We’ve been in maintenance mode the last couple weeks with the nice weather–when we aren’t running around with end-of-the-school-year and beginning of summer stuff! One of the big-ticket items we’re dealing with this year is our large barn. And while repainting, and re-shingling, and replacing boards, and putting on gutters, we’re having the never-ending conversation about the pros and cons of mobile livestock shelters.

Now, our “large barn” is not all that large to some folks, but it’s our biggest and most solid structure. Its where we put everyone during hurricanes and nor’easters. It doesn’t move daily or weekly like our portable shade shelter. But it does move! It has tow hooks on it and we have moved it up and down the fence line over the years. It’s just never left this field. Yet.

We’re trying to decide if we should put it somewhere permanently–and if we want that location to be anywhere near where it is now! And if it’s permanent, what kind of improvements we need to make about a base material and foundations, and fencing, and cleaning, and sanitizing, and pest treatments, because of TERMITES! Grrrr…

There’s a positive and negative side to everything on the homestead. Here’s our list of PROs and CONs of mobile versus permanent livestock shelters (of any size!) for a small farm.

On the Positive Side…

Basically, if you use rotational grazing, and you’re moving your animals regularly, their shade, rain shelter, feeders, mineral feeders, and water troughs all need to move with them. So all of the benefits for portable shelters are in the overall benefits of rotational management.

Less Cleaning. We use a deep bedding method over the winter and in the spring you just pick up the shelter building and move it. Then you have an easy pile of half-composted material to deal with. It’s good for the animals and the soil and much easier than wheelbarrowing and pitchforking every day.

More Natural Sanitation. Parasites feed on your livestock and tend to gather in places where your livestock regularly gather–such as shelters and watering holes. If you move the animals, sunshine, and lack of food will kill off your parasite population naturally. You’ll also avoid a lot of common problems with structure pests like termites, mice/rats, and wasps. Even nesting birds can be a headache. But they don’t prefer the vagabond lifestyle and will make nests and homes elsewhere if your shelter is moving every week.

(Ok, this is a slight over-simplification. Entire books have been written about this. But trust me, if you rotate your animals and shelters in a healthy rotational system you will be able to reduce chemical parasite treatments.)

Less Mud. Mud is the enemy of health. It lowers body temperatures and natural resistance to parasites and illness. It harbors bacteria and moisture which can cause illness and issues like foot rot. If you end up with mud after a weather event or in the winter, you just move the shelter to a fresh location.

More Grass. Shelter locations are abused by animal traffic. Everyone congregates there and the grass is wasted by being trampled and laid on instead of eaten. Rotating shelters around the field allows areas under heavy pressure to rest and rejuvenate before the grass is completely ruined. This is why areas like “barnyards” are always right around the barn–and always bare dirt or covered in bedding. Grass doesn’t have a prayer under constant pressure. And more bedding means more work, more cleaning, and more costs.

We rotate our chicken house at least once a week. At first, you can always see the last spot it sat in. The chickens are HARD on the ground. It seems completely bare most of the time. But within a week the grass is coming back. Within 2-3 weeks, you can’t even tell where it was before.

Natural Fertilization. Where animals congregate, so does animal waste. And animal waste is free fertilizer! In the summer, rotating the shelters and animals means that we’re spreading the fertilizer naturally each time we move something.

Reduced Predator Pressure. This one is a little less scientific, but people with fixed chicken coops know all about it. A shelter fixed in place becomes a stable target, particularly for smaller vermin like raccoons, possums, and weasels. If you’re moving animals around, there’s no concentrated target location, no concentration of scents, no dependability of access for predators to key into. I wouldn’t depend on only this predator-control tactic, but I do think it helps.

Increased Flexibility. You can change your mind about your farm layout if you have portable shelters. If you decide you want the pigs on east instead of on the west, you just move them. If you find out that your south field stays wet in the spring and breeds foot scald, you can move your sheep before the wet season starts, and only have them there when it’s dry. If you decide you don’t want to do cows anymore, you can sell the cow shade shelter along with the cows. {smile}

On the Negative Side…

Less Stability and Protection. We’ve had our cow shade shelter blow completely over in a wind storm. We’ve lost the top to the chicken house numerous times, and we even lost a valuable ewe one year when a free-standing hayrack blew over on her in a storm. Solid structures have significantly fewer problems with this.

More Maintenance. I mentioned this in our chicken hoop house post. Moving your shelters regularly means they take more of a beating physically and need a lot more maintenance to keep up. Being bounced and dragged around the field means extra support beams, hinges that rattle loose, and even walls that will twist if you’re not careful. Tires go flat, or sink and get stuck, tow hooks and straps have to be replaced regularly, and doors are always out of square! {smile}

Our shade shelter is built on an old hay wagon…more pictures in our Shade Shelter post.

Less Opportunity to Expand a Single Structure. You can’t put a lean-to off of a portable shelter like you can from the side of a barn. You can’t add a feed storage room or a tractor shelter or a workshop. (At least not easily, I guess. Mr. Fix-It is pretty ingenious when it comes to building stuff around here.) You definitely won’t be able to expand UPWARD easily. In general, mobile structures are usually just smaller overall. You do need to get them through your gates!

Less Predator-Proof. I don’t believe anything is actually predator-proof. But you can add a lot more security in a permanent location. To begin with, mobile shelters usually sit directly on the ground, which means you can dig in. Permanent locations can bury perimeter to frustrating digging predators. Mobile operations use the least amount of electrified fencing possible for the livestock because you have to move it all the time. Permanent fields can increase the number and decrease the gap between hotlines to deter predators. Or use higher fences.

We haven’t made a final decision yet for our barn. It’s on this summer’s TO-DO list. But in general, we have found a good balance between most of our structures being mobile, but also having at least one semi-solid location to fort up in if necessary.