The summer of 2006 brought about a much needed addition to Farm 2 in the way of a new prefresh / special needs barn. This new barn is a combination of many parts including freestalls for prefresh cows, many calving pens, a lock up pen directly off the parlor, a heated operating room, a heated calf room, a drug room, a new break room, a new office and new bathrooms.

Having cows freshen this close to the parlor allows for the special attention needed during this critical stage of lactation. When this barn was added some of the old buildings seen in the skyview picture above were eliminated, making the overall appearance of Farm 2 much more appealing. A new aerial picture will be available this summer.

The 75,000 square feet of new bunks were added to provide adequate storage for the 20,000 tons of forage fed every year.

A combination of commodity bays and upright grain bins provides excellent flexibility to the grain management schedule. Each bin holds 28 tons and has a flail chain unloaders to prevent feed from hanging up in them. 8" augers make loading the feed wagon quick, efficient and accurate. Shrink is very low on grains because of the upright bins and feeding accuracy is easier to control with an auger on a grain bin than with a bucket on a pay loader.