History
We moved into our farm in September of 2002. The house and farm sit on 41.5 acres in beautiful southern Dane County, Wisconsin. The previous owners had used it strictly for cash cropping. There is an existing, old diary barn, circa 1900s. It was at one time a 16 stanchion dairy barn, that the previous owners renovated to a spacious 2 stall garage. Also on the property is a workshop and machine storage area. We took the machine storage area and put in two large foaling stalls. This is the barn I call the "Foaling Barn" as it has the camera system set up for easy foal watch. We have installed an infra-red heater above one of the foaling stalls, for late winter foaling, as well as use for a sick or injured horse during winter.
Pastures
When we moved in, there was 5 acres of planted, mowed grass available for pasture fencing when we moved in, which I took advantage of. That first fall I couldn't plant any new acreage as the soybeans didn't come off the field until late fall. The following spring in 2003 we planted about 8 acres of extra pasture, with a cover crop of oats. That pasture became available for use the spring of 2004, when I fenced in approximately 3 additional acres for the horses. The remaining 5 acres of planted pasture in front of the newer barn (South side of the farm) will be cut for hay until we decide to fence it for the horses.
In the spring of 2009 we planted an additional 3.5 acres of pasture for our horses on the North side of the property, which we fenced in the spring of 2010.
The remaining 15 acres of tillable land was rented to neighbors for crops until Spring 2012, when planted hay.
Front hay field
Main Barn
In fall of 2003 we contacted several building manufacturers to determine who we would use to build our new horse barn. We decided on Wick Buildings out of Mazomanie WI. We love their attention to detail and they were very easy to work with! Our building was ordered in December and delivered in late January.
The actual construction process took several months due to the weather (wet!!), but it was up and ready to go, and we were able to get the first 4 stalls put in by early May, just in time for the arriving foals! We finished adding the remaining stalls throughout that year. Each stall is wired with it's own GFCI outlet for fans and heated water buckets.
Riding Arena
In Summer of 2008 we graded, installed, and fenced our new outdoor arena. The arena is 80' x 180' and is fenced with Triple Crown 3-rail fencing.
The horses are out grazing on grass for about 12-14 hours per day during the Spring - Fall seasons. For grain the horses are fed cleaned oats, Gro n Win, with access to Buckeye Mineral and a salt block in each pasture.