A Miniature Donkey Barn
Anna
P. Clarke,
D.V.M.
Lional
D. Herland
Deer
Haven Ranch
7990
Cougar Ridge Way
Santa
Maria
,
California
93454-9535
A
Miniature Donkey Barn, Abridged version published in Asset Magazine,
Issue No. 38, Summer 2000 (1.15
MB .pdf file) (Reprinted with permission from NMDA Asset)
Birth
of a Barn
In the summer of 1999 my friend Lional and I decided to buy some miniature
donkeys to add to our herd of four donkeys of varying sizes which were now all
(except one) approaching the age of twenty.
Our 40 acre ranch is located in the foothills east of
Santa Maria,
California, which is mid-way between
Los Angeles
and
San Francisco, 15 miles inland from the Pacific. Our
donkeys had managed well without a barn all their lives in our mild
California
climate, but as we intended to breed the miniatures we thought it was time to
build one.
Barn Plan
Many
hours went into the planning of this barn, the fun and easy part of any project.
As we are both in our sixties, we paid particular attention to the design
for ease of care and light work loads, no lifting 120 pound bales of hay!
The size and location were determined by the only practical site
available on our land as it is mostly rolling hills covered in oak trees.
Even at this we had to move a lot of material to fit the 20 X 50 foot
structure next to our already existing workshop.
We designed the building to be all steel and concrete in the area the
donkeys would occupy to avoid the destructive wood chewing we had seen in other
barns we visited.
Work Begins in Early
September
The
roof support poles were schedule 40, galvanized 2 inch pipe, 12 feet long, and
these were welded at 10 foot intervals to two 2 X 6 inch, 50 feet long, channel
iron beams. Tabs 3/16 X 3 X 6 inch
steel were also welded on top of the beams at 3 foot intervals to receive the
roof trusses. These support
structures were built in our maintenance shop on the ranch and then taken to the
barn site with our backhoe. The
poles were set 2 feet in the ground in concrete, leaving a 10 foot space from
ground level to the bottom of the beam.
After the ground was leveled and formed for
the concrete pour, the center block wall foundation was done first, and then the
concrete slabs, which were sloped with a 2 inch drop to each side for drainage.
The center block wall was then completed using two high 8 X 8 X 16 inch
concrete blocks. A ¼ X 4 inch
steel strap was installed on top of the wall, rebar rods were first
welded to it every 3 feet and these were embedded in the wall when it was filled
with concrete.
The
two fixed walls were then built and the roof trusses were installed.
The roof was covered with 2 X 12 feet, 26 gauge galvanized corrugated
tin. The same tin was cut to
size and used on the two walls. The
west wall which was the side of our prevailing winds was made up of five
wood-framed sliding doors covered in the tin.
The center slider has a walk through door built into it.
The
Interior
Late
in September we started on the interior. The feeding bunks for ease of cleaning and sanitation we made from an 18
inch, schedule 80, PVC pipe that was sawed lengthwise into two pieces.
These pieces were then secured on the block wall with curved ¼ X 2 inch
steel straps that were first welded to the 4 inch strap on top of the block
wall, and then to the 3/16 X 1 ½ X
1 ½ inch angle iron that had been
bolted on to the PVC pipe to cover the cut edges.
These straps were then welded to 1 inch, schedule 40, black horizontal
pipes which were supported by welding them to three block-wall-to-roof
schedule 40, galvanized 2 inch pipes and the south end wall of the
building. The water and electrical
outlet lines were run down from the roof inside these poles.
Then
came the real challenge, designing the dividers for the stalls at the feeding
bunks. Feeding time had always been
somewhat chaotic with the dominant animals pushing the timid ones away, so we
were determined to overcome this problem. We
also didn’t want any part of the dividers to touch the floor so that we could
use our small tractor for cleaning without obstructions that had to be
maneuvered around. We made the
dividers in our shop from 1 inch, schedule 40, black pipe which we formed to a
set design and to this we welded 3/16 X 34 inch hog wire fencing cut to fit.
The thirteen dividers are each 45 inches long, 22 inches high and 24
inches off the floor, with 30 inch spaces between them.
After they were all built and painted they were welded to the PVC angle
iron metal edgings and the horizontal rear pipe.
When completed this was a very sturdy structure, even our most
rambunctious donkey couldn’t shake it.
It
only took our donkeys one feeding to figure out how these stalls worked, and
peace and quiet reigned at last at feeding time.
The feeding bunk design has worked out very well for our full size and
miniature donkeys.
Final Touches
The central walk-through and
tractor-drive-through area was closed with two overlapping 8
foot gates which when opened are used to shut off the hay storage areas and
allow the donkeys to enter the corral through the central sliding door.
Another 8 foot gate was used
to close off the pen when required and a small 3 foot walk-through gate was
installed at the north end of the block wall for easy access to the pen and the
donkey side of the barn.
I
thought the structure looked a little stark, so I insisted on adding the ¾ inch
X 4 X 10 foot plywood arches with the donkey cutouts.
The final piece de resistance
is the donkey weathervane which Lional hand-made for me for Christmas.
Cost
We built this barn for $11,500.00 and from
start to completion it took 2 ½ months. A
rough breakdown of the costs are: $3,000 concrete; $2,600
lumber and roof trusses; $2,200 tin;
$1,400 steel, wire, gates; $400
PVC feeder and water pipes;
$1,600 labor for help with the roof, and the framing of the walls and
doors; and $300 electrical and other
miscellaneous items. We did
all the work ourselves except for the concrete and help with the roof and wood
framing, in all fairness about an 80/20 split, the smaller part mine!
The New Herd
In late November we purchased five miniature
jennets. Two are due to foal in
March, one had a 2-month-old baby, and the other jennet was a youngster of 1 ½
years of age. The old and new have
bonded well together, our 19-year-old gelding seems to be enjoying his extra
responsibilities protecting the enlarged herd.
We are very pleased with the practical aspects of this barn.
When we purchase hay we back our truck up to one of the opened sliding
doors, then we slide the hay off the truck and directly into the barn using the
truck’s dump bed mechanism. Lional
has mastered this so well that there is very little hand work involved, and no
more back aches! Feeding is very
simple and is now a joy. Our
sure-footed donkeys seem to have no problem with the concrete floor and it is
relatively easy to clean with the high pressure washer we purchased for this
purpose, plus to date no donkey has urinated in the barn which we certainly
appreciate!
