Post by Lannie on Aug 24, 2008 13:42:31 GMT -5
I think it's finally going to happen! I'm trying to remain outwardly calm but inside I'm hysterically jumping for joy! ;D
A very close friend of ours went in halvsies with us on this property when we bought it and has been living in her little mobile in the back corner ever since. She's grossly overweight, depressed, sick all the time, etc. The purpose for getting her out of the big city was to help her heal and get some fresh air and exercise. This is a huge long story that I won't go into here, but I think we're finally turning the corner with her and she's now expressed interest in taking part in the day to day operations, and even wants to get her own horse. Since the property is half hers (and that includes the barn) she has every right to do that, however, our present barn simply isn't big enough for 3 horses, a cow and any future cows/calves.
So we sat down and had a family meeting and she's agreed to pay for (or finance, whatever) the shell of the new barn, and Rich and I will pay for and build the insides to finish it. I now have the opportunity to have a custom milking "parlor" built to my specifications. You can see why I'm beside myself in ecstacy!
We're trying to work with a 30x50 foot building, in which we'll have to fit 3 horse stalls, a milking room, a tack & feed room, and a place for the cow(s). I've got it penciled out on paper and have a space that's 10x10 for the actual milking area. I think that's big enough, isn't it? It will have a concrete floor with a drain, and I'll put the stanchion along one wall with a ring in the wall or something to tie the calf up to while I milk.
Right next to that I want to have a little room, 10x5 feet, where I can put a deep sink, a counter and some shelves, and my antique cream separator. It will be separated from the milking area by a full wall with a door that I can keep closed. Rich suggested a point source hot water heater under the sink so that I can have warm or hot water to wash up with. This way, I could take the milk all of 3 or 4 steps into the sink room, run it through the separator, then wash up the separator pieces in the deep sink and air dry them on the counter. This would be a godsend to me because my house is so small, I have no room for the separator in there, and no WAY do I have enough counter space to air dry all those parts. Not to mention the convenience of having my udder washing stuff right there next to the stanchion, so I wouldn't have to lug bucket and tote all the way from the house each time. Of course there will also be both a heater and a fan in the milk room. Yeah, buddy! ;D
So my question to all of you is... if you were building a new milking parlor, is there anything else that would make life easier other than what I've already mentioned? (OMG, just the hot and cold running water would be heavenly!) Rich wants to try and do everything now that I might possibly need in the future, rather than having to cobble something together later or have to expand or tear down and rebuild. I think just having a dedicated area that's used only for milking, and having the sink and separator right there close is plenty, but I'm kind of wound up and sometimes I miss the most obvious things!
This won't be happening until next year, unfortunately, because I think it's too late to do it this year. We're going to need to put the new building up first, then tear down the old barn, using the reuseable lumber from the old barn to build the stalls and such in the new barn. OH! And I've allotted a 10x12 "stall" in the new barn for the chicken coop! At last, I'll be able to stand up when I'm in the coop! LOL! And it will be big enough for all our projected chickens. ;D
~Lannie
A very close friend of ours went in halvsies with us on this property when we bought it and has been living in her little mobile in the back corner ever since. She's grossly overweight, depressed, sick all the time, etc. The purpose for getting her out of the big city was to help her heal and get some fresh air and exercise. This is a huge long story that I won't go into here, but I think we're finally turning the corner with her and she's now expressed interest in taking part in the day to day operations, and even wants to get her own horse. Since the property is half hers (and that includes the barn) she has every right to do that, however, our present barn simply isn't big enough for 3 horses, a cow and any future cows/calves.
So we sat down and had a family meeting and she's agreed to pay for (or finance, whatever) the shell of the new barn, and Rich and I will pay for and build the insides to finish it. I now have the opportunity to have a custom milking "parlor" built to my specifications. You can see why I'm beside myself in ecstacy!
We're trying to work with a 30x50 foot building, in which we'll have to fit 3 horse stalls, a milking room, a tack & feed room, and a place for the cow(s). I've got it penciled out on paper and have a space that's 10x10 for the actual milking area. I think that's big enough, isn't it? It will have a concrete floor with a drain, and I'll put the stanchion along one wall with a ring in the wall or something to tie the calf up to while I milk.
Right next to that I want to have a little room, 10x5 feet, where I can put a deep sink, a counter and some shelves, and my antique cream separator. It will be separated from the milking area by a full wall with a door that I can keep closed. Rich suggested a point source hot water heater under the sink so that I can have warm or hot water to wash up with. This way, I could take the milk all of 3 or 4 steps into the sink room, run it through the separator, then wash up the separator pieces in the deep sink and air dry them on the counter. This would be a godsend to me because my house is so small, I have no room for the separator in there, and no WAY do I have enough counter space to air dry all those parts. Not to mention the convenience of having my udder washing stuff right there next to the stanchion, so I wouldn't have to lug bucket and tote all the way from the house each time. Of course there will also be both a heater and a fan in the milk room. Yeah, buddy! ;D
So my question to all of you is... if you were building a new milking parlor, is there anything else that would make life easier other than what I've already mentioned? (OMG, just the hot and cold running water would be heavenly!) Rich wants to try and do everything now that I might possibly need in the future, rather than having to cobble something together later or have to expand or tear down and rebuild. I think just having a dedicated area that's used only for milking, and having the sink and separator right there close is plenty, but I'm kind of wound up and sometimes I miss the most obvious things!
This won't be happening until next year, unfortunately, because I think it's too late to do it this year. We're going to need to put the new building up first, then tear down the old barn, using the reuseable lumber from the old barn to build the stalls and such in the new barn. OH! And I've allotted a 10x12 "stall" in the new barn for the chicken coop! At last, I'll be able to stand up when I'm in the coop! LOL! And it will be big enough for all our projected chickens. ;D
~Lannie