Spring Cleaning: Barns and Outbuildings

Cleaning your barn or ranch out buildings involve more than just clearing the aisles and mucking out the stalls — it’s key to keeping your animals and yourself safe. Doing a barn cleanout during farm cleaning season gives you a tidy barn. And that means fewer pests, fewer allergies and fewer accidents.

Before you get into the thick of planting season, take a weekend (or two) to spring clean with these three barn cleaning tips. And there’s a bonus, too: You might’ve already checked a few off your list if you took advantage of your winter offseason.

How to Deep Clean & Disinfect Your Barn

Let’s start with the actual cleaning. How exactly do you disinfect a barn? These eight barn cleaning tasks will keep your livestock and anyone who works in the barn happy and healthy. As you follow along, note any safety hazards that need to be fixed, like electrical wires, broken boards and exposed nails.

1. Use baking soda or Simple Green and a stiff brush to scrub buckets, bins and troughs.
2. Remove bedding and mats from each stall. Wash and disinfect both sides of the mat and allow them to dry.
3. Starting from the top, power wash the stall walls and floor.
4. Sweep your hayloft or shed, looking for signs of mold and rodents.
5. Unclog your barn gutters to help avoid leaks.
6. Soak and scrub your stock-tank heater with a calcium, lime and rust remover.
7. Wash your barn or outbuilding windows.
8. Don’t forget to disinfect your barn cleaning equipment like brushes, buckets and other tools.

Declutter, Evaluate and Organize Your Barn

As you cleaned and sanitized the barn, you probably started a sizable trash pile. Go through your equipment, tools, supplies and grooming materials carefully with a critical eye. Do you have unnecessary duplicates, broken “spare” parts or tattered blankets galore? It’s easy to stash things away with good intention, but be honest with yourself about what you will actually use or fix, and what you should get rid of.

A good declutter will give you a better handle on your space. What needs a new storage solution? What could be better located? What are you missing? Answering these questions can help you reorganize your barn or outbuilding. 

Here are some ideas for your decluttering and organizing:

• Store stall-cleaning tools in a designated area so you can keep the aisle safe and open for people and animals to pass through. 
• Install shelving or peg boards to make supplies more accessible.
• Use blanket racks to save space, keep blankets clean and make them easy to find.
• Toss any supplements you haven’t used for six months.
• Sort medications by type or use and check your first aid kit for expired or missing items.

Key Safety Checks to Protect Your Barn & Farm Property

Whether you’ve inherited an old barn or you own a thriving ranch, safety should always be your top priority. Use this dedicated cleaning time to knock out those important barn care and maintenance chores you may have been putting off.

• Test your smoke detectors and fire extinguishers and bring in an electrician to fix and upgrade them if necessary.
• Donning safety goggles and a mask, remove cobwebs from windows and walls. They can be a fire hazard.
• Thoroughly check ceiling fans, exhaust fans and vents for proper functioning and airflow.
• Examine your gates, locks and fence lines, especially the ones you don’t encounter on a daily basis.

Get the Protection You Need

With a clean slate, you are now ready to tackle the busy season. Sit down with your local Farm Bureau agent to review your farm insurance coverage and make sure your barns and outbuildings are properly protected.