At last count, there are approximately 72 animals on my farm. Of these, 22 meat birds will be butchered very soon bringing the count down to 50. I learned that each type of animal needs their own type of shelter from the elements. I didn’t quite understand that when I got animals and have been scrambling ever since. I have lots of crazy stories of me trying to cope due to my lack of knowledge and experience.
Farm Infrastructure
Regarding outbuildings: When I bought the place there was a small barn and an oversized “shed” the size of a one-car garage, and I had thought that would be plenty. Not near enough! I started using the garage for everything: raising chics until they were ready to go outside, storing animal feed for the various animals, storing milking equipment, a freezer for beef, all the supplies and tools you never thought you needed for various circumstances, until the garage became impassible and the car sat outside no matter the weather. I finally constructed some commercial shelving and that was quickly filled. I was constantly cleaning out the garage and taking trips to the dumps.
The other day I saw a rat and that was it for me. I need to get another shed to store animal feed in galvanized trash cans, along with the farm tools. The garage shed was converted into a goat shelter, several chicken coops were purchased to accommodate the growing flock since I didn’t have the wherewithal to build a large coop by myself, and the small barn doubled as hay storage and a cow shelter. Now, if you mow or bush hog your own property, you need a garage or shed for that equipment, not to mention the gardening tools. I hire the mowing and bush hogging workout. If you have spare rolls of fencing and t-posts, bags of pine chips or bales of straw, the list goes on, those things need shelter too. Don’t think you can just tarp things outside. I tried. It really is a waste of energy and resources if you live in an area that has “weather”. It rains a lot here, the wind blows hard, and there’s lots of humidity, so keeping things dry is critical.
At one time I had left a roll of fencing out in one of the fields. You’d never guess, but a bunch of chickens that had flown the coop decided to crawl into that roll of fencing, got stuck, and a couple died before I even noticed they were out there. It was horrible to have to unroll that fencing and pull dead chickens out of it and rescue the one that lived. I was angry at myself for leaving a booby trap in the field. Everything needs its place.
In regards to the accessibility of water: It’s nice to have hand pumps available near various animal areas, but if you don’t or can’t, you’re going to be hauling water. Some folks get along…