.
I totally third or fourth having wide barn aisles you can easily get pickup trucks thru. This is minimum 12ft, with nothng in the aisle. Vet can come in to treat injury, shut winter out with closed end door. Or Farrier park inside. Parking beside the feed room door to unload 1000 pounds of grain, pellets, sawdust bedding, is so easy on your body! That running outside to get needles, equipment, having to walk a distance fitting a shoe times 4, carrying those 50#bags the length of skinny aisle, gets old real fast, as well as wasting a LOT of time, energy. We have sliding doors, which use no aisle space, do not allow heads hanging out to cause problems. Our aisle gets lots of use, machines driving thru, saddling, harnessing and hitching. Heads belong in stalls to prevent problems, keep horses safe.
Guess much will depend on your daily schedule, horse activities in how you usee the barn. We feel the benefits of daily stalling, handling, added stall cleaning, far outweigh the “less time needed” thinking of constant turnout type horse keeping. We get young animals, some opinionated ones, so the hands-on works best with our uses of the horses.
While a 12 foot aisle is certainly more comfortable, I have taken my truck, with towing mirrors, through my 10 foot aisle a few times, so it’s doable.
My barn is 34x48, with the aforementioned 10’ aisle. There are four 12x12 stalls at one end (2 on each side of the aisle). I have a gate dividing the stall area from the rest of the barn, because the barn is in the pasture and open to the horses at all times. The gate keeps them out of the other half, which contains a 12x16 tack/feed room, and hay/equipment storage areas (just open space).
If I had it to do again, I would have exterior doors going into each of the stalls, with overhangs over them. I am relying on my four horses to get along well enough to all enter through the 10’ aisle door, enter any of the stalls, and be able to get away from bullies. While it has never ended in disaster, it can often mean that the two ponies don’t actually enter the barn at all, if the horses are in the aisle. I do put them in the stalls overnight or during the day, depending on the season.
@goodhors Yes, I plan on year round hay. Nothing new for me, as I don’t have pasture currently.
Thank you everybody for all your thoughts and points to ponder. I really appreciate it!
