The 2012 Equiery Farm Fix-Up Directory Barn Builders, Contractors – and much more!


T e Equiery’s “Farm Fix-Up” Directory is available all year long on equiery.com under resources. In the meantime, contractors are standing by ready to assist you with your spring projects!


BARN BUILDERS B & D Builders .............................................2 C-Star Services ................................... 30, 48 CB Structures .............................................46 Eberly Barns ..............................................55 Farm & Equine Services .............................48 Farmer Boy Ag ...........................................48 Horizon Structures.....................................42 JBM & Sons Excavating, LLC .......................30 Journey Well Contracting .................... 30, 50 K & M Enterprises ......................................41 King Construction Co. ................................34 Lime Rock Builders ....................................36 P.H. Drayer .................................................38 Penn Dutch Structures ..............................52 Precise Building Inc. ...................................5 Red Rose Selections ..................................46 Reed Buildings, LLC ..................................30 Rocky Ridge Construction .........................51 SMS Builders LLC .......................................54 SRP Construction LLC .................................49


Sunset Horse Stalls ...................................51 Triple D Truss .............................................50 WB Lightning Rods ...................................43


EQUIPMENT Emge Equine Services .............................103 FICS of Maryland .......................................41 Gaithersburg Equipment Co. .....................37 Gale Shield ................................................41 Penn Mar Products ....................................36


EXCAVATORS Brinik Excavating & Paving ........................43 K&L Contracting, LLC .................................36 Level Land, Inc. ................................... 30, 34 Musselman Excavating, Inc. ......................44 United Excavating .....................................30


FARM & PASTURE SERVICES AVS Plumbing ...........................................30 First Class Mechanical ...............................47 Foxleigh Farm............................................31 LaFarge North America ..............................36


It is drilled into us via every HGTV home-reno show, through every shelter magazine…wrap it up! Insulate! Stop losing heat through the walls of that drafty old house! Maintain a nice, constant warm temperature! Save energy! So, what is good for us must be good for our horses, right? Wrong. T at drafty old barn may be healthier for your horse than the equivalent interior of a house. Why? Because our temperature and venti- lation needs are diff erent from the needs of our horses. Horses produce a lot of body heat on their own, a lot more than we pro-


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duce, and sun on the barn will also increase internal temperatures. With- out adequate ventilation, humidity rises, damp stalls stay damp, ammonia builds up, bacterial growth in stalls can build up, and it can all add up to irritated lungs and respiratory problems for your horses. T e ideal temperature for most horses is around 45-65°F (some say 30-50°F); however, this is not necessarily the ideal temperature inside a barn. According to Dave Freeman, PhD, PAS, Dipl. ACAN, Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service equine specialist (in a November 2007 article in thehorse.com, offi cial magazine of the American Association of Equine Practitioners), the recommended temperatures for inside a barn are in the 45-55°F range, combined with the use of blankets on clipped horses or those with short hair coats. “Part of the problem with maintaining proper barn temperature is that people working in the barn often like it a bit warmer than is recom- mended for the horses,” he said. “Horse managers should maintain barn temperatures at a level that will help promote healthy horses and not at a level dictated by a worker’s personal comfort… [it’s] just a case of human nature. If you’re cold, you don’t think twice about turning up the heat a bit, but that oversight can cause health-related problems for horses.”


MAAC Rolloff s & Equine Service` ...............43 Mid-Atlantic Ag Consulting .......................50 Pine View Trucking ....................................34 Rick Rebert Hauling ..................................31 Total Equine Services .................................31 University of Maryland ..............................55


FENCING A.A.F. - All About Fence .............................31 A.K Fencing ...............................................40 Esch’s Fencing ............................................46 Fourpoints Fence Co. .................................45 Jones Fence Co. .........................................31 ProFence ............................................. 31, 54 Sweitzers Fencing .....................................31 Willow Run Farm .......................................31


FINANCIAL SERVICES Farm Credit................................................38 Naden/Lean, LLC .......................................29 AXA Advisors, LLC ......................................32 Shriver & Company, Inc. ............................32


FOOTING Custom Equestrian Footing .......................60 FICS of Maryland .......................................28


INSURANCE Associations Underwriters, & Ziplow Horse Insurance Inc. ............................................59 Christmas Insurance ..................................38 Rosenkilde & Associates ............................32


JUMPS Gunner Woodworks ...................................24


LEGAL SERVICES Barkley Law Offi ce, PC ...............................29 Law Offi ce of Andrew A. Quinn ..................29 Law Offi ce-Kathleen JP Tabor ....................29 Kathleen J. Masterton, P.C. ........................29


PAINTING Argueta Painting .......................................30 For the Boys Painting, LLC .........................30 Hallco Enterprises, Inc. ..............................43


Renovating a barn? Thinking of making it toasty with Tyvek®? STOP! Take a breath! And think about your horse’s breathing…


Dr. Pete Radue, DVM, a partner with Damascus Equine Associates who also serves on Maryland equine health advisory committee to the Secretary of Agriculture, suggests opening the barn windows in the win- ter! “Ideally each stall would have a window open to the outdoors at all times. Horses are built to live outdoors in the winter; if they were not, they would not have survived as a species. Our perceptions about the need for warmth and lack of drafts have much more to do with our comfort than our horses health. [As a result], horses are far more likely to suff er from not enough ventilation than too much. Respiratory dis- ease, particularly chronic infl ammatory disease, is exacerbated by reduced ventilation. A study of racetrack stabling showed signifi cant diff erences in particle mapping between stables built from impervious materials like brick and those built with more ventilation.” So, if you are going to tightly Tyvek® that barn, make sure you have considered appropriate internal temperatures and ventilation needs for horses (not humans). If in doubt, consult a professional barn builder. What to do if you have already convinced your local home contractor to button up your barn nice and tight? You could consider installing vents, venting cupolas or exhaust fans. A rheostat will automatically turn on the exhaust fans when the humidity levels get too high. Or, you could just put your coat back on and open the windows! Regardless of whether you have already renovated your barn, are con-


sidering renovating your barn, or building a new barn, The Equiery rec- ommends consulting with a reputable and experienced barn builder who understands the needs of horse housing as it relates to the health of your horses. And what could be more important than your horses’ health?


APRIL 2012 | THE EQUIERY | 35


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