Ideas for new barn and property.

[Super A]

Plan your cubfest now

EXACTLY!!

I don't know what I would do with a 110x90 shop. Actually I do. It would be full of my collection, plus lots of other assorted junk, within 6 months!

I would tear those stalls out and pour as much of the floor with concrete as I could afford. As Jim said, keep the wash room, turn the tack room into a tool room. Maybe keep one stall, wall it up and make it into an office.

Al

[Thackery]

I will have to get some pictures and a sketch together and post it to get some spacial advise.
The place has Cubfest written all over it. The barn is already red and white. Boss Hog's IH sign would look great on it.
Plenty of parking, utilities, ground to play on etc.
Actually Cubfest was one of the things I always imagined I would do there if we were ever lucky enough to own it.

I am actually trying to avoid making it too much of a man cave or Cub shop. I have my old bank barn as a shop and I don't want to have tools spread across 20 acres. I would spend all my time fetching something.

As of now I'm getting the place cleaned up, hauling out some trash left behind and getting the brush and downed trees cleaned up.
I also got a hay wagon with the deal and have started getting it in usable condition.

Keep those ideas coming, I really appreciate the input.
I'll get a sketch posted of the general layout.

I would like to here some more "farming" ideas, food gardens, fruit trees, potatoes, etc. I'm hungry!
I know there are plenty of people out there with fresh food growing in their backyards. (ok maybe not at this time of year)
Thackery

[CapeCodCubs]

Rent some stalls to horse owners!

[tmays]

The possibilities are endless. Keep in mind that animals require daily care. I would have 3/4 acre spring garden and a 1/4 acre fall garden. Another acre for fruit trees. I'd put a calf on 2 acres with a small part of that 2 acres for a hog or two. Another 1/2 acre for hay field. That's 4 1/2 acres. I'd use the remaining for a horse. That's what I'd do if that helps any

[CapeCodCubs]

The possibilities are endless. Keep in mind that animals require daily care

If he leases a few stalls to someone else that is their responsibilty. Up here horses stalls rent for big money. I wish I had 7 stalls...I'd pull in over $2000/month from that.

[Barnyard]

Doug, When we first bought our property we had several people ask about renting the stalls for their horses. My insurance agent scoured around for the best rates and told me the liability would be high if someone got hurt. Once you accept money from someone to use your property you become liable if they get injured, no matter how stupid the renter was. I still have people stop and want to rent my high lift. I direct them to the nearest tool rental for the same reason. The same goes for the new property I just bought. Two people want to rent space in the garage for their boats. The equipment is covered under their insurance but if they get hurt on my place I am responsible.

Home owners insurance will not cover you if you are using your property for monetary gain. It becomes a business at that point no matter what you may want to call it.

I would much rather have the piece of mind than the money. Check with your insurance company before you rent anything.

[Stanton]

Home owners insurance will not cover you if you are using your property for monetary gain. It becomes a business at that point no matter what you may want to call it.

I agree. But you could also check into forming an LLC (limited liability corp) for very little money and operate it as a business. Talk with your accountant or local tax guy. There may be some BIG advantages. You could still have the income from it and be protected from lawsuits on your personal wealth. Might be worth asking some questions.

[Eugene]

Visit your local offices of the State Conservation Dept and US Dept of Agriculture. Explain your situation.

Folks from the Missouri Dept of Conservation and the Forestry Dept. have visited my acreage several times. I have found them to be very helpful. They have presented a number of different ideas, suggestions, and advise. They have also explained different cost sharing programs that they thought would be feasible or of interest to me and my son.

Obtain legal advise before renting or letting other folks use your property. Have a signed iron clad contract in hand before letting folks on the property.

[CapeCodCubs]

Or build some ponds under the pole barn and raise catfish...I dunno

[Thackery]

Thanks for all the input. Keep those ideas and opinions coming.
I'm going to see if I can post some pictures here in a minute.
I'm sure many groan when I write this but I always struggle with photo host.
The really cool thing about the new place is that there is plenty of seat time projects.
I've cleared a nice area of old fences and brush that will be garden space.

Thackery

[Eugene]

Truck garden. Sell vegetables on the road side.

Hay. Good quality square bales sell well.

[outdoors4evr]

How much time can you invest into your new property?

If you want to invest a lot of time, then dividing the property up into an orchard, garden, hunting area, and animal pasture would be ideal.
If time is not available, then renting / leasing or crop share the land out to a local farmer is a possibility.
If you want seat time, but not a daily chore, then planting alphafa and selling it "in the field" may be a nice option.

Since I really enjoy hunting, I would engineer a wide fencerow of nut and fruit bearing trees (cover for the deer), plant large foodplots of corn, clover, and alphafa, and raise pheasants and quail to release.
The barn would be a place to raise the birds & I always though it would be great for the kids to get involved with 4H and raise a few animals. The corn and alphafa could become feed or just get cut down around deer season.

[Thackery]

I played for a long while trying to get pictures posted from my phone but for now can only figure out how to post a link to the pictures. Here is one of the barn from the southeast corner. I'll post more after doing some chores.
http://photos.cubfest.com/displayimage.php?pos=-35701

[Jimdawg]

Wow, that's a big barn!

[ScottyD'sdad]

Wow, you could hold 4 cubfests, in that barn, at the same time! Ed