# Dairy Barn



## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

My sister and her husband moved into a place that had an old style barn (loft in it which they don't use for fire safety reasons) a number of years ago. The walls are about 8 ft high and the floor is concrete with stalls, at the time, set up for an assortment of farm animals. At one point, they were considering jackhammering and removing the concrete from the stall areas, filling with dirt but leave the concrete in the alley. In the end, however, after further debating and pondering, they left the concrete in place and put rubber mats over the concrete with bedding on top of that. I know one of her horses is a 16 hander but wall height hasn't been an issue to date with this set up. So while your situation may not be your ideal, if you stay away from situations where a horse may rear, you may do alright.

Good luck with the conversion (and dare we ask for photos?).


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## Degsy (Nov 17, 2013)

I'll post some in a day or so. Can't get at them right now.


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

Degsy said:


> I'll post some in a day or so. Can't get at them right now.


Good - I just love looking at conversion and renovation projects especially when I don't have to put in the work!


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

My 16.3 does fine in a 8,1/2' ceiling, lots of headroom. When in there he's usually snoozing with his head low anyway, altho he can go in and out at will.


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## 40232 (Jan 10, 2013)

My neighbor has a dairy barn converted to horses. There is a stall with 2 levels, the top is about 8ft from the ceiling, and the bottom is about 10ft from the ceiling. The horses never have had problems


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## Degsy (Nov 17, 2013)

Here are the pics.


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## Clayton Taffy (May 24, 2011)

Oh my gosh, my heart skipped a beat when I saw your photos!
What a barn!

I want to have my next birthday party in that loft.

I would try not to do anything to the ceiling if possible.

The next barn I am going to build will have a stork's nest on the roof too.


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## Degsy (Nov 17, 2013)

Taffy Clayton said:


> Oh my gosh, my heart skipped a beat when I saw your photos!
> What a barn!
> 
> I want to have my next birthday party in that loft.
> ...


And that's the other problem, would seem so wrong to change such an awesome barn. We haven't had a party up there yet but the people we bought off used to and it's wired to the sound system in the house. I have a pole shed as well which is currently setup for horses though in a little rougher shape, hence my thoughts about other options.
Pics below. I am grateful to have the options but the barn is currently just used for storage and if I could get the horses setup in there it would be perfect. They are out most of the time anyway, I just need somewhere for the worst weather which is why I'm concerned about the height, if they are ever going to throw a wobbly, I would think it would be in a major storm.
What would you do, stay in the pole shed or move to the barn?


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## Degsy (Nov 17, 2013)

btw, I put an automatic waterer in the lean too and added walls so it's now a three sided run in with stalls.


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

That's a lovely barn - it has character and style.


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## caseymyhorserocks (Apr 5, 2010)

Whats wrong with the pole barn? It looks like it is fine condition. The stalls may be a little rough, but the wood looks fine and you could just replace the wire on the top. I would go for that instead of the old barn.


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## Clayton Taffy (May 24, 2011)

I will have to measure but I don't think my barn ceiling is over 8 feet and I have never had any problems. Even with the Clyde.


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

You have a lovely barn. You do have your work cut out for you. The only problem I see is to fill in the drainage holes. I guess you could cement them in. I have a cement floor in my barn and I just use 3/4" rubber mats in the stalls.
You are SO LUCKY bc your barn is wood. So is mine, though much smaller than yours. Still, I can store up to 500 bales in my loft, so I'm not complaining. Wood buildings breathe AND hold heat bc the wood insulates. I I STILL have to go through another winter with my chickens in a stall--their summer quarters are too cold--and the heat generated by several horses and 30 chickens usually keeps the horse's water from freezing. I've been in some metal buildings in the middle of the winter, and I wanted to go outside to get warm!
I say, first, get your hay, straw and bedding in the loft!! Then, clean up the trash in the barn, plan and make your stalls.
AARRRGGGHHH!!! I need a new roof on MY barn and the first estimate is $10k !!!!!!!


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## Clayton Taffy (May 24, 2011)

A thought on the drainage channels. You could fill them with gravel and put those rubber bricks on the top and keep it as a french drain when ever you need to hose out the barn.


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## JeepnGirl (Jan 15, 2013)

I would strangle someone if they messed with that barn. It's got lovely character. The stalls under my main loft are about 8 feet high. And the side loft won't be much higher - in fact it could be lower and that is the side my husband's 16.2 hand Shire mare has her stall.

I would also try and work with the drains. There has got to be some way to keep them and use them without having to keep stepping over them. Because if they were build in, they are going to be functional and easily cleaned out. Priceless if you ask me.

I can't tell from the angle of the pictures, but the metal posts look like they may be good markers for the stall wall dividers. I think my old barns wooden support beams are about 12 feet apart. The divider walls are about 9 or 9.5 feet long. There is no way I am going to rip out my loft to raise it up a couple of feet. Gotta work with what you got sometimes. I think if I had pulled up and seen a barn like that on my place, the house and everything else would never have been looked at - SOLD!


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## ForeverSunRider (Jun 27, 2013)

You'll have to keep us updated with pictures of what you decide to do with it


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

It looks like the trenches held a barn cleaner (angle iron on chains) which carries the manure out to a waiting wagon or manure spreader.


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## bronkencreek (Sep 2, 2013)

We have a bowtop barn very similar to yours and love it. Our ceiling is similar to yours in height and is working out fine for us (we have horses here from 14-18 hands) but would like to eventually raise the ceiling. They jack up the ceiling/loft, add on to the walls (for us that would mean concrete blocks) and reattach the ceiling. It has worked well for people around here.

We are filling in the gutter as we go - I'm not up for maintaining a barn cleaner and emptying a spreader every day  We put rubber mats over the concrete floor, but our floor is sloped due to the cow stantions, so the mats tend to curl up every so often. I'd like to add stall mattresses eventually. We are building our own stalls too and they are working out well. I love having a barn with tons of character!


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## Degsy (Nov 17, 2013)

Thinking of getting a metal grid insert for the trough, really don't want to make any permanent changes to such a nice building. It' won't get too dirty as the stalls won't cover them.


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## Fowl Play (Sep 22, 2009)

My daughter's horse's stall gets used for deworming and other treatments for head flingers because the ceiling is low on one side (angled). The horses learn really quickly not to jump or fling their head in that stall because it hurts. This is ins an old dairy barn converted to a horse barn. I don't think any of the ceilings are much over 8 feet, and my horse is 15.2 and has never had a problem.


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## bmahosky13 (Oct 25, 2012)

It's an awesome barn. I had an old dairy barn and was able to convert with no problem. Also the trainer that I go to also converted a old dairy barn into stalls for her business. Even though the ceilings are low she still has several TB's in stalls. They learn very quickly not to rear up.

The only issue I see with your barn is the electrical. Make sure that you get a certified electrician in to check out all the wires. I did not do this and lost my barn to a electrical fire. I lost all my goats but my horses were out that night.

When I built the new barn I made sure that all the electrical work was done correctly and up to county code.


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## Degsy (Nov 17, 2013)

You guys have convinced me to re look at this. I can do the electrics myself and the barn does need to be rewired from scratch, there is s combination old old and new and I'd feel happier knowing it was done right. There are still benefits to both solutions and it sure is nice to have choices. The only thing that makes me think more about the old barn is that it will be easier to insulate which I've decided to do after my recent experience with a Polar Vortex. I'll let you know what I decide and share pictures. In the meantime, you're all welcome to join for the party we are planning up there as soon as the weather warms up!!


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