Components and Information
Contractor & Architect: Ted McAllister
Building Specs:
36’ x 224’ with a 24’ x 24’ kitchen
Doors: Midland Overhead Doors
Posts and Trusses: Meuser Lumber
Wall Panels: Roll-O-Matic Barn Curtains
Trusses: GPB Engineered Trusses 40’ – 4/12 – 14” OH – 4’O.C.
Farm Accessories: Ritchie Automatic Livestock Waterers (www.RitchieFount.com) – OmniFount series, FarmTek Bird Netting, Agri-Plastics Ultra Flex-Pen, Agromatic Adjustable Gates, Holm & Laue Milk Taxi
Ted McAllister is a seventh-generation farmer and helps run the McAllister Family Dairy Farm in New Vienna, Iowa. McAllister spent a lot of time researching other calf barns to design the perfect calf barn for the family operation. McAllister utilized resources through the Dairyland Initiative from the University of Wisconsin, feed company Vita Plus, and their nutrition consultant (Jake Guenzler with Pro AGtive Technologies) to design and draft a highly efficient and spacious new calf barn.
“Basically, we wanted to get all calves from day old to 5-6 months all under one roof to better utilize labor and workflow,” said McAllister. “The design allows us to eliminate dealing with the elements while not sacrificing the space, ventilation, and nutrition the calves need to grow and be healthy to become to the next generation of cows in the herd.”
One of the more unique features of the barn is the calf kitchen where formula is prepared onsite and then delivered with the Milk Taxi. The efficient design also incorporated the grain auger delivering grain directly into the kitchen to remove the chore of hauling grain in and out of the elements. Each design choice was selected to maximize calf comfort and farm efficiency. This includes the roomy group pens, ample sunlight, natural fresh air ventilation, and high efficiency OmniFount waterers from Ritchie Industries based in Conrad, Iowa.
The McAllister Dairy Farm’s new calf barn is also a familiar backdrop to videos produced by Ted’s wife, Megan, who has become a popular dairy advocate on social media. You can learn more about McAllister Farms on any social media platform by searching for megan_dairygirl.
