Loafing sheds serve the purpose of keeping your horses safe from the harsh effects of weather. Torrential downpour of rain, immense snowfall, the chilling blow of wind and the intense heat from the sun can all affect your horses’ welfare if they be left utterly exposed to the said elements. That’s why loafing sheds are an important number in farm and livestock protection; they help provide shelter for your horses to keep themselves safe and able.
There’s a gamut of loafing shed plans that you can look up. Among your preferred blueprints, you can choose the one shed that best suits your needs and your taste. However, before you can start the construction of your own loafing shed, you must consider and think about what are the best materials to use.
Shed Framing
According to the Kentucky Equine Research, each horse intended to be habituated in a loafing shed should be given the appropriate 150 square feet of quarters area for its own use. Furthermore, it is best to have the shed to have at least a 10-feet head space. These recommendations make sure that a standard-sized horse is provided enough living space for it to comfortably stand and stay in the said shed.
Normally, the shed’s frame, along with its supporting posts, consists of 2×4 ft lumber. The roof can be made out of metal or wood with shingles. Installing gutters to the structure is also recommended as it helps keep to drain water away from the shed, and avoid icing once winter kicks in.
Wall Siding
Horses tend to pack quite a kick in them. However, their kick is somewhat of a double-edged sword. If they could kick through your shed’s wall, odds are, they might get an injury along with the wall. Here is where you should think about getting wall sidings.
To prevent the worst from happening, it is recommended that you get thick boards that if kicked by a horse it won’t easily break. Most people go with wood but since wood is often chewed on by horses; you can opt to go for PVC or metal sidings. They may cost much greater in the beginning but, on the up side, they require less maintenance as compared to their wooden counterpart.
Shed Flooring
Loafing sheds need to be placed at an elevated yet level ground. If this seems impossible given your choice of building site, excavation may be required to level out the ground. It has been said that if the quality of ground soil is fine, there will be no need to create actual flooring – the bare ground would suffice. Nevertheless, you can also opt to placing pre-cut rubber mats on the ground. Additionally, Kentucky Equine Research recommends that placing 6 inches of gravel then layering that over with crushed rock and dirt would be the best option to go for.
A loafing shed normally comes with three of it sides closed while one is left open. This design is allocated to the fact that it keeps your horses free from coming in and going out of the shed without much trouble. Nevertheless, you can always add a gate that could be useful to keep them in whenever adverse weather conditions loom about. With that, you’re sure that the loafing shed you’ve made will have made a difference when it comes to taking care of your horses’ welfare.
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