When I am not working as an agricultural engineer, I spend my free time farming on a cattle and hay operation. Recently, we have been working to expand the hay sales, and last year we decided to put up 2 new hoop barns. Previously we had 1 hoop barn on the property that was put up by a company. We decided to expand the hay storage for a total of 3 hoop barns. In order to reduce costs we decided to provide the labor. I will give some reflections on the process of installing hoop barns. I have broken down the process into 4 steps:
1. Site selection and preparation
2. Setting posts and constructing the knee wall
3. Installing the ribs and pulling the tarp
Special thanks to Jake Osborne, Laura Pepple and Josh Jackson for their expertise and help with this process. Also, WD King and his family for taking many of the pictures and allowing me to document the process. If you have any questions or comments on this series of posts feel free to send me an email at mhayes17@illinois.edu.