Above 1200 Sq/FT Out on Quaker Road

[Bighead38]

What are the dimensions? I can't even fathom a building that big. You could hold mini drag races inside. Starting line with a Christmas tree, race 50,110,150ft or whatever length would allow enough room to slow down. That would be awesome. Would be even more awesome to build a badass go cart track in there. Hell you could have a badass cart track in just half and use the other half as a shop.

 

[jblnut]

Any Heat planned for the chicken barn?

There will be a bunch of Propane LB White hanging heaters. I don't remember how many but a bunch sounds good right now

I'll say it again, just image filling it with vehicles to play on. You would be smiling for life!

Maybe one day I'll have a nice collection of old Farmall's to fill it with

What are the dimensions? I can't even fathom a building that big. You could hold mini drag races inside. Starting line with a Christmas tree, race 50,110,150ft or whatever length would allow enough room to slow down. That would be awesome. Would be even more awesome to build a badass go cart track in there. Hell you could have a badass cart track in just half and use the other half as a shop.

The barn is 60'x624' with looks like 8.5' sidewalls. It looks big in the pictures but it looks massive when you're out here !!

I did a few mini drags with my Neon in it, does that count

An 950' or so level pad was created to put the barn on. From the South property line it is: 50' of setback, 150' for manure stacking slab, 624' of barn, 125' of driveway/stacking slab and them a VERY sharp drop off. If one could stop in a few hundred feet you could easily do 1/8 mile drags

 

[Ajustable]

Now thats an impressive chicken coop. chickens and rodents seem to go well together, Do you have a plan for the those varmits?

 

[jblnut]

Now thats an impressive chicken coop. chickens and rodents seem to go well together, Do you have a plan for the those varmits?

The ***** will meet their demise with the concoction on the previous page. It didn't take long to find the first one last night. It looks like it works as he only made it about 10' away from the red tub with the ****-Die-Soon in it

 

[1949 caddyman]

I know you have probably said but how many birds, egg or meat production? Do the heaters warm up spots or the whole barn?

 

[jblnut]

I know you have probably said but how many birds, egg or meat production? Do the heaters warm up spots or the whole barn?

This is a broiler barn that will house 46,000 birds. The birds will be brought on site a few hours old and leave at 6.5lbs 48 days later. No growth hormones and 100% antibiotic free. Pretty crazy stuff really !!

The heaters will warm up half the barn at first and then the entire barn once the birds are large enough to need the extra space.

 

[jblnut]

The crew was onsite this morning about 7am and they were rather productive. I creepered on them on the cameras for a bit and the were consistently putting a sheet down every 30 seconds. There were 7 guys on the roof, one on a man lift lining the sheets up on the bottom, two putting the first screws in and four guys putting the rest of the screws in.


They got all of the West roof and all but 75' or so of the East room tinned today before it started to rain.


I have been eyeing up a brand new Channellock 480 20" slip joint pliers for a while now and the Diamond Tool & Horseshoe equivalent came up on eBay. $23 later it was mine. Whomever had this rarely used it as it is in REALLY good shape That is an 18" Rigid pipe wrench for size comparison ...

 

[Stuart in MN]

Watching them work must be like watching a video in fast forward.

Good score on the slip joint pliers.

 

[Terrick down Under]

Those chanellocks (multigrips) are so handy. I have two pair, for 4" pipe and smaller and they get used a lot. But unfortunately they are not that good looking, but they get cleaned everyday!

 

[jblnut]

Watching them work must be like watching a video in fast forward.

Good score on the slip joint pliers.

They really do move fast but still seem to be doing decent work. I was/am very excited about the pliers. I used them a few times today at work today already

Those chanellocks (multigrips) are so handy. I have two pair, for 4" pipe and smaller and they get used a lot. But unfortunately they are not that good looking, but they get cleaned everyday!

I gave them a good workout at work today and they are dirty already.
I cleaned them up best I could but you can only wash so much cow **** off before it becomes part of the tool

 

[jblnut]

Today whilst at my off the farm job I was on a dairy and their refrigerated air dryer wasn't working properly. I was told it has "only been a few weeks, we think..." It was tripping the GFCI outlet that it and the auto drain for the storage tank was plugged into. Not good.

This is the culprit.


This is the fallout. I opened the manual drain valve and it ran out like this for 2 solid minutes. It's an 80 gallon tank with a top infeed and top discharge. This sumbitch must have been half full of water !!


This is the drain out of another 120 gallon tank staged with the other 80. It ran out like this for almost 10 minutes. Again, NOT GOOD !!


Meanwhile, back at home .... the lumber yard truck made a visit again ....


They dropped off most of the interior finishing supplies. Including a 4' high stack of 4'x12' sheet rock that I have absolutly no idea where it's going. It is sitting outside though where it will get rained on tomorrow. Not one of the better choices of places as far as I'm concerned.


Mama Bear has been driving out there with the little people before they all come in the house to check things out


It sure looks dark in there with the roof on and no lights other than the ridge vents !!


This area without tin will be where the cool cells will be located. More on that later when they arrive

 

[C_F]

This is the fallout. I opened the manual drain valve and it ran out like this for 2 solid minutes. It's an 80 gallon tank with a top infeed and top discharge. This sumbitch must have been half full of water !!

So that's basically a compressor tank minus the compressor? Regardless, that's a lot of water. Sounds like someone needs to be reminded to drain those things now & then.

The chicken barn sure looks quite cavernous inside!

 

[jblnut]

So that's basically a compressor tank minus the compressor? Regardless, that's a lot of water. Sounds like someone needs to be reminded to drain those things now & then.

The chicken barn sure looks quite cavernous inside!

The tanks have auto drains but the GFI was tripped so they weren't working. It's crazy how much water built up in a few weeks.

They have a pair of 10hp rotary screw compressors that feed into an 80 gallon and a 120 gallon tank. There is also a 15hp piston pump that is mounted on it's own 80 gallon tank that is used as a spare. Once a month when I am there I fire up the piston pump and take one of the screws offline to change oil/filters and such. I do the other screw the next month. They end up having about 1000hrs of run time on them between oil changes so it's about right. This also makes sure the piston pump works as a backup as it gets run for a few hours each month.

The parlor uses A LOT of air. All the equipment except from the actual milking equipment itself is run with air. This is a double 24 parlor so they can be milking 48 cows at one time. It is a fun place to work that usually keeps me busy for the better part of a day each month.

 

[jblnut]

I can't figure out how to embed a video into a post so here's a pair of YouTube links of a drive through at 20mph through the barn. I've also noticed the camera on my 5yr old smart phone *****.

 

[C_F]

The tanks have auto drains but the GFI was tripped so they weren't working. It's crazy how much water built up in a few weeks.

Ahh, okay, now I'm with ya.
Wow, up to 48 cows milking at one time? Amazing!

 

[jblnut]

I've seen more break lights outside while people are driving by the last few weeks then ever before. I guess something this size causes a stir

The tin is all on, just waiting for the fan and vent holes to be cut in.

There is a VERY large pile of sheetrock inside the barn that I had no idea what was for and I think I figured it out. There are three rafters like this one and I do believe they will be used as fire wall's of sorts.

Well, the ol' lawn mower has been cutting pretty shittly lately so I broke out the angle grinder and blade balancer.

Gotta keep the whoebble wobble down. Make sure it's balanced and all is well. The ol' mower cuts WAY better with sharp blades !!!!!

 

[jblnut]

On the way back home with a load of feed I spied the barn about a mile away. Hard to miss with that shiny galvanized roof.


We've been talking that this might be a better way to unload feed so I thought I'd give it a try. So far I say "Meh" but the potential is there for it to be easier.


The shed is starting to fill up again !! Dad got most of the straw bales home today that were baled yesterday. A total of 158 bales off of just shy of 27 acres. Not too shabby.


While wandering around the barn site I noticed a few new things showed up today. This is the Kuul Cell hardware. <- Click it !! Made by Portacool it is just a giant evaporative cooling unit. There will be one on each side of the north end of the barn.



The backup generator is here too. You have no idea how hard I had to resist not to open it up !!


These brackets get screwed above the big fans at the end of the barn to keep snow from damaging the cones on the discharge side of the fans. They are bare metal. I think I'm going to see if I can get them powder coated somewhere.

 

[Terrick down Under]

Gee, there is a lot to a chook shed??
But yeah, it does look impressive.

 

[omrkr]

How do you move the manure from the building?

 

[C_F]

Yeah, I would definitely put something on those brackets. At least paint, but powder coating would be best in the long run.

That will be cool (get it?) to see the Kuul coolers up and running.

 

[jblnut]

How do you move the manure from the building?

The plan is to use a skid loader or two with high capacity buckets for the full cleanout. The full cleanout will only happen every two years. The partial cleanouts will be done with a Lewis Housekeeper. <- Youtube video !! The Housekeeper cleans the bedpack and puts the good bedding back down to be reused.

Yeah, I would definitely put something on those brackets. At least paint, but powder coating would be best in the long run.

That will be cool (get it?) to see the Kuul coolers up and running.

I'm leaning towards powder coating but have no idea how much it'll cost as I've never had anything powder coated before. I plan to bring them somewhere Friday to get it checked out.

The Kuul coolers help a lot but require a lot of maintenance to keep them clean inside and out.

 

[jblnut]

The whole barn looks like this inside now except for a few feet here and there. One would thing it makes sense to get it in the cavity properly right away but what do I know I guess.


The control room/office is partly done. This will house the generator, water system, electrical stuff and misc supplies.

 

[Lunker]

How many head of dairy do you have on the operation?

 

[jblnut]

How many head of dairy do you have on the operation?

Zero milk cows. I buy calves around 350lbs and feed them to market weight which is around 1,450lbs. I prefer a cross breed or tribred but usually have mostly Holsteins in the barn. There are usually between 100 and 130 head on site.

 

[jblnut]

The construction crew got the control room done-ish today and left about 10am.

 

[C_F]

The whole barn looks like this inside now except for a few feet here and there. One would thing it makes sense to get it in the cavity properly right away but what do I know I guess.

I wonder if they are going to run wiring through the wall studs & they left the insulation loose until the wiring is completed.

 

[jblnut]

I wonder if they are going to run wiring through the wall studs & they left the insulation loose until the wiring is completed.

From what I've seen in other barns the wiring will all be surface mount outdoor rated stuff. Nothing fancy. It appears the name of the game here is fast and cheap, which is fine to a point. I spent an hour tonight cleaning up messes in the barn and outside in the dirt. I don't understand the point of working in disarray. It has to take more time to step over all the junk than it does to clean it up !!

It also seems like they are wasting a lot of lumber but most of the scraps are short length cutoffs so I'm sure it's not actually all that much waste. It is a fairly large structure after all ....

It seemed fitting that with all the chicken barn talk that I make some chicken on the grill again. It is even Gold'N'Plump chicken

Years of dumping the grease and fat that cooks off down into the grill caught up with me tonight. It all tasted good and I got all the schmoo burnt out at the same time.

 

[Lunker]

Zero milk cows. I buy calves around 350lbs and feed them to market weight which is around 1,450lbs. I prefer a cross breed or tribred but usually have mostly Holsteins in the barn. There are usually between 100 and 130 head on site.

Thanks for clarifying you weren't milking. Sounds like a good business model you have going: cash crop, chickens, and the cows + off farm job. Keep up the momentum you really have the life!!

But the grill, man buy a new WEBER They are fantastic

 

[jblnut]

Thanks for clarifying you weren't milking. Sounds like a good business model you have going: cash crop, chickens, and the cows + off farm job. Keep up the momentum you really have the life!!

But the grill, man buy a new WEBER They are fantastic

The goal is to transition from having the off the farm job being the primary source of income to the farm providing most of the income. I enjoy what I do at work but working for someone else your whole life gets you nowhere in the end. I'm not trying to knock everyone that works for someone else but I see what my dad and grandpa have built up over the years and I want what they have when I am their age.

The grill stays. I have a soft spot in my heart for this ************* for some unknown reason. There is a Lodge cast iron griddle on it that performs magic with whatever is put upon it. The Mrs. has been eyeing up a new Large Big Green Egg and I just can't see spending that much $$$$ on a damn grill. I've had steaks off of one and they were amazing but $850 for a grill is nuts ....

 

[C_F]

Okay, I'll bite...why the socket holders bolted to the grill?

BTW, a similar grease fire happened to me last Monday. I had just thrown some juicy steaks on the grill, shut the lid & ran in to get tongs and a knife...I was gone less than a minute. When I returned, the whole damn thing was ablaze in there, turning one side of the meat black way too early.
I'm pretty sure I jinxed myself though, because as I headed out to the grill with meat in hand, my GF said "don't burn it this time", to which I replied "not a chance, I'll watch it like a hawk"!

 

[jblnut]

Okay, I'll bite...why the socket holders bolted to the grill?

BTW, a similar grease fire happened to me last Monday. I had just thrown some juicy steaks on the grill, shut the lid & ran in to get tongs and a knife...I was gone less than a minute. When I returned, the whole damn thing was ablaze in there, turning one side of the meat black way too early.
I'm pretty sure I jinxed myself though, because as I headed out to the grill with meat in hand, my GF said "don't burn it this time", to which I replied "not a chance, I'll watch it like a hawk"!

They are doing the only useful thing that horrid style of socket holder can do. They are utensil holders.

 

[jblnut]

I cranked up the ol' grinder mixer today and something must have gotten tweaked last time I used it because it had a leaky spot !!


Temporary fixed with a handful of grass shoved in there


The homebrew spout was a success. The corn doesn't go flying every which where anymore.


We keep whittling away at the meadow as it dries out.


Well apparently it isn't dry enough yet !! Pops buried it to the frame.

 

[C_F]

^^^ Woops! That'll leave some ruts.

Nice utensil holders!

 

[Terrick down Under]

LMFAO, ruts he says! excavations that big are usually designed as freeway off ramps!

 

[jblnut]

LMFAO, ruts he says! excavations that big are usually designed as freeway off ramps!

Oh that made my morning. I giggled a fair bit.

 

[peth]

Im guessing you are just cracking the corn with no screen in or one with pretty big holes. On our similar mill if the grain was spilling out the deflector like that youd better slow the auger or your shoveling down cause you were about to bring the tractor to its knees.

Memories of grinding 3-4 loads a week all shoveled or pailed in by hand arent lost quickly.

Im surprised you can use the bedding that long. Does it heat enough to negate a disease concern? I think guys around here do full cleanouts after every crop but I could be wrong.

 

[jblnut]

Im guessing you are just cracking the corn with no screen in or one with pretty big holes. On our similar mill if the grain was spilling out the deflector like that youd better slow the auger or your shoveling down cause you were about to bring the tractor to its knees.

Memories of grinding 3-4 loads a week all shoveled or pailed in by hand arent lost quickly.

I'm surprised you can use the bedding that long. Does it heat enough to negate a disease concern? I think guys around here do full cleanouts after every crop but I could be wrong.

The mill is disengaged totally, just running the corn though it to get it into the tub. If I ran corn that fast through the mill I don't believe the 886 would take kindly to that. The guy I bought it from ground 6 loads a day of hog feed with it and had a 175hp tractor on it. He said he could feed it in full steam but just barely.

Every 6 weeks that barn gets cleaned, just not down to bare concrete. The Housekeeper goes through and removed the cake, feathers and other unwanteds. It also fluffs the pack up and promotes heating so the ammonia gets cooked out ..... or so I'm told with this all ...

 

[jblnut]

Well the week started off with a trip to the local ER and then a trip to the Children's Hospital in Minneapolis.


Our youngest had Pyloric Stenosis which was causing him to throw up constantly and he wasn't gaining weight. Basically, the muscle that lets food pass through from the stomach to the intestines was too restrictive and needed to be fixed. They fixed him right up but not before giving us a few scares !! All is well now though and we're all home and I'm back at the usual grind like normal. The nurses and staff are amazing at the Children's Hospital. The Ronald McDonald House and all it's amenities for the patient's parents was far above what I ever expected. It truly is a cause worth donating to !! The nurses made him a name tag and put an owl on it because when he smiles he makes a sound that sounds like a "whooo" from an owl. Although it was a very nice place I hope to never have to go back.


On the way home we got to follow an ever familiar baler. Dad got about 60 big squares of wheat straw baled this afternoon that needed picking up !!


One of the fields he got baled up today ....


When we got to the other field I saw these two trailers of small squares. I totally forgot we were going to have a neighbor bale some for us. I want to use them in the hayshed that I put the calves when they first come onto my place. It's a pain to bed them with large squares so I thought this may work better.


This is one load unloaded and stacked. One to go. This is a lot of damn work !!


The guy I buy my crushed concrete from hauled all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday and got the driveway area around the chicken barn covered. I don't know how much they hauled but it looks like a lot !!



The area around the control room turned out a lot better than I expected. It all blended together very nicely.

 

[Growlertdi]

Glad to hear that your LEO is on the mend after his scare. My wife and oldest son love to volunteer at the RMH here in Columbus by bringing in a dinner for the families. It is a great place to have access to when needed.

how does crushed concrete compare to gravel for driveways?

 

[jblnut]

Glad to hear that your LEO is on the mend after his scare. My wife and oldest son love to volunteer at the RMH here in Columbus by bringing in a dinner for the families. It is a great place to have access to when needed.

How does crushed concrete compare to gravel for driveways?

I wish the RMH was closer, it was definitely a positive in a negative situation.

Crushed concrete is a tad more money but it is a much superior product. Once it gets wet and packed it almost turns back into concrete. It stays put and stays hard. I love it, we're trying to put it everywhere we can !!