We want to welcome you to Stinnett Family Farms (SFF)! We are a small family owned and operated farm located in South Arkansas.

I am Travis, and my wife is Crystal. We have three beautiful children Jordan, Katie, and Levi. We operate our own homestead complete with a farm stand coming soon!!

This program is designed to help as you learn from our experience as well as our mistakes in the process of starting your very own homesteading journey.

Grab a cup of coffee and sit back as you read through the “You Can Homestead Series”

2

Copyright © 2013 by Stinnett Family Farms All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing, 2013

ISBN 0-9000000-0-0

Stinnett PublishingSparkman, AR 71763

www.stinnettfamilyfarms.comwww.crawlycrittersreptiles.com

3

Table of ContentsSTEP 1

Gather Materials 5

STEP 2Constructing The Roof7

STEP 3Bracing The Ends:9

STEP 4Closing In 12

STEP 5The Home Stretch14

4

Step 1:Gather Your Materials

Here is the list of materials needed for this project:

6 T-Posts 6 Cattle Panels 16 feet long 1 20x30 foot tarp Tie Wire Plywood 10 2x4x8’ 1 2x4x16’

This is the equipment you will use to put it all together:

Hammer Nails or screws Wire cutters Pliers Circular Saw Jig Saw Tape Measure

The materials (if you have to buy everything) will cost you approximately $250. The only thing we had to buy for this project were the cattle panels and the tarp. The t-posts, tie wire, plywood, and 2x4’s were all salvaged from family that tore down an old barn.

Building The Foundation:

The first thing you have to do in building your structure is to get your foundation square. You need to take the six t-posts and set the four corner posts at 16’ long by 10’ wide. Set three of the t-posts on each side of your structure. The remaining two posts will be set on either side of your

5

structure (the 16’ long sides) centered between your two corner posts.

Next, you want to mount two of your cattle panels along each side of your structure and connect them to the t-posts using tie wire as shown in the photo above. I want to point out that the cattle panels need to be on the outside of the t-posts. In the photo you see that I have mine on the outside, but when you put the tarp on you will want them to be on the inside instead TRUST ME!! Lol. If you don’t put them on the inside you will have them sticking into your tarp.

6

Step 2:Constructing The Roof

The next step to building your structure is to add the roof. This is much easier to do if you have a helper. My wife helped me and we got it done in no time. Start at one end of the structure. Bend a cattle panel into an arch as seen in the photo between the two sides. Raise each end of the panel up until only two squares overlap the top of your sides. Use the tie wire to secure the first piece of the roof to the top of each side making sure the roof panel is flush with the end of the side panels.

My wife told me I should add that you need to start attaching the roof panels at the opposite end of where you have your remaining cattle panels so you don’t have to go under the panels already attached with the next panel.

Continue attaching the remaining three panels overlapping the previous one by a few inches. When you get to the very end make sure the last panel is flush with the end of your sides. You should end up with a structure similar to the one in the next photo.

7

Congratulations! This is the completed structure without the cover and supports. We made our structure 16’ long, but you can actually make it as long as you want. We will be adding additional 16’ sections in the future.

8

Step 3:Brace The EndsNext you want to construct the ends of your structure. Let’s start with the end where your door will be. As you can see in the picture below we measured from the ground up to the roof and used 2x4’s to construct a frame for our end wall and door.

The length of your 2x4’s depends on the size you want your door. We sued an old screen door we salvaged from a torn down house but any door will work just build your frame around the size of it.

Next, you will want to add more framing as shown in the picture below. We cut the two short boards even with the top of the side cattle panels. Next we cut two short pieced of 2x4 and connected it to the original door frame as you can see.

9

At the top corners of the door framing we connected the frame to the roof using tie wire.

That completes the framing for the door end of your structure. I want to take a minute and point out the cross beam at the top of this photo. This was added to strengthen the roof. Use your 16 foot 2x4 and mount it up tight against the roof of your structure as shown. One end will sit on top of your door framing.

The other end will have its own post made from 2x4’s as seen in the photo below.

10

We also connected the beam to the roof using nails into the beam and then bent over the top of the wire on the cattle panel. You could also use tie wire.

By adding the beam you will be protected from any weight that might be put on your roof (like snow), and also if you plan to hang anything from the ceiling. We hung rabbit cages to make this into a rabbit barn.

11

Step 4:Closing In

Now the construction of your structures’ framing is complete. The only thing left to do is to enclose your structure to keep the weather out. The first step will be to cut and install the first piece of plywood to the door end of your structure as shown below.

The easiest way we found to do this is to put the piece of plywood in place and use a pencil to draw the curve of the roof and the doorway opening. Once you have it marked use a circular saw to cut the straight pieces and a jigsaw to cut the curve.

Once your piece is cut, put it in place and mount it to your framing with nails or screws.

Next you want to complete this process for the opposite side of the door end of your structure. When you are finished it should look like this photo:

12

As you can see, we left a space at the top where the beam is sitting. This was done intentionally because we will be adding a custom sign in that spot with our rabbitry logo on it.

If you want you can just use some of the scrap plywood you had left and just finish it out completely.

If you only want one section, as I mentioned earlier, you can finish it off the same way as you finished the door end. You can either put a door at both ends or finish it solid with plywood.

If you decide to add additional sections in the future, just leave the end open and cover it with plastic like we did in the picture below. This will help keep your critters warm. Like I said, we make this into our rabbit barn so we needed to close the end temporarily to keep our bunnies warm and out of the wind.

13

The picture shows the tarp already installed, but you get the idea. When you add the next section all you have to do is remove the plastic, roll back the tarp, and start construction from step one. When you are finished adding sections just frame a solid wall or a wall with a door in the end of your structure.

14

Step 5:The Home Stretch.

The next step in the construction process is to install your tarp. We actually used several sets of hands (wife, two kids, and me) to make sure we didn’t tear the tarp on any of the metal from the cattle panels or tie wire.

We tied a rope to one of the holes on the tarp and threw it over the structure. We moved the tarp a little at a time up one side and down the other. Use the metal holes of the tarp to connect it to the front, bottom, and end of your structure as seen in this photo:

As you can see here, the tarp will be too long on one side. You can either cut it off and add holes (we got a kit that adds the little metal pieces), or do like we did and just roll it up and put some heavy rocks or pipe on it for now.

This concludes the construction of your new cattle panel structure. The only thing left is to add whatever door you found to use, and add your cages, shelves, planting beds or whatever else you have decided to use your structure for.

15

We hope this manual will help you in constructing a greenhouse, barn, or shed that will last for years to come.

16

Thank you again for your interest in the “You Can Homestead Series.” We value each and every one of you in the highest regards!!

This eBook, like the rest of the series, is a work in progress. As we run across new additional information we will update and revise the series. As soon as an update is available we will send it to you as long as you are on our mailing list. Shoot us an email at travstinnett@ymail.com and I will add you!

If you have something you would like to share for an upcoming revision please also email us at travstinnett@ymail.com and let us know. We would love to feature your homestead in an upcoming issue!!

17

18