Summer Dairy Heifer Housing Tour The Mike and Darcy Webster Dairy located 3 miles east of El Paso planned and constructed a complete naturally ventilated-curtain sidewall calf and heifer barn in 2012. After researching various designs and meeting David Kammel- UW Extension Dairy Modernization Engineer, A &T Construction and Anibas Silo, Equipment and Construction built the new barn. The Facility accommodates 120 head and has multi- function gates and pens that make feeding and cleaning in the facility efficient. Websters utilize both chopped bedding and sawdust and designed the floor plan for easy cleaning. The Webster Dairy will be stop one on the Pierce and St. Croix County UW- Extension Dairy Heifer Housing Tour on Wednesday, July 31st starting at 10:00 am. The tour stop will provide other dairy farmers the opportunity to learn about heifer housing options as well as dairy profitability margins. In addition, David Kammel- UW Extension Ag. Engineer contributed to the facility design and he will be in attendance with Mike and Darcy Webster to answer questions. The Webster Dairy is located 3 miles east of El Paso at W3147 along County Road. Through the diversity that Pierce County has to offer, Peterson Family Dairy - Roger, Bev, Brad and Michelle Peterson have been evaluating different heifer housing needs. In their case, they were in need of a heifer barn. As many producers know, quality dairy heifers along with healthy management practices energize the future for dairy farms. The recent 2010 hosts of Farm Technology Days, located 2 miles southwest of River Falls recently constructed a new (December 2012) sand bedding, free stall, tunnel ventilated, automated scrapers and sand separation heifer barn. The new 112’ X 250’ barn consists of steel construction with 2/12 pitch without baffles. Roger reports good results with the design and operation for a capacity of up to 450 heifers. The Petersons researched and visited many facilities. Design Built Structures constructed the barn and the first heifers were moved in to the facility in late December 2012. Stop two of the Pierce and St. Croix Summer Dairy Heifer Housing Tour will visit the Petersons Dairy at 1:30 p.m. also on Wednesday, July 31st. Petersons Dairy is located 2 miles southwest of River Falls on STH 29. The Peterson family and David Kammel-UW Extension Dairy Modernization Engineer will be on site to describe the facility and answer questions. Refreshments are sponsored by Countryside Cooperative. For More information, please contact Greg Andrews at the Pierce County UW- Extension Office at 715-273-6781. The tour sponsor requests that anyone taking the tours should arrive at the tour stops only at the scheduled times. Signs will be posted along roads near both farms.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 21:38:14 +0000
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