Livestock Steel Structures · Cattle · Pigs · Sheep
Prefab Steel Livestock Barns — Strong, Ventilated, Easy to Assemble
Cows lean, pigs wash, sheep lamb in winter — three species, three completely different buildings that happen to share one steel frame. We adapt the barn to the animal, never the animal to a generic shed.
Spans 12–30 m free-stall & feeding lanes clear | HDG Standard built for H₂S & wash-down air | Steel Never Touches Slurry concrete curb + raised base plates | Bolt-Only Build numbered parts, no site welding |

One Frame, Three Herds — What We Change for Each
Tell us the species and everything below is already decided for you. Point at your animal — we design backwards from it.
| Design question | Dairy & beef cattle | Pigs | Sheep & goats |
|---|
| What attacks the building | 900 kg leaning on rails & scraping corners | H₂S gas + daily high-pressure wash-down | Ammonia at floor level, hoof abrasion, lambing-season drafts |
| Eave height | 3.5–4.5 m — head clearance under feed passage | 2.8–3.6 m — less volume to heat in winter | 2.7–3.5 m — low enough to warm, high enough for bales |
| Ventilation strategy | Heat is the enemy: open sides + ridge + fans over the feed lane | Gas & humidity: sealed zones, extracted air, curtain + pad cooling | Draft control at lambing, still air — high side openings, not floor-level |
| Floor & manure | Sloped concrete to scrape channel; cow mats on slats | Slatted or deep-pit — frame columns set outside pit walls | Slatted plastic-over-steel or deep litter; wider bearing grid |
| Steel protection detail | Kick walls & rail stubs keep the herd off the columns | Full HDG inside wash zones; no bare bolts below splash line | Concrete curb + primer on lower 600 mm, HDG as option |
The Detail That Decides Year 10: Steel Never Touches Slurry
90% of "rusty barn" photos we're sent show the same failure: base plates and bottom chords sitting in urine and wash water. Our standard build separates them:
| ① Concrete curb first. The slab edge rises 300–500 mm through the column line — steel anchors to concrete, urine flows under it. | ② Raised bases. Base plates cast into the curb, grouted — never a bare bolt head standing in a puddle. |
| ③ Splash zone gets zinc. Lower members in wash-down barns are HDG or zinc-rich coated — ISO 1461, ≥55 µm. | ④ Columns wear boots. In cattle pens, a kick wall + standoff keeps 900 kg of cow rubbing on timber and steel — not on your frame. |
These four details add ≈ nothing to the steel price and remove the #1 reason a "cheap" barn gets condemned in year 12.
Specification
| Item | Livestock Barn Package |
|---|
| Structural system | Light steel portal frame / truss, all bolted; span 12–30 m, length unlimited (bay-by-bay) |
| Steel grade | Q235B / Q355B · ASTM A36 / A572 Gr.50 · S235–S355 |
| Secondary framing | HDG C/Z purlins & girts, roof bracing, tie bars — farm-spec coating as standard |
| Roof / wall | Color steel or insulated sandwich panel; side curtains, wind beams; ridge vent standard |
| Civil interfaces we draw | Curb & foundation plan, slatted-pit column offsets, feed lane openings, water & wire hangers |
| Loads & codes | Wind per ASCE 7-22 / EN 1991 (site-specific) · AISC 360 / Eurocode 3 · ISO 9001 · corrosion to ISO 12944 / 1461 |
| What ships | Numbered members, seaworthy packing & container loading plan, anchor bolts, installation drawings, remote guidance |
| Lead time | 20–40 days · T/T 30% deposit, 70% before shipment |
| Three answers start your barn design: |
| 1) species & head count · 2) housing style (free-stall / intensive / deep litter…) and manure system · 3) site city — layout options + BOQ return within 48 h. |