Wood pallets get used many different ways on farms, but chances are you've never seen anyone use them the way Boyd Katter does.

He built three farm buildings out of wood pallets.

"A local stove company had a surplus of 40 by 48-in. pallets that they didn't know what to do with. They couldn't shred them because their machine broke down and they couldn't burn them because of EPA regulations. So they offered them to the public for free," explains the Delaware, Ohio, farmer. "I have a 16 by 7-ft. cattle trailer that I loaded full of the soundest oak and hickory pallets I could find every day for two weeks. The ones I hauled home were the cream of the crop because I hand sorted them all."

Katter used about 70 of the recycled pallets to build a 20 by 43-ft. pole-type machine shed. He used another 44 to build two portable igloo-style calf pens.

"Wood pallets are an increasing environmental nuisance to dispose of, but are easy to recycle for all kinds of uses around the farm," Katter says. "My boys couldn't believe I put up buildings with them."

Here's more about the machine shed and pens Katter built with the pallets. They went up easier and faster than conventional buildings, in part because pallets form both the structure of the building and also have facing boards on them to attach siding and roofing to.

-- Katter's three-stall machine shed was put together in sections on the ground, then lifted into place with a Bobcat.

The 13 by 20-ft. main shed has 8-ft. high walls. The sides of the pallets are nailed together and 2-ft. pieces of 3/4-in. plywood are nailed across the joints between them. The pallet walls are secured with steel strapping to 6 by 6 poles set 4 ft. deep in the ground every 5 ft.

The open-span, gabled roof is about 12 ft. high at its highest point. The angles between pallet roof sections were also formed and reinforced with 3/4-in. pieces of plywood.

There's a 15-ft. long shed on each side of the center section. Rafters and lateral supports are 2 by 6's.

Corrugated steel roofing and siding cover the building.

"The arches, bracing, and plywood plates, in combination with the strength of steel siding and roofing, produce a shed that's as solid as a rock," Katter says.

-- The pallet calf pens are 10 ft. sq. at the base with arched igloo-style roofs and open floors. They were constructed just like the machine shed.

"They'll hold six to eight 300 to 600-lb. calves," Katter says. "They're remarkably strong, but are very easy to move because they're mounted on runners made out of treated lumber."

Sides of the pen are made up of nine pallets. The closed end is reinforced with oak 2 by 4's and 2 by 6's. A flap-type ventilation window installs on the closed back side of the pen. The front side is fitted with a gate.

Steel siding covers the shelters.