# Pole Barn vs. Steel Barn for SP Stacker



## CockrellHillFarms (Aug 30, 2011)

I'm looking for some advice on building a barn. Looking at 60'x100' with a ten foot lean to on the side. It will be approx. 22' in the middle down to 18' and change on the sides. I was thinking that I would close the back end and one side. I can put hay in the main building and equipment in the lean to. Anyone have any advice? Price, steel vs pole barn? I use a accumulator right now for my square bales but I want to build the barn so it will handle a sp stacker. I think I can put at least 10k bales in the main area.


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## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

Just an observation, I don't think you will be satisfied with just 10' of lean-to on the side.


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## CockrellHillFarms (Aug 30, 2011)

Why do you say that? Because there wont be a ton of space?


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I agree--10' wouldn't clear my tractor and would be close on my baler. I would go at least 14', preferably 16'.

Ralph


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## CockrellHillFarms (Aug 30, 2011)

The lean to will be like 18' down to 16' and change I believe. When I said 10' lean to, I meant 10' wide


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## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

CockrellHillFarms said:


> Why do you say that? Because there wont be a ton of space?


Just looking at some of the dimensions of hay equipment:

Small square baler: 20'L / 9'W
Round baler: 15'L / 8'W
Wheel rake: 20'L / 10'W

As rjmoses stated, I would probably think about 14-16'.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I've got a 18' shed where I store my small square baler and accumulator and it takes up almost all of it. I can stash stuff around it but it's not easy to get to.


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## SVFHAY (Dec 5, 2008)

Be sure to check the tipping height on that sp machine. Must be close to 20'. A steel building will have less clearance under main beams at the eaves. Keep one end open or have doors the entire width so you can stack it full. The wall of a steel building will not have enough support to stack against without additional supports. Don't ask me how I know.....


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## hay hauler (Feb 6, 2010)

17 and 1/2 ft on a 1049 balewagon. 18ft will work. We back our equipment under a lean to and let the tung hang outside the barn. Works fine. Think it is 12x12 stalls, just dont wall the back side and it can hange into the middle a little.

Any kind of barn will need a strong backwall to dump aginst. I am seeing it more and more with "inexpensive kits" They are seldom strong enough to stack in "as is".... You get what you pay for with regart to builings in my oppinion.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

We have a two Morton Buildings pole barns that work great with a New Holland Self Propelled 1089 stacker. You can see them in a little video I've done at Northern Colorado Hay For Sale. I can't quite remember the height at near the walls, but I think it's about 19 feet possibly 20. You want some good clearance because maybe from dirt to top might vary some after you get hay down on the floor after a couple years or if the floor isn't perfectly even. You don't have to use the back wall to dump against. I never have. I use some telephone poles with boards for a backstop, but lately I just stair step the first stack for the butt of the stacks of hay. Our hay barns are completely enclosed. The building in the video is 55X150 feet. And we have another 55 X100 feet. We have large sliding doors on each end that take up half of the entire building so you can fill it up completely full. Though we've never had either barn completely full since we sell enough of each cutting before it gets full. My cousin has a steel building that is very similar that my dad and uncle built in 1980. It is good too, but it allows pigeons to roost so that makes a mess of hay and equipment. Pole barns don't have a place to roost. When my dad had our first Morton building built he got a quote on a steel building and it was much more expensive, but that was 1995. So I have no idea about that now. These buildings aren't standard Morton building pole barn plans so they cost a bit more. They are taller then your average pole barn.


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## jejennings (Nov 9, 2011)

I put up a 50' x 112' x 18' hay barn two years ago and it's working out fine for small square bales intended for horse consumption. Here in New Jersey the majority of horse farms are owned by women who prefer small bales for ease of handling and easier metering for feeding. The 18' is needed for my NH hay 1037 hay stacker. The barn has two unique features. The first is 5 staggered 16' doors, three on the South side and 2 on the North. These allow you to pull through diagonally with the stacker and makes it easy for customers to pull through with their trucks. I store my stacker, bales and Haybine with a couple of tractors in one end. The second feature is 10,00 watts of Uni-Solar photovoltaic panels on the South facing roof. Put standing seam roofing on that side with the panels stuck on (they as self adhesive). Makes the neatest installation one could wish for with no roof punctures. Wires all hidden under the roof cap.


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## CockrellHillFarms (Aug 30, 2011)

Thanks for all the input. I'm going with a 70'x100' steel building. I found one that is actually cheaper than going with a pole barn. I'm going to close off the front of the barn with 2 or 3 sliding barns on a double or triple track. That way I can close it off and still have axcess to the full width. There is 25' between conceret piers for the legs. So I am going to put in 2 sliding doors on the sides that will be close to 25' wide and close to 20' tall. JeJennings, were those solar panels expensive? That was a thought that had actually crossed my mind. I have about 700' that I would have to run a trench to put wiring in to get power out there. Thats the close point that I could get power from another building.


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