Welcome back to the farm reno blog! Today we are discussing the outbuildings located on the farm we are purchasing and relocating to. Mainly, the big barn.
The main barn is largely what sold us on this property. We currently have a 20x20x10 pole barn that we use for feed and hay storage, plus shelter for our cows, sheep, and goats. It’s pretty crowded, to say the least.
The main barn is the oldest remaining building on the property followed by a smaller barn, the home, and the smokehouse. It is set up for working cattle or similarly sized livestock and includes a concrete working/milking chute (added in the late 1800s/early 1900s) that runs livestock from the barnyard, up onto a raised platform, then back out into a holding lot inside the barn.
I guess I will walk you through the barn in a storytelling format…I’m not great at writing so bare with me here.
Starting at the front of the barn, you enter into the feed/utility room. The feed room is enclosed from the main barn so it can easily be heated or cooled. It has running water and floor drains as every good barn should have. We would like to add an AC unit, small fridge, and washing machine but that’s high hopes and a long way down the road!
Leaving the feed room, you enter into the milking parlor/working area. This is where the milking chute is that I discussed earlier. The chute is currently set up for cattle so, we will need to rework the gates for smaller livestock. There is an exit that goes to a holding pen for the animals after you are done working with them and another exit to go out to the feeding area, loft, and tobacco side of the barn.
On to the holding pen area…this area is set up to hold animals in separate pens, open pens, or it can be used as a run-in shelter. There is also a feed bunk landing that overlooks the holding pens and is raised up a few feet to make daily checks and feeding easier.
Going on to the back of the barn, we have access to the hayloft that makes the ceiling over the feed bunk landing, a pull-through to drive a tractor/wagon through the barn for unloading, and a large area set up for hanging tobacco. The drive-through needs some work on the “drive-out” side as there is currently no ramp to actually drive out on to, but it’s on the list!
Under the “drive-through” and tobacco hanging portion is a walkout basement housing for livestock. This area is pretty cool as it is largely made from MASSIVE hand-hewn live edge beams! I haven’t taken a photo of them yet, but I will add it to this blog later so check back in a few days 🙂
I actually have several photos that for some reason aren’t uploading at the moment, but I will add them as soon as I can!
This barn is such an upgrade from our current setup, we can’t wait to make use of it! We have hoped and prayed for God to give us a purpose, so he instilled in us the love of homesteading. One major key to homesteading is the farm itself. Being so blessed to move to a farm such as this will help us along so incredibly much and we couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity. We pray that whatever God has in store for us (and the farm), we are able to do it justice and glorify Him through it all.
Thanks for following along on our journey!
-Kristen
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