The Rural Voice, 2002-04, Page 34A whole
new
outlook
Ashift to
contracting has
changed Acre T
Farms' ideas about
farm buildings
By Keith Roulston
The barn where Acre T farms
held an open house near
Bayfield recently stood in
stark contrast with the barn viewed
by 1200-1500 farmers near Walton
back in 1994. That barn caused a stir
with its 39,000 square foot capacity.
This barn, constructed on an existing
farm site, would hold 800 feeder pigs
in an all -in -all-out system. That barn
was representative of the new style
of Ontario hog barn, built to endure
the rigors of modern hog production
with sandwich wall concrete. This
barn was more like an earlier
generation of hog barn, with steel
covered stud walls, but also with
Targe curtain -wall side openings and
ridgepole chimneys of a naturally
ventilated barns.
The barn represents a change in
philosophy on the part of Acre T
farms as well as lessons learned by
operations of many barns over the
30 THE RURAL VOICE
New barns being constructed for Acre T
contractors (the one at the top opened
near Bayfield in February) look a lot
different than their first big barns that
wowed fellow producers (bottom) in 1994.
Inside the barns use dry feed systems that
are simple to operate (directly below.) _
i