Building a Beef Barn at the Fair

[LostFarmer]

We have a little county fair.  In the past we have somewhere around 15-30 fat cattle and it seems to be growing.  In the past all species fit under one big building but we have now grown out and been pushed out by all the animals.  I am a member of the Fair Board and we are looking at building a structure that we can use to house the cattle.  I am wondering what the best configuration would be.  I have seen buildings 30 feet wide where the animals tie down the sides and the center is open as an ally.  I also have been to few show venues and seen little.  We have a little money and are writing grants from the Beef Council and other places to get funding to make this work.  We want a display to help promote beef and recognize the sponsors somewhere.  Big enough to house the animals and still expandable or able to be duplicated in the future.  We are a heavy snow climate and not overly warm in the summer.  The show will be out on the grass infield next to the building.  So steer planeteers give my your input.

 

[kfacres]

buildings like what you are speaking of, aren't bad, although I reccommend the opposite, having the cattle facing each other and the alley to the open side of the barn.. make the barn sides open, and make the roof of the barn like the old style horse barns.. the top with the vent space...  you can never have a show barn with enough air flow.  30' wide seens enough, run 16' gates down the middle to tie onto. 

 

[PaFFA Proud]

Our fair cattle barn is open- not sure of the deminsions but a good size. It is strong and has delt with many many hard winters and tornadoish storms in the summer. It houses dairy and beef animals. Here is a pic of it

The other side is just alike with  a walk way goes between the 2 sides of the barn. The roof hangs over about 5 ft for storage on both sides, at night gates r placed at all doorways at night to prevent runaways. Our barn keeps really cool through the August heats and its facing away from storms blowing rain in.

 

[The Show]

Make sure you run plenty of power.

 

[RSC]

Sent you a pm

Tony

 

[LostFarmer]

We had already thought about the power issue.  Dang blowers are a little hard on the power grid.  PaFFAProud, is what we are seeing half the barn?  So the barn is about 50-60 feet wide?  That would be 4 rows of cattle and 2 allys.  I like the overhang idea on the outside edge.  I have also thought about having shutters that could come down to close off the wall.

How wide should the ally and how deep the stalls? 

Thanks for all the help.

 

[cornershack]

instead of shutters-- shade curtains?. they help with sun  but also slow down air flow double edged sword. we have large dairy type fans just below the rafters we are also in pa with fair the middle of august.

 

[showsteerdlux]

This is just my opinion, but in reference to that picture, I'd like to see some type of metal piping going down through there to tie to. Just me, but I'm not comfortable with tying to wood.

 

[PaFFA Proud]

We had already thought about the power issue.  Dang blowers are a little hard on the power grid.  PaFFAProud, is what we are seeing half the barn?  So the barn is about 50-60 feet wide?  That would be 4 rows of cattle and 2 allys.  I like the overhang idea on the outside edge.  I have also thought about having shutters that could come down to close off the wall.

How wide should the ally and how deep the stalls? 

Thanks for all the help.

Yeah its just half of the barn, and yes 4 rows of cattle and 2 ally ways, they use sawdust in the stalls packed in the boards about a 2by 6 and people place straw down . We have about 2 huge fans in each ally. For the comment about using pipes..they did have them but like 6 years ago a dairy cow tried mounting another, she slipped off the other one and slid into the space between the pole and wall breaking her both front legs. Our fair is currently raising money to have a new show arena/sheepbarn/ fitting area built due to it being very old and dangerous due to poles being in the show arena. Lol and u should see the wiring....not safe.