Above 1200 Sq/FT Out on Quaker Road

[woodfor1]

The lay out looks good. I would change the front door some how so your not opening it up when its cold out and ad closets for the first floor and second floor. Will you have any attic space for long trim storage.

 

[C_F]

In both scenarios, am I seeing an unfinished open storage room under the house garage?

 

[Orionrising]

Other way that is 2nd story not basement so it's open area in garage

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

 

[C_F]

Other way that is 2nd story not basement so it's open area in garage

Oh, duh! Of course it's upstairs...I don't know why I was thinking basement.

 

[jblnut]

The lay out looks good. I would change the front door some how so your not opening it up when its cold out and ad closets for the first floor and second floor. Will you have any attic space for long trim storage.

We were talking about doing storage trusses above the house part and not finishing it out until/unless we need the space.

The family will be coming in through the garage into the mud room when it's cold out and I will be entering the shop on the far wall with the big doors with equipment most likely when it's cold.

The rooms upstairs are large and I don't have the closets drawn in as we couldn't decide where/how we wanted them.

Oh, duh! Of course it's upstairs...I don't know why I was thinking basement.

I guess I should have specified that it was a 2nd story plan, not a basement

 

[C_F]

I guess I should have specified that it was a 2nd story plan, not a basement

No sweat, I was just being an idiot. That's what I get for posting while I'm at work.

 

[Bib Overalls]

Twenty some years ago, when I lived in Collinsville, IL I was friends with a couple that lived in a finished out metal pole building. It was very nice inside. One of their kids told the teacher that the family lived in a "barn." They were investigated by child welfare agents. Nothing came of it but it didn't start out nice.

 

[jblnut]

I guess it's cheaper to draw, edit and draw again than to build and rebuild so here is revision #109... Added some doors and changed the whole upstairs. I might add that this will be slab on grade with a 2nd story, no basement. TO keep the posts from being in the ground like a typical pole shed we were thinking about using perma-columns or wet set anchors to hold the posts off the slab.

Either concrete perma-columns or something like this ....

 

[Terrick down Under]

Hey, a quick line to say, "please be safe and happy over the festive season"

 

[woodfor1]

If you do a slab, radiant heat would be nice but living on concrete is rough on the knees and lower back. You could put built-ins for cloths in the up stairs bedrooms to fit the children's need's.Over all it will be a great living space to raise a family in. good luck and Happy Holidays.

 

[jblnut]

We were thinking real hardwood in the kitchen/dining room/living room area, tile in the laundry/mud room, carpet in the master bedroom and Judy's closet, tile in the bathroom and Mikes closet and connecting hallways with bare concrete in the mechanical room. Tile in the upstairs bathroom with carpet everywhere else upstairs except above the garage.

We're thinking 18" floor trusses so we can run the duct work all hidden and nice. I think the garage will need 24" trusses perhaps because of the 28' span but maybe not. The entire slab will be have radiant heat but we'll have a force air furnace for upstairs and A/C. Plus the air needs to be moved around to keep things from getting dank and musty.

 

[jblnut]

I purchased this blade a few years ago as a rusted out POS and goobered it together to work on the skid loader and it's time to goober it up some more to make it go another year or two. The hinges were rotted out when I got it so I welded some pipe and 1" shaft in. One side was about to give out so it's time to add iron.

All I did here was move the weak link somewhere else. I'll find it eventually and fix it then as well

I decided to be proactive and do both sides right away. Seemed like a good idea.

 

[woodfor1]

yes it is MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

[jblnut]

yes it is MERRY CHRISTMAS

Agreed 100%

 

[C_F]

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

 

[jblnut]

I got some wood split today with the Farmall H and the wood splitter my uncle built 30 years ago. I split mostly willow today with a few elm mixed in. The willow splits really easy but the elm made the ol' H snort a little.

 

[woodfor1]

Your work never seems to be done.I like reading all about the farm. Please keep it up.

 

[jblnut]

It's been pretty quiet here lately but I did add to my collection of Ubiquiti equipment with a Unifi Security Gateway. It is rather nice. I like it

 

[jblnut]

We were without power for 4 hours Sunday morning and my cattle waterers froze and it got rather cold in the house. Necessity drives purchases around here so I purchased an 18kw PTO powered Katolite generator. I was told it takes 2hp per kw so I should be good as the smallest tractor is currently around 100hp. I bet I could almost run it with my Farmall M. Haha.



The Big Bad M should run it. Bahahahahha. The M is actually rated at 36PTO hp so it should do it but I don't think I'll ever try it, it would probably throw parts all over the ground with a dead load and I'd have to put a fuel tanker next to it to keep the gas flowing.


I've seen a number of threads on GJ about wiring a generator into your main service and I honestly have NO IDEA why someone would try to do this **** themselves unless you're an actual electrician with the proper know-how and all that jazz. My electrician said it'd be around $750 to put the interlocks on both panels and have a 25' cord to plug into the generator. For $750 I'm glad to pay him to do it and will save money somewhere else.

 

[C_F]

It's funny, a few years ago my city had problems with power outages, so after about the 3rd time it went out in the summer & we lost all the food in the fridge, I bought a generator. That was around 2008...I think the power has gone out twice since then. Of course!
I didn't wire the house though, just used two extension cords to run necessary stuff while the power was out...the fridge & TV.

 

[Terrick down Under]

JB, those "silly little interlocks" are pretty handy. Without them the fellas are working on the power lines can get a zap if you have your genny going!! We had it out here about 10 years ago, one fella made his own lead and just plugged into a receptacle, fired up his 15kw set and it was just lucky that the leading hand of that work crew had a volt meter hanging on the lines.
BTW, that steering shaft is getting a bit long, I would not pull on it too much more.

 

[jblnut]

JB, those "silly little interlocks" are pretty handy. Without them the fellas are working on the power lines can get a zap if you have your genny going!! We had it out here about 10 years ago, one fella made his own lead and just plugged into a receptacle, fired up his 15kw set and it was just lucky that the leading hand of that work crew had a volt meter hanging on the lines.
BTW, that steering shaft is getting a bit long, I would not pull on it too much more.

I'm not knocking the interlocks and I know how important they are. I was trying to convey that I don't understand why someone would cut corners to save a few dollars when it's not all that expensive to do it right and prevent any loss of live from either side of the interlock.

My mother sent me that pic and it made me laugh. I am always joking around about the "Big Bad M" and all it's power and she caught me in the middle of a full body Tim Allen grunt.

 

[jblnut]

It's funny, a few years ago my city had problems with power outages, so after about the 3rd time it went out in the summer & we lost all the food in the fridge, I bought a generator. That was around 2008...I think the power has gone out twice since then. Of course!
I didn't wire the house though, just used two extension cords to run necessary stuff while the power was out...the fridge & TV.

We've been talking about getting a generator large enough to run a welder so we can make in field repairs if necessary so we can check that off the list as well. I plan on hooking it up and running it under load once the panels get wired to make sure all is well. When we still milked cows the generator got run a couple times a year to burn out any moisture and dust and to make sure it was still large enough to run everything so that it worked when we needed it.

 

[Terrick down Under]

JB, se are indeed thinking the same way.....whats that line? Great minds...

 

[jblnut]

Thanks to tgerold I found and drew my plan using Sweet Home 3d. A bit of a learning curve but worth it in the end. This is really neat to be able to see the ideas we have in 3d.

Here is the exterior that will be facing the road.

Back side of the house.

Main level. Going counterclockwise - Kitchen, dining, sitting room, master bedroom, closets, master bath, mechanical room and the mud room is in the center.

Upper level. Kids bedrooms and bathroom mostly but a large family room and the above the garage area will be storage/craft room for the Mrs.

 

[Bib Overalls]

From what I can see you do not have a full bathroom on the first floor. Also, consider a washing machine, dryer, shower, vanity and toilet in your mud room. A place for people coming in from the shops and fields to take off their nasty clothes, take a shower and drop their nasty clothes before they enter the house proper. Also a facility for people working in the garages when they feel an urge.

 

[jblnut]

From what I can see you do not have a full bathroom on the first floor. Also, consider a washing machine, dryer, shower, vanity and toilet in your mud room. A place for people coming in from the shops and fields to take off their nasty clothes, take a shower and drop their nasty clothes before they enter the house proper. Also a facility for people working in the garages when they feel an urge.

The master bathroom has a shower, it just doesn't show up very well. The washing machine and dryer will be in the mud room, again they didn't show up well. A vanity is a good idea in there for sure. Thanks for that.

We've talked about a toilet/shower in the shop and will plumb for it under the stairs most likely but won't put it in right away. The big empty room between the shop and master bathroom is the mechanical room and will have a washer and dryer for all my stinky farm clothes and I will use the shower/toilet in the master bathroom for first when I enter the house. If it becomes a hassle I will finish the bathroom in the shop.

Thanks for the feedback !!

 

[woodfor1]

The house looks good did you think about having the big shop not connected to the house so when your working in it like welding or painting you don't have the smells getting in the house.I have a large wood shop that's attached to the house and I wish I put up a separate building for it.Just a little food for thought.

 

[jblnut]

The house looks good did you think about having the big shop not connected to the house so when your working in it like welding or painting you don't have the smells getting in the house.I have a large wood shop that's attached to the house and I wish I put up a separate building for it.Just a little food for thought.

I'm planning on putting a few exhaust fans in and have contemplated on putting in a downdraft fan but I don't do that much painting so I'm not sure if it will be worth the expense.

I grew up with a woodstove in the house and don't seem to remember it all that smelly. A shop this size all finished out is $100k plus pretty easily so this is a way for both of us to get what we want right away without it being the full price of a shop and a separate house.

The benefits we see are many (I see more than she does but whatever). Not only will I be able to work on whatever at all hours of the day but when we have family gatherings I can easily sweep out the shop and we'll have a large area to gather (party) in. Having the shop connected will give the kids a place to ride bikes and mess my nice floor up with sidewalk chalk when it's too cold to go outside. I can do projects with the kids much easier all year long without having to mess with putting coats and hats on to go out to the shop. (If a separate shop is built it'll easily be 500' from the house) PLUS I for see a fridge full of beer that I'll surely need help drinking so come on over.

 

[jblnut]

I have 3 bars of the WiFi on my 4yr old smart phone from over 1/4 mile away from my PicoStation. Pretty impressive I think !!


I also went mouse hunting in the barn with my cat-like reflexes and my bare hands (gloved hands, it's cold out !!). They were easy to catch as it was cold and they seemed to have slowed down.


Santa delivered a monster pile of Lego Duplo's to our house and the girls thought it was time to dump them all out on a pile and build something.


They built (with a little help) this kick *** tower on wheels. Look at that proud architect !!


I've shared that I work on Lely Robotic Milkers at my "in-town" job before and today I got to add a third feed type to three of them. This dairy wants to be able to really fine tune what the cows are getting fed while getting milked so they feed between one and three kinds of pellets to their cows. I wired in the motors and did the programming for the third type today. We started on the auger system and should finish that up tomorrow. I can take more pictures of them if you like, let me know and I'll snap one of whatever you want.


Here is the main board.


This is the jar the milk collects in while the cow is getting milked along with the various valves and sensors needed to route it to the storage tank or to the drain (if it's treated or there is some other reason to discard it). There are a number of wiring rats nests that I cleaned up when I was done. Some things needed to be removed and rerouted while I was doing the wiring.

 

[1949 caddyman]

Wow, what does the automated milker, feeder cost & how many do you need for how many cows?

 

[jblnut]

Wow, what does the automated milker, feeder cost & how many do you need for how many cows?

One of them can easily take care of 60 cows milking them 3+ times a day. They are most economical when sold in pairs and the hardware is under $400k for a pair with everything that goes with to run them.

It sounds like a lot but they remove one of the most labor intensive activities from the dairyman's life plus they don't have to deal with hired labor to milk their cows. Each milking is consistent and efficient.. The cows come to the robot on their own to get the pellets it feeds. The attached computer records hundreds of data points each time she is in the robot and can help detect numerous health issues before they would ever show symptoms.

I'll take some more pictures of the rest of the equipment today to show what all goes along with them.

 

[Bib Overalls]

Do these automatic milkers require any human interface between the cows and the machine? Been a long time since I have been in a milking barn but my recall is that the milkers I am familiar with required a human to sanitize the teats and attach/detach the individual thingamajigs.

 

[jblnut]

Do these automatic milkers require any human interface between the cows and the machine? Been a long time since I have been in a milking barn but my recall is that the milkers I am familiar with required a human to sanitize the teats and attach/detach the individual thingamajigs.

100% automated. There are brushes that scrub each teat then swing out of the way to get cleaned and sanitized and go back under to scrub and sanitize each teat again. This process also stimulates the cow to get the Oxytocin (known as Pitocin in humans) flowing so her milk gets let down and starts flowing so it is a multipurpose scrub. The brushes can be seen in the first picture with the cow in the box.

 

[jblnut]

This is one of two feed alleys in the barn I've been working in the last few days.


They feed with a tractor and TMR and have a Lely Juno to push feed up once every hour.


More views of the barn.



This is the Lely Astronaut A4 milking robot from the barn side. When a cow enters the robot an infrared sensor detects her and reads the data on the tag on her collar. That info goes to the computer and the robot knows everything it needs to know about her. There is a 3D camera that watches her in the robot and signals the milking arm to move under her whenever she moves. The arm cleans and sanitizes the teats and attaches the cups one at a time using a laser for guidance.


This farm has two Central Units, one can run two milking robots and they have three robots total. Inside each Central Unit is the vacuum pump, water heater and chemical pumps.


Here is one of them with the doors open.


The majority of the robot is powered by air pressure. There are only two electric motors on it that I can think of off the top of my head and they are quite small. This is the air compressor room. There are two Hitachi 3.7 Scroll compressors and a pair of 60 gallon tanks in here.

Two more 80 gallon tanks in the robot room.


This is the CRS+. CRS stands for something in the Dutch language that we think translates to Central Command System. It coordinates the robots when the system washes and sends alarms out to the dairyman if there is a problem with a piece of equipment.


This is inside the CRS. All the little air solenoids control different valves on the bulk tank and the buffer tank to route the milk and wash water in the right directions.


The large round tank is the bulk milk storage tank. The milk gets pumped into this tank from the robots and gets cooled down to 39F. The taller tank is the buffer tank. It is used while the bulk tank is being cleaned every other day after a tanker truck picks the milk up for delivery to the milk plant.


There is a chart recorder to record the temp of the milk while it's in the tank. The spikes indicate when the bulk tank is washed.


There is one of these next to each robot and there is four pails in each one. The milk that is treated or needs to be discarded for other reasons is pumped into these pails to be inspected and usually fed to the calves or discarded.


We installed this bin an it's auger system over the last two days.


The augers dump into clear tubes that connect to a dosing unit on the robot.


And last but not least here is the computer that runs it all. The software is incredibly reliable and simple to use.



Once again, ask if you'd like to see more !!

 

[Bib Overalls]

Wow. One heck of an investment. Almost impossible for someone to start a dairy from scratch I would assume. Starting out with a couple of acres and a couple of cows and working up is no longer an option.

 

[jblnut]

Wow. One heck of an investment. Almost impossible for someone to start a dairy from scratch I would assume. Starting out with a couple of acres and a couple of cows and working up is no longer an option.

Most milk haulers require you to have 800lbs of milk to pick up before they will even stop. That's 10 cows at 80lbs per day each for those without basic math skills.

This barn and the equipment in it with the manure pit outside was near $1.3mil. The dairy went from an 80lb tank to just over 100lbs/day per cow within a year of putting the robots in. That is a 25% increase and is the kind of thing that makes the banker and the dairyman smile. Like this ->

Farming can be an expensive, but rewarding, addiction.

 

[C_F]

That's really cool! Definitely the most high tech dairy barn I've seen, for sure.

 

[woodfor1]

Thank you, That's very interesting.You said the cow are milked three times a day they just come in on there own? Do they get hay in the barn in-between milking.When the cow comes to be milked dose the tag records how much milk she gives.

 

[Bighead38]

100% automated. There are brushes that scrub each teat then swing out of the way to get cleaned and sanitized and go back under to scrub and sanitize each teat again. This process also stimulates the cow to get the Oxycontin flowing so her milk gets let down and starts flowing so it is a multipurpose scrub. The brushes can be seen in the first picture with the cow in the box.

So the cows are high all day? No wonder they go to the robots on their own. Lol.