The Hercules Arm deadstock remover was a significant point of interest during the Copper Creek Pork open house near Palmerston on June 17.
The ride-on solo operator deadstock mover provides a tiltable, telescopic boom and 2500 lbs winch capacity.
“We’re both getting older, and often it’s just me in the barn alone. (The Hercules) is an automated cart you ride on,” said Kristy Perrin, the farm’s co-owner. “You can bring it up to your dead animal, strap them on and take them outside without hurting your back.”
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There was plenty of discussion about whether the machine was worth the investment. Still, a few minutes of driving it into the pens, and its tight turn radius and manoeuvrability won the doubters over.
In addition to the new 2,000 head hog finishing operation, Perrin, her partner Jason Schneider and his two teenage sons run beef cattle, farm 500 acres and have a towing company.
“We’re trying to build a future for them,” said Perrin. “That’s what we’re building here.”
While their focus is on the future, the two were careful to build a barn that could age gracefully and meet any potential livestock regulation amendments.
The approximately 22,000-foot fully automated, fan-ventilated finishing barn is split into two, allowing the operators to prepare two batches of pigs simultaneously. The penning allows for smaller groups of pigs if needed, and automatic sorters in the barn automatically group the livestock by weight.
“We went with a fully ventilated barn just for better air quality in the barn,” said Jason Schneider, co-owner.
The air is brought in through gable louvres and air inlets throughout the barn and pulled down past the pigs into the pit, where it, along with all the gases and dirty air, is sucked out through a chimney-style fan, increasing the biosecurity.
“That is the primary ventilation system, but there is a secondary ventilation system with a 24-inch fan and 36-inch fan,” he said. “As the weather gets hotter, those fans can kick on and keep the barn cooler.”
The integrated sprinkler system emits a fine mist which keeps the pigs cool and damp but serves double duty pre-soaking the empty barn for cleaning and sanitizing efficiency.
Kristy Perrin said the decision to have John Ernewein Ltd. build seamless Royal Building Systems walls into their operation plans was a no-brainer. The construction is quick, durable and airtight, eliminating rodent issues and the disease and damage that goes along with them.
“It’s all one sheet from bottom to top, so there’s no join for moisture to get into or water to get into, so there’s less chance of things rotting,” said Schneider.
Perrin said it didn’t make sense in the long run when they priced out the difference of using a half-high Royal wall and studding the rest.
The new build provides the pigs with more than the standard square footage per animal currently mandated to ensure the building will stand the test of time, and they took advantage of a government grant to install a composter. Perrin said that the custom four-bunker-style composter built by Gulutzen Concrete increases biosecurity by maintaining a closed-loop system for deadstock.
