HomeMy WebLinkAboutFarming '89, 1989-03-22, Page 4A4. FARMING ‘89, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 1989.
Some animals rescued will never be the same
Jim [standing] and Siebolt Siertsema did a good deal of planning before
selecting the design for their new barn. Here they study plans in the
stable area.
Continued from page A3
dairy barn and travelled there twice
daily to milk the animals.
The cattle’s production level has
gone down said Mr. Siertsema.
Along with the trauma of the fire
and the move, six or seven cattle
are still in the herd that suffered
from burns and smoke inhalation.
“The cows damaged in the lungs
will never do as good as they did,”
said Mr. Siertsema. Other cows
had badly disfigured backs and
scorched udders but the Siert
sema’s hope these cattle will soon
produce to full capacity. “The vet
advised us to look after them.”
Of the total loss, eight dead were
heifers. Ten heifers have been
bought for their replacement.
“There will be a stretch when there
is no replacement,” said Mr.
Siertsema because of the 14 calves
that died.
Other than the loss of these
cattle, the fire was an extra blow
because the Siertsema’s had just
finished remodelling their barn the
day before the fire. “We had just
completed putting in the windows
and mats on Saturday afternoon in
the new addition the day before the
fire,” remembers Jim Siertsema,
the son of owners Siebolt and
Annie Siertsema. There are also
two daughters, Marjorie and Nancy
in the Siertsema family.
The new addition was a heifer
barn and most of it was spared in
the fire.
Other renovations included a
new stable cleaner and manure
pad. These renovations costed
$130,000 and were just completed
in September. An individual feed
ing system was put in the bam
three years ago.
Mrs. Siertsema remembers say
ing “We’re finally done and we’re
never going to do this again,” after
the 50 foot by 30 foot heifer bam
was completed. The addition fea
tured maternity pens, extra cow
pens, extra stables and natural
ventilation.
Fortunately, the manure pad,
which was half the cost of the
construction was untouched by the
fire. However payments are still
being made on the renovations.
“We’re still making payments but
there isn’t anything to show for
them,” said Mrs. Siertsema.
“We were setting the barn up to
be efficient and we were making it
easier for our son to take over,”
said Mr. Siertsema.
“The barn was being made
easier for one man to run,” said
Jim Siertsema.
Luckily for Jim and his parents
the two silos on the farm were
spared. The silos were directly
beside the barn but the foremen
kept water on them and the fire was
spreading in the other direction,
said Mrs. Siertsema. Only the
controls in the side of the silos were
wrecked.
Since the silos were spared,
there was still some roughage to
feed the cattle. Neighbours and
friends transported 16 feet of the
silo contents to Hewitt’s bam.
All the hay and straw in the barn
was eaten by the fire along with the
grainaries. Seirtsema’s have al
ready bought 6000 bales of hay for
the cattle although lots of hay and
straw was donated.
Once the shock and distress of
the barn fire began to recede, the
Siertsema’s decided what they
were going to rebuild. The arrange
ments were completed after . a
massive clean-up by friends and
neighbours the Wednesday after
the fire.
This month of planning led the
Siertsema’s across the province as
Tom Clark, salesperson for Flem
ing, and Bob Millan, OMAF spe
cialist showed the family different
designs of dairy bams.
Rebuilding was necessary to
receive the insurance money. Mr.
Siertsema said if they hadn’t
rebuilt they would have only re
ceived half of the insurance money.
Mr. Siertsema said they would
have rebuilt anyway. “The cost of
buying a new farm would be higher
than rebuilding. Instead of fixing
up another barn we decided to put
a little extra money into the new
bam.”
Ideas for the building of the new
barn were received by several
sources. Jim’s former classmates
of Ridgetown College gathered one
day to design the bam. While in
school, these students had ventur
ed out every Thursday to look at
different bams, Jim said.
Mr. Siertsema’s brother, Murray
was instrumental in designing the
new structure. Murray Siertsema’s
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barn burnt down a few years ago so
he had lots of helpful advice said
Siebolt.
Emerging out of all the advice
were a few repeated themes; a
one-storey bam with the separate
hay barn; two rows of stables for
easier milking (the old barn had 3
rows of stables which was cumber
some for milking); a separated calf
nursery; calf pens instead of stalls;
continuing with a tie-stall opera
tion; and designing the bam to
accommodate round bales.
The blueprints were designed by
Fleming and incorporated all these
ideas into the design except for the
one-storey concept.
“We were kind of forced to build
the barn the way it was,” said Mr.
Siertsema. The fire had left the two
silos and the new heifer bam
standing which were on either side
of the old bam site. There is also a
large hill on the side of the bam
where the silos stand.
“In order to build two separate
structures, the hill by the bam
would’ve had to be moved,” Mr.
Siertsema said, “The cost of mov
ing the hill would be so expensive,
we’re just as far ahead to build a
two-storey barn.”
Construction on the new barn
began on January 9.
The barn is larger than the old
one because the two rows of
tie-stalls necessitated increase.
The new structure is a rectangular
130 feet by 60 feet design, compar
ed to the 90 feet by 65 feet size of
the old bam. The two rows of
stables initiate a simpler manure
dispersal system. Stable cleaners
will follow the length of the
tie-stalls.
The separate calf nursery in the
bam houses 20 calves. Mr. Siert
sema said they resorted to pens
insteads of stalls so the calves
could move around. The old bam
had stalls for the calves who had no
room to turn around. Now the
calves will get more exercise he
said. The calf barn also has
separate ventilation.
Another change in the new bam
are the adjustments made to ac
commodate round bales. Jim learn
ed at school that round bales were
the way to go so the mangers were
Continued on page A6