"Swing-Out" Barn Panels Make Clean-Out Easy

"Swing-Out" Barn Panels Make Clean-Out Easy BUILDINGS Livestock 25-5-32 "There was nothing on the market that would do the job," says Robin Shandro, Willingdon, Alberta, who got tired of cleaning out the pens inside his 30 by 80-ft. calving barn by hand. He wanted to use his skid steer loader to do the job. So he came up with his own pen design featuring "swing-out" panels and had them custom-built by a local company. The barn has two rows of pens along the outside walls, separated by a 10-ft. wide alley running down the center of the barn. The pens measure 10 ft. square and are separated by side panels that fasten to the walls. All the panels pivot 180 degrees on vertical steel posts. That leaves plenty of room for a skid loader to clean out the manure. "I had been spending about five hours a day cleaning pens. Now when I use my skid loader it takes only about a half hour each week," says Shandro. "The panels ride about 1 ft. off the floor which makes them easy to swing over because they don't drag straw and manure with them. Also, I can easily slide feed tubs and water buckets under the panels without having to open them all the time. "My total cost was between $5,000 and $6,000." The panels are built from 2-in. dia. pipe. Each panel rides on hinges made from two short lengths of 1-in. dia. steel pipe welded to the post at 90-degree angles from each other. The posts are set into the concrete floor at 10-ft. intervals. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Robin Shandro, Box 300, Willingdon, Alberta, Canada T0B 4R0 (ph 780 367-2483).

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