Our farm shop design blog series, written by Dan Nyberg, the Sales Training Manager at Morton Buildings, focuses on a variety of farm shop design ideas to help you in planning your next agricultural building.
Staging areas with either a solid gravel pad or a concrete apron are essential for the optimal functionality of your farm shop. They serve as a preliminary washing area before having the equipment come into the shop. You will not want to have a muddy mess right in front of your operation to add more cleanup inside. They also add a new approach to the building that provides a safe, easy way to get in and out as well. Plus, this area can be used for additional repair space. You can even put in-floor heat under the concrete to help with snow and ice build-up.
Consider the annual ‘rhythm’ of your equipment usage. As you are finishing with spring tillage does all the maintenance get finished up before the equipment is stored? When you are queueing up for harvest, do you have some maintenance that needs to be completed? Recognize that your shop normally will not be sized to allow storage of every piece of equipment and having a convenient developed solid pad close to the shop allows minor tasks to be completed outside when weather permits and a convenient storage area for the project that’s not finished but no longer at the top of the ‘to do’ list for today.
One of the often forgotten aspects of the areas around the shop is parking. How many employees do you have regularly, and during your peak seasons how many pickups do you need to plan for? As the shop tends to become the ‘farm central’, recognize that simply accommodating the parking for those who regularly stop by will be a part of your satisfaction with the building. Do you have a truck for field service and maintenance? Will it always be parked in the shop?
The following image shows an example of a shop floor plan with a staging area:
Browse more completed farm shop projects!
About Dan Nyberg, Sales Training Manager, Morton Buildings
Dan Nyberg has been employed with Morton Buildings for 28 years, where he held a variety of positions such as sales consultant, regional manager, and director of sales. He has also served as a board member of the National Frame Building Association for nine years. Dan has been involved with farming most of his life, from living on a dairy farm as a child, moving back to a mixed livestock and grain farm in high school, to managing a personal farm in Colorado focused on horse-drawn events. He has experience with beef cattle, dairy cattle, bison, pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, horses and mules. Dan currently farms 72 acres with a herd of 23 Devon/Hereford cattle and owns three Morton buildings.
