BACKGROUND: My wife suggested I ask you folks for some advice. Back in May, we bought 20 acres of sloping alfalfa in South Wisconsin, our newlywed daughter & son-in-law bought 22 acres next to ours with some trees, and finally a longtime friend bought 11 acres next to our daughter's. Three homes will be built over the next two building seasons. So are soon to be back to living a dream come true (we used to homestead in North Dakota back in the late 70s while I was in the Air Force).

The wife and I are now in our mid to late forties, her health is chronically poor and my back is bad. But we do what we can. In a couple of weeks, the basement excavator will begin the whole building process ending with a pre-built modular home being placed on our basement foundation in Nov or early Dec.

I'm now a computer software consultant in Madison (will be a 45 min commute from our land) and I do woodworking in my spare time. Next spring, I want to build a small stock barn (24'x32') before we close the mortgage so we can have some small livestock of some sort. I know chickens for sure. My wife is not sure I'll have time to tend to the animals in addition to putting in the orchard, garden, and trying to make a homestead out of this rocky old slope.

QUESTIONS: So I have basically two questions:

1. From those of you who commute off the homestead, do you think I'm biting off more than I can chew?

2. If not, do you have any suggestions for a good, flexible layout for the inside of a small stock barn?

-- Steve in So. WI (alpine1@prodigy.net), September 05, 2001

Answers

At this point you may be biting off more than you can chew. We are slowly getting rid of our small livestock and keeping only the cows and horses. It is too time consuming to feed and care for the smaller animals (not to mention cleaning barns). I no longer commute for my job - just telecommute and occasionally travel, but there still isn't enough time in the day for everything to be done properly.

When you build a barn, be sure to wire it safely AND have a source of water inside of the barn. Those two things will help immensely. You don't know how sick I am of hauling water because the water isn't where the animals are and frozen pumps because they are outside and old.

-- beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), September 05, 2001.

A couple of issue, One is a 24x32big enough? Depending on the layout thats 3 12x10 rooms and a 12ft passage down one side or 6 8x5 rooms with a 8ft passage down the middle. For cows, horses, llamas, goats and pigs the 12x10 stalls would be ok, The 8x5 stall arrangement would be small for the animals. Neither seems to be right for chickens (but I am not a chicken person, aside from "with BBQ" on them. ). What other animals? and how many? What about storage/tac rooms. I have a 24x36 stable, 2 12x12 stables, 1 12x12 tac/feed room and a 12x36 walkway down the side. This works for me but does waste a lot of space.

As for the commute. I commute about an hour each way and have done so for the last couple of years. During the summer its pretty easy to get home in time to do some work around the homestead. In the winter its hard, up before dark, home after dark.

-- Gary (gws@redbird.net), September 05, 2001.

I can't speak for larger animals but I have no running water or electricity in the chicken coop. If you are building a small barn for other animals, you might consider putting your coop in a stall there--that way you can feed everyone at once.

We fill up 20 gallon milk jugs (about a week or week and a half's worth) at the house and drive it over in the truck.

We use the deep litter method so we only have to clean the chicken coop twice a year.

We let them out into a secure run in the morning and put them up at dusk.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), September 05, 2001.

My husband started like you, only with an hour and 15 minute commute one way. We also started 15 years ago in our mid 30's. We also knew that the job in Houston was going to be temporary, knowing that his side jobs were going to turn into a business, which they did. My biggest problem with what you wrote is your wives health, since she is the one in which the day to day chores are going to fall on, not only in the house but all the animals, garden etc. she is the one who needs to decide which animals and how many. You could easily make a go, in most rural areas, with your woodworking skills, especially in finish carpentry and cabinetry, very few really fine woodworkers.

I also agree with the previous poster, about the stall sizes, I would go no smaller than 10x10. Though chickens do well in the barn during the day scratching for morsels left by larger stock, they need to be in their own coop evening or they will soil feed and hay, roosting. Also penned in the common barn they through around way to much dust, if you are even thinking of milking any of your stock for house milk. Good luck with this, excellent books are Readers Digest Back to Basic's and All in One Barn (or something like that it is on the book list in the archives). Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), September 05, 2001.

All I can say from this being my second time at trying homesteading is to "Start small and grow." My first time (1981)I wanted everything and wanted it NOW!! and I burned myself out trying to handle everything,and it took almost 10 yrs before I was even ready to try again. So start small and grow as need be.

-- TomK(mich) (tjk@cac.net), September 05, 2001.

I noticed that you will be commuting a big distance in WI--that's a LOT different in the winter than doing that say, in the south. I don't know what that will be like in the snow.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), September 05, 2001.

Steve, I think we have to know what kind and how many of each kind of livestock you are interested in. It's going to make a big difference if you are talking about 6 hens and several pens of rabbits or two cows and a pig! Can you tell us more?

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), September 05, 2001.

I'm not sure of all the different animals we might have. I know we want to have a dozen or so chickens in a coop in the corner of the barn. My wife thinks a pig or two because she can't eat beef. We might raise some turkeys from spring to fall. The only animals we might overwinter would be the chickens for the eggs. Thanks for the tip on having water in the barn. I was going to have the outdoor plumber put in a hydrant just outside the barn, but I think I might put it inside. I just don't want to get into a second septic situation. Wisconsin is nuts over septic systems. Mound septic systems around here cost over $13,000.

-- Steve in So. WI (alpine1@prodigy.net), September 05, 2001.

Hi Steve why dont you try my favorite book.the have more plan by Ed and Carolyb Robinson. get it grom country side book store. good reading with plan for what your looking for. Bob se,ks.

-- Bobco (bobco@kans.com), September 05, 2001.

Hi steve, Welcome to WI. I make the commute to Madison from an hour north each day. Depending upon where you're at, the driving isn't that bad. The county and State crews do a great job on the roads in winter. As to barn size. My advice would be to put up as big a shell as you can afford now, and finish off the interior when you decide on actuaL need. If you're at al like the rest of us, you never know what new, exciting find you'll come lugging home just because "I might need it some day" or the little fella was so you cute you couldn't pass him up. All this stuff needs a dry secure place and the barn is usually it, so take storage room into account along with animal needs. I'll also emphasize not to take on everything at once. A small garden is much more productive than two acres of veggies that get out of control and never get caught up on. Good luck.

-- ray s (mmoetc@yahoo.com), September 06, 2001.