tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35188043.post6704137764118536636..comments2023-11-07T06:51:41.301-06:00Comments on The Beginning Farmer: More on the Farm LayoutEthan Bookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01333115493519268802noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35188043.post-45983122532346026552010-07-24T05:42:51.065-05:002010-07-24T05:42:51.065-05:00Great Post, I’ll be definitely coming back to your...Great Post, I’ll be definitely coming back to your site. Keep the nice work up.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.logodesignconsultant.com/" rel="nofollow">small business logo design</a> | <a href="http://www.logodesignconsultant.com/" rel="nofollow">design logo web</a> | <a href="http://www.logodesignconsultant.com/" rel="nofollow">website logo design</a> | <a href="http://www.logodesignconsultant.com/" rel="nofollow">custom logo designs</a>business logo designshttp://www.logodesignconsultant.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35188043.post-89906045904206661982008-11-01T09:04:00.000-05:002008-11-01T09:04:00.000-05:00even i am trying to decide where to invest what on...even i am trying to decide where to invest what on our land..<BR/>can you suggest something?<BR/><BR/>meanwhile check out my funny blog on being a dairy farmer:<BR/>http://www.youknowster.com/jokes/view/249-you-know-youre-a-dairy-farmer-whenpriyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12463604162679336628noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35188043.post-8690065479075345082008-11-01T07:41:00.000-05:002008-11-01T07:41:00.000-05:00When siting your building (whichever kind you deci...When siting your building (whichever kind you decide on), I have found the following to be true in south central Iowa:<BR/>1) Prevailing winds come from the south, the west, or the north, most of the time. You may want to site your building opening to the southeast, instead of due south.<BR/>2)About those prevailing winds: if your building is southeast of your house, odors and insects are least likely to be a problem in your home.<BR/>3) If your building has gutters, you may want to French drain the areas into which your gutters flow, or you'll have mucky spots building fast.<BR/>4) Make the building opening tall enough and wide enough to drive your tallest piece of machinery into. If you can drive your tractor in, or a load of hay in, every step you save carrying or moving those bales will be appreciated with each year you age.<BR/>5) Ensure you have some form of lighting in the building (more than just daylight from the open side). The building will eventually be used to doctor a wounded or sick animal, usually after dark, on the coldest, wettest night of the year. It might be helpful to make a section of the roof from translucent panels, as well, to increase daylight visibility.<BR/>6) Build a pen in a corner of the building (even if it's just of hog panels) to be ready for that sick animal. Oh, and remember the previous comment about being able to drive your equipment into the building? If you light with electricity, running lines from a pole sited near your building, make sure your tallest equipment will not snag on those electrical lines. (Your tractor is unlikely to be that tall, but there is plenty of gear out there that is.)<BR/>7) When you can afford it, put a water hydrant in, or near, the building. Surround the hydrant with a ring of slightly shorter posts, or other barricade, as hydrant handles make great scratching posts for large livestock.<BR/>8) If considering a metal building, done by a contractor, make sure the roof is guaranteed for winds up to 80 mph. It won't help in a tornado, but we have plenty of wind storms (such as last week) with fairly high winds, on a regular basis.<BR/><BR/>Best luck with your efforts. Hope these hints help.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35188043.post-531410692269310042008-10-31T19:10:00.000-05:002008-10-31T19:10:00.000-05:00We built a new barn last summer and I finally just...We built a new barn last summer and I finally just went out and staked (with T-posts) the different building options and locations. I staked the corners of the building, the door openings, approximate fencelines, and gate positions. Then I got in the truck and on the tractor and drove in and out of the barn doors and gate openings, fine-tuning and changing the layout as I went (anybody driving by probably thought I was nuts, but it worked)<BR/><BR/>If you need to grade the building site, make sure you do it before you start building, it is much easier before a building and fences are in the way. Even if you plan to put gravel on your drive, it is better if you fix the drainage (with ditches, etc) so that it isn't muddy before you spread the gravel, (if the drainage is fixed, you might not even need gravel).<BR/><BR/>You can use a 1-bottom or 2-bottom plow to dig trenches (~16 in. deep) to lay waterlines or electrical lines by shortening the top link as much as possible then making two passes in both directions, then just clean out the loose dirt with a shovel and lay you line.<BR/><BR/>There is a posting about plow trenching at: <BR/>http://www.ytmag.com/articles/artint218.htmRichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11412944120622315804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35188043.post-27067663214952821212008-10-31T13:46:00.000-05:002008-10-31T13:46:00.000-05:00Chad- That is a pretty cool website. In fact I wr...Chad- That is a pretty cool website. In fact I wrote a blog post about it quite awhile ago because it has my dad's farm from the 1930's and now. Big difference!!<BR/><BR/>You can check out the post here...<BR/><BR/>http://thebeginningfarmer.blogspot.com/2008/01/1930s-vs-now.htmlEthan Bookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01333115493519268802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35188043.post-73626465653752281212008-10-31T13:02:00.000-05:002008-10-31T13:02:00.000-05:00I'm going through a similar process trying to deci...I'm going through a similar process trying to decide where to put what on our land.<BR/><BR/>The iastate orthophoto's tool was extremely helpful for me to visualize the relationships of different spaces - not sure if the scale will work for one building, but for overall layout it's great. It's aerial photo's taken by the state of iowa and provided for free - sometimes you need to scroll back through some of the older ones to get a good looking picture of the land to work with. The best shot of my land is from 1996 for example.<BR/><BR/>link is here, even if it doesn't help it's neat (to me) to see what the land looked like as far back as the 1930's <BR/><BR/>http://ortho.gis.iastate.edu/chadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04990053713005561691noreply@blogger.com