Junction Farm (BESTTrains kits)

[Bernd]

I've often noticed that barns here in the Northeast, have a ramp up to one side and ground floor entrance on the other. My assumption has been the cows are housed on the ramp side, and the manure hauled away from the lower side. I would suspect the wagon is placed under a hole in the upper floor, and the droppings  shoveled or broomed down the hole to the awaiting wagon for field fertilization

The ramp to the one side was for brining in the hay and other assorted feed for the cows. Which was then dropped through holes in the floor to the cows below. The cows were on the lower level which was concrete.
There was a trough in back of the cows with a chain type auger the would push the manure out to a manure wagon.

I don't think you'd want cows in the upper part on wooded floors. Your equipment below would not fare well.

Here's the offical word from Duck Duck Go AI:

I can't display images, but I can describe a barn design that fits your request.

Barn Design with Ramp and Open Bottom

Structural Features

Ramp to First Floor: The barn has a sturdy, wide ramp leading up to the first floor, allowing easy access for equipment or livestock.

Open Bottom Section: The ground floor of the barn has large openings on the sides, allowing cows to enter and exit freely. This offers ventilation and natural light.

Appearance

Material: Constructed from wood, giving it a rustic look, with metal roofing for durability.
Dimensions: The barn is spacious, typically around 30-40 feet wide and 20-30 feet tall, with the first floor raised to accommodate the ramp.

Functionality

Loft Area: The first floor can be used for storage of hay or equipment.
Cows' Area: The open bottom provides shelter and space for cows, keeping them protected from harsh weather while allowing them to roam freely.
Feel free to ask if you're looking for specific design elements or functionalities!

This barn is more for cows to roam freely. My parents land boarded up next to a farmer's land that had a barn open on the bottom. He kept his heifers in there till they were ready and old enough to produce milk. Used to play in the barn after the farmer quite farming and went to work for Kodak.

It also depends on what animals the farmer is rasing. Is it milk cows? Is it beef cows. Is it horses? Is it sheep? All depends on the type of farming you do and the landscape avialable to you at the time of setting up the farm.

Here's a couple of pictures of those barns for milk production. More so for the second one because it has windows in the bottom part. Also note auger for loading manure into the manure wagon





Bernd

[deemery]

Thanks for all the feedback and discussion.  The good thing is I don't really need to solve the problem of what's where, since the way this kit is designed, those lower floor doors are closed.   But it could impact where I put fences and cows around the barn...   

dave

[deemery]

Nothing to show, but I constructed the baseboards for both structures from my 1/4" plywood cut-offs.  I'm still pondering the position of the house, having the plywood template for the structure will make positioning and then 'excavating the foundation' a lot easier. 

I also experimented with the white HunterLine stain.  It didn't produce the result I wanted, so tomorrow I'll try more conventional thinned white paint.

dave

[VagelK]

Dave, I'm watching with interest.

To respond to the Q&A about what goes on in the upper and lower parts of hillside barns, I can answer from experience on the farms of cousins and schoolmates in PA's Cumberland Valley.  Most barns like this are built into low hillsides or natural embankments, with a not-very-steep ramp making up the difference to the floor of the hay loft, which is essentially the whole barn.  The ground floor, really the cellar, is where the live stock are housed ... on a dairy farm, that's where the milking takes place, as well, and where the livestock stay during inclement weather.

During the growing season, baled hay (something that is becoming a lost memory in favor of hay rolls stored in concrete trenches covered with plastic) and straw is stacked from floor to wall tops on either side of the barn doors leading from the ramp, leaving just enough room for an aisleway from the big doors to smaller doors that open above the barn yard (opposite the ramp), where the cows are fed when there's nothing to graze on out in the pastures.    There are usually trap doors in the loft for hay to be dropped into the stable area to feed horses & mules (horses need cereals, too) and the cows when the weather's too bad for them to be let out into the barn yard ... some modern dairy and beef cattle farms are called "feed lot farms" because they don't have pastures, just large barn yards, or feed lots, where the cows and steers are fed and exercised.

Hay was for feeding; straw for "bedding", with the "used" straw mixed with manure somehow being moved from the basement floor to piles outside and from there to spreaders for fertilizing.

Somewhere I read that, back when tractors were first being marketed, a Fordson slogan held that "this horse only eats when it's working" received the rejoinder, "a'yep, but she don't make manure when she's not, neither."

[deemery]

Vagel, that's consistent with some notes on the model instructions, where the 2 doors on the main floor (versus the lower floor) are labeled "hay doors".  (Those are the square doors on the 2 gable peak walls below.)  Thanks for the info!

Here's the current coloring, thinned craft paint white over HunterLine Driftwood stain:

I stained the trim pieces, they're drying under weights.  Tomorrow I'll paint to match the walls, and then I can get on with assembly. 

dave

[PRR Modeler]

I look forward to seeing it put together.

[Jerry]

Dave the "whitewash" looks pretty good.

Jerry

[deemery]

Looking at my parts, I've found a small problem.  The laser-cut wood frame over the big door on the lower level is the one that warped the worst.  Plus, I think there's a "bug" in the kit with that part and how the wood wall fits over the plaster foundation.  But I think I can do an easy work-around:  (1) I'll file/sand the foundation piece behind that door so there's more space there.  (2)  Then I'll build new frame and door from wood strips, custom fit to the location.  If I can increase the depth of the foundation space by 1/32", that'll preserve the overall shape/depth of the 1/16" framing. 

But first, I think I'll assemble the other 3 walls.  The kit instructions say to do that, since the 4th wall dips below the base of the other 3 walls.  Usually I assemble right angle pairs of walls.  One other comment on this kit:  There's no corner post, as I understand it the edge of one of the walls is exposed at the corner.  I might add thin stripwood corner covering if that bothers me once it's assembled.  Again, easy to do with stripwood stock.

dave

[jbvb]

...But first, I think I'll assemble the other 3 walls.  The kit instructions say to do that, since the 4th wall dips below the base of the other 3 walls.  Usually I assemble right angle pairs of walls.  One other comment on this kit:  There's no corner post, as I understand it the edge of one of the walls is exposed at the corner.  I might add thin stripwood corner covering if that bothers me once it's assembled.  Again, easy to do with stripwood stock.

dave

My 220-year-old barn has cornerboards about 6" wide, foundation to eaves.  So does my house.  So do the Newburyport structures I've scratchbuilt. All between 3/4" and 1" thick.

[elwoodblues]

Dave,

OK, those definitely look like whitewashed walls.

[Michael Hohn]

Judging from the photo of the kit at the BEST site, there are corner posts. I must be misunderstanding what you're saying.

I like the paint.

Mike

[friscomike]

Howdy Dave, the whitewashed walls look realistic.  Nice work.  Have fun, mike

[deemery]

I added bracing to the insides of the 3 walls.  It would be a bit easier to do the window framing first, but the wall pieces can be a bit fragile.  So tomorrow's task will be window framing, and then some work on the 4th wall.  Coloring of the trim glued to the back wall looks pretty good. 

There's a pair of drilled holes in one wall, and I can see the same spots on the prototype.  It looks like there are NBWs for that, but I'm not quite clear what the purpose would be on the prototype. 

dave

[deemery]

The two gable walls have bracing added in the back, and the other wall has been assembled from 2 pieces of scribed siding and a laser-cut piece of trim:

The difference in paint treatment between the siding and the trim is OK, it's something I've seen in the prototype.  I'll add the window trim and doors, and then decide if I'll assemble these 3 walls and add the eave trim, or do the eave trim first.  More later today.

I'll also slightly touch up the paint in the joint line on the eave side walls That's where 2 pieces of scribed siding had to be joined, I think a little bit of white will make that line go away.

dave

[elwoodblues]

Dave,

The walls look pretty straight now.