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

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 Publishing
Sparkman, AR 71763
www.stinnettfamilyfarms.com
www.crawlycrittersreptiles.com

Table of Contents
STEP 1
Gather Materials 5
STEP 2
Constructing The Roof 7
STEP 3
Bracing The Ends: 9
STEP 4
Closing In

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STEP 5
The Home Stretch 14

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 2x4s 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
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 tposts. 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 dont put them on
the inside you will have them sticking into your tarp.

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 dont 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.

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.

Step 3:
Brace The Ends
Next you want to construct the ends of your structure. Lets
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 2x4s to construct a frame for our end wall and
door.

The length of your 2x4s 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.

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 2x4s 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.

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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 didnt 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!!
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