# 2.5 Acres enough??



## Darien_Lane (Jun 13, 2008)

I have 2.5 acres of land and i want to use some of it for a barn with an apartment loft. I do pl;an on keeping my horses in the bar at night and let them out all day in the pasture. Has anyone lived in an apartment loft, where the stalls are on the first floor and the apartment is on the second floor? Is it alright to live in permanently? The barn with the apartment loft is 1296 sq. ft and it has four stalls, but there is another barn with an apartment loft that is 1728 sq. ft and it has six stalls. I like the one with 1728 sq. ft because it has more bedrooms and bathrooms. But I won't need six stalls, because I plan on buying two horses. So what should I do with the extra stalls?

Here is the website where I saw the apartment lofts.
http://www.barnpros.com/products/apartment


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## americancowgurl31391 (Jul 9, 2007)

well of course the bigger one would be dreamier to have but if you got the smaller built one, you could have a bigger pasture for the two to go out in during the day. Just make sure that your not gonna need more stalls later on. I wish i could live in one of those. You could just get up in the middle of the night and go visit the horses.


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## Sara (Jul 6, 2007)

You could convert a stall into a wash rack, a tack room, a feed room, tool shed, possible extra hay storage or just combine 2 stalls into one to give you horses a little extra room if you want...you can always find ways to use extra space. I love the idea of living right over my horses  Just pay extra attention to fire hazards and I think it would be awesome.


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## Dumas'_Grrrl (Apr 2, 2008)

Well put Sara! You can always find a use for the extra space! Especially when you are building on 2 1/2 acres.. It would possibly mean less out buildings. Sounds really cool...


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

You have to check with zoning. For the town i currently live in, you need 1 acre for the house, 2 acres for the first horse and 1 acre for each additional horse. (4 acres in total)

Though it seems like it would be an awesome thing to do!


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

Really Appy? I think here you can have a horse pretty much anywhere on anything if your not within the city limits. County rules are a lot more lax I guess. I think here you have to have 1 acre paid for before you can build a house on the land. 
As for the barn/loft, its unbelievable how much stuff you can accumulate with horses and just country life in general. I have 2 barns and a garage and they are all put to use. Between hay, tractor and implements, lawn mower, trailers, boat and vehicles they're all full.


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

I'm serious Vida. That's just for Andover though, not sure about surrounding towns. I saw a few places 2 acres and under that had a barn and all. 

I just don't want anyone fining your or taking the horses away if you're in violation of any zoning things.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

Call the County Clerk for any restrictions. Most counties themselves don't have any, but a lot of developments have restrictive covenants. In our county (outside city limits), there are no restrictions on livestock...many people have true backyard horses..


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## alstaxidermy (May 27, 2008)

For sure check on zoning and laws and such before you make any big moves, but that sounds like a dream situation to me! And yeah, like someone else said, you can always convert the empty stall space into other stuff and then have it available if you should ever need it (for more horses perhaps??)


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## Gingerrrrr (Feb 12, 2008)

yeah i agree with Appy. in my area you have to have 2 acres for 1 horse and then every additional horse you have to have another acre. so lets say you wanted 3 horses you have to have 4 acres. i think its kinda dumb but its the rules. and where my gramma lives (which is the next town over fro me) you have to have THREE! acres for one horse then if you wanted more horses you have to add on 1 more acre. i think that is a stupid rule...


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## TrialRider (Jun 6, 2008)

Where I live you are allowed one horse per acer.


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## Ryle (Jul 13, 2007)

I would go outside on your acreage and draw out the size you want on the place where you want to see it. This will help you get a better idea for how it's going to fit your space. After looking at just how much room the bigger plan will take up you may want to check out how the smaller one would fit.

As for what to do with extra stalls, it looks like the floor plan for the barn already has a tack room and wash rack, so the extra stalls could be hay storage, general tool storage, you could open up 2 stalls into a larger stall in case of illness or injury requiring stall confinement for a prolonged period. As someone always said, you can always find uses for more space.


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## buckaroo2010 (Nov 7, 2007)

Where I live they perfer one horse per 1 acre


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## Harley Heaven (Jun 15, 2008)

I think the general rule is one acre per horse (which is what we started off with)

We've since gotten the adjoining six acres added on to our origional three acres. It really makes it nice to be able to rotate pasture.

Someone mentioned the amount of sheer room that is needed just for equipment and hay storage. Man are they ever right! LOL
You may want to add on to your first floor plan on one end just for this type of stuff. Then if you plan on training your own horses a spot for a good sixty foot round pen is a must in my humble opinion.

I do like the idea of the apartment over the horses. Just be sure to include a good fly control system in your plans for the barn area.


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## RosieRox (Jun 16, 2008)

The living area over the barn is a cool idea but like Harley Heaven mentioned, the only drawback I can see is pest control. Our horses are not really close to the house and the flies are a real nuisance. Every time you open the door 3 or 4 get in. :x 

In our county there is no planning and zoning so there are alot of small acreages with way too many animals on them. We know of people with 7 or 8 horses on 3-4 acre properties, which means it's more like 2-3 acres if you allow for the house and outbuildings. IMO that's just too many animals in a small place. They have no pasture and the horses are in dirt and mud all the time. This year the mud has been awful because we've gotten enormous amounts of rain so far. And the flies, ticks and other pests are horrible too because of the wetness. Not to mention the hay bills they have because they have to feed alot of hay year round.


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## Appyt (Oct 14, 2007)

Another thing to check on is insurance for the home. A barn with hay storage specifically is going to make the home owners insurance higher.. While I love the idea it may also be a bit noisy at times with horses below.. I can understand the desire to save the footprint(ie area of ground used) small, it may be a bit costly in the long run.. Definately check zoning, insurance, and all those legal things out before you get too set on building..


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