Just purchased a property with a large two-story post and beam barn. Besides, just storing hay, etc., I was wondering what other uses historically have been made of a second floor or could be. This barn has stairs that go up from inside to a full second floor. We're setting up plans for milk goats, chickens, rabbits and fish farming. I felt these animals need to be on the ground. Any thoughts?

-- Derrick Comfort (dcomfort@ccnmail.com), October 06, 1999

Answers

Here in Madison, Wisconsin, at the University of Wisconsin, there is a historical barn where _draft_ horses (!) were kept on the second floor. Of course it was engineered with those weight requirements in mind. There was a huge ramp with cleats on it so the horses could walk up without sliding back down. I am familiar with it from my college days when they were keeping riding-type horses there. There were box stalls that were bedded with straw (which was kept in yet another loft above), the stalls were cleaned out by student labor (myself included) into wheel barrows and emptied through a chute that emptied onto a ground level heap. Of course, the horses had to be lead in and out for exercise. So it can be done.

I would think goats would probably be able to go up and down the stairs given their agility, so you could "stable" them upstairs and let or take them out to pasture, if you have some way to eliminate having to carry used bedding/manure down the stairs. That would get old in a hurry! Free-ranging chickens could probably learn to go to roost upstairs, in fact you might have trouble keeping them out. Maybe you would find it workable to coop the chickens there during winter (if you get cold, snowy winters) and put them in movable coops or "tractors" in the warmer weather. But adequate light would have to somehow be provided for them. You might also have to think about how much bedding/manure might sift through and what it would be falling on below.

-- J. E. Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), October 06, 1999.

The barn, i.e. the hay loft is normally sized for the amount of hay that will be needed to keep the number of livestock in hay, which the farm's size will support. I hope that makes sense.

How about inviting neighbors to a barn square dance every so often. No charge, everyone kicks in and pays the caller his or her fee. I suppose that you might have to worry about liability insurance though. You might also want a tenderfoot caller. One that calls for beginners.

-- greenbeanman (greenbeanman@ourtownusa.net), October 08, 1999.

A barn dance before the animals move in was the first thing I thought of too! My parents used to go to them all the time and they had a blast! Wish you lived nearby, we'd come. Our fair association had a square dance the year it snowed on our fair and monies were down. Whole families came and everyone had so much fun. That was about 10 years ago. My father raised a couple hundred laying hens on the 3rd floor of his barn with no trouble at all. Good luck!

-- Bob Ambrozaitis (rambrozaitis@snet.net), October 12, 1999.

I'm thinking pigeons would be about ideal, if you had any interest.

-- Laura Jensen (lrjensen@nwlink.com), January 18, 2000.

Remodeled for living quarters or maybe a work shop.

-- K.D. 'hoot' Gibson (hoot@wworld.com), January 21, 2000.