Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
6 Layout
N
ow comes a very enjoyable aspect of your endeavor. Here's where you can test all of your
dreams and ideas on paper, where you can build an ideal horse farm, or where you can im-
provise and remodel existing facilities. Country folks make an observation regarding the
activities of newcomers to the area, as they note the progress of property improvements. If
the animal facilities show a marked priority over the home, the person is a true farmer or
rancher at heart!
Know your property. Either live on the acreage or visit it regularly for several months be-
fore you start permanent construction. This will give you valuable insights so that building
location, orientation, and spatial arrangement can be tailored specifically to your land.
Take plenty of time at this planning stage, because you are going to have to live with your
decisions. It's far cheaper to make mistakes on graph paper than with building materials!
The larger the scope of your endeavor, the more I would urge you to consider hiring a pro-
fessional planner, one who is experienced with horse facilities.
First, identify your goals. Keep in mind that your needs are very likely to expand. Try to
determine exactly how many horses you want to keep with what style of management, and
what kind of training facilities you desire. Make a timeline and list first things first. For ex-
ample, trenches for utilities come before the building site is finished and before driveways
are installed. Next, do some comparative shopping for building materials or for bids on the
work. Finally, confer with your budget and make compromises if necessary.
No matter whether you are starting with a bare tract of land or a functional farmette, make
your plans with natural principles and conservation practices in mind. Look at the lay of the
land, the soil, the weather patterns, the wildlife, the plant life. Consider the natural forces as
you make your plans. Don't fight the runoff from a slope by locating your pens at the base
of it. Don't subject your roofing to the effects of a wind tunnel by poor building placement.
Enter landownership with the idea of improving it, not squeezing all you can out of it.
Pasture improvement will be discussed in
chapter 13
,
Land, but there are many other ways
by which you can improve your land. Getting involved in water conservation, soil protection
and erosion control, conscientious manure management, brush and tree management prac-
tices, and plant and wildlife protection will improve your land and add to your quality of
living. You may even be eligible for cost-share assistance on a variety of programs admin-
istered by local, state, and federal agencies.
