Short Term Barn

I have the idea to build a 3-walled, un-plastered straw bale barn for the winter, as a warm place for my Dexter and calf.  Roof would be corrugated metal on a round-wood frame.  In the Spring, the bales will be used as mulch.

We live in NW Ohio, so the land is flat as a pancake and the Winter temps range from 4 to 40 F.  We could have no snow all season, or we could have a blizzard!  

Any Advice?  What other short-term barn-building methods would this group recommend?

The strawbale will last the winter season, esp if you can keep it 1ft off the ground with a row of earthbag/stone/etc

I use large bales 800-1000lbs for this purpose each year. I make a pen for the pigs in the fall and then mulch them in the spring. I tried this with small bales and they just pushed them over.

This is exactly what I was thinking to do for my daughter wants farrow a pig over winter. What dimensions did you build it? What did you use for a door? Did you line the inside with Pallet or Plywood?

Some years ago someone on the forum posted a hay/straw bale structure to use as a temporary structure in  bad cold weather event.

I thought this was brilliant ans still do ...

So yes, to the OP go ahead and go forward with this!

Hi Trent,

Welcome to Permies.

Much depends upon the size of the pig, your location, and the breed of the pig.   I have built shelters as small as 4’ X 4’…..4 X 8 for larger animals. The shelters are a little less than 4’ high. I find metal fence posts driven tn the ground help to stabilize the bales.  A piece of metal roofing or plywood provides the top.  Do be sure it is on a high spot that won’t collect water.  Pallets topped with hay can provide a good floor.  

I live in zone 6 and do not have a door to temporary shelters.  If needed you could put up a wall a couple of bales high set maybe 4’ from the opening to slow the wind from blowing in.  Of course, do not have the opening facing north or west.

Alexander, how big a space to you plan to build?

For a cow and calf I feel the structure would be about the size of a one car garage.

John F Dean wrote:...Much depends upon the size of the pig, your location, and the breed of the pig.

I would add that ecosystem matters a little, and whether the animal will be inside full time, or have a good paddock and only use the shelter for warming up as needed.

The smaller it is, the easier for the animal's body warmth to keep the space warm. This is also why a 4 ft ceiling is an asset, because warm air rises. A lot of cold comes from the ground, so straw under the animal helps with warmth as does making sure the rain/water has somewhere else to drain to.

However, in my ecosystem, we don't get really cold, but we do get really wet, and that can be just as great a risk for animals. People can get hypothermic much quicker than expected if they get wet at our temperatures, than staying dry at colder temperatures.

Also, I'd consider which direction the winter storms tend to come from. In my area, our worst winter storms actually come from the South-east which surprises many people who generally think that North and West are where the cold comes from. Once I understood the mechanism (it involves mountains and bodies of water) it makes sense, and I've certainly observed this tendency, but we all live in actual places and the environment can influence what really happens, so it's worth observing and thinking about.