A MODEL FOR SMOOTH TRANSITIONS

Dan Nelson and 9 year old daughter and helper, Danae, kneel in one of the newly-remodeled nursery rooms at Dan's farm in New Providence, IA.

When Dan Nelson and his wife Diane decided to sell their 300 sows and convert their farrowing and gestation facilities into nursery and finisher barns (respectively), they knew some design acrobatics would be involved. The New Providence, IA, couple made the switch this past February from farrow-to-finish operators to contract producers for Diane’s father, Ken Cook.

Designing the nursery

Dan’s original thought was to some how blend the farrowing barn’s existing wire crate flooring, creep flooring, concrete slats and solid concrete walkways into a suitable nursery surface. Another option was to rip out the existing equipment and install plastic nursery flooring, such as the Farmweld Flooring System, throughout the facility, over the concrete slats and walkways.

Dan assumed installing the Farmweld Flooring System would be more expensive versus adapting the older materials. However, when Dan compared the costs, installing the Farmweld Flooring System in the facility's four nursery rooms was a competitively priced option.

Dan was also convinced the Farmweld Flooring System provided a better option for pig comfort, providing pigs with excellent traction for movement and a warm surface for resting versus a patchwork of materials.

Farmweld’s Kevin Schnarre worked closely with Dan to determine the best pen layouts. Feeders were situated in the center of the pens, directly over a solid cement area. “That encouraged pigs to dung away from the feeder, over the slats,” says Dan.

Schnarre and the Farmweld designers also helped to configure a gating pattern for the 21’ x 17.5’ (6.4 m x 5.33 m) pens that allowed Dan to create smaller pens when needed. The facility holds 1,200 head. Small gates between the feeders and the fenceline and walls can be added so Dan can contain pigs for vaccinations and easily move pigs during load-out.

Finishing facility remodel

In addition to a new nursery facility, the Nelsons created a new finishing facility by converting their former gestation facility. Originally, this facility held 248 gestation crates in one room plus a small breeding area in another. Dan worked with Farmweld to design pens that could operate as 50– or 100–head pens. The gates nearest the alleyway can be opened to create a wider, 10’ (3.05 m) alleyway for easy sorting and pig movement.

Dan opted for Farmweld feeders in both facilities. "Farmweld feeders are easy to adjust and feed flows well," he says.

He opted for the Farmweld Flip-to-Clean™ feature so the feeders can be rotated in place for cleaning and drying. “Those make it a lot easier during cleaning,” says Dan.

Smooth installation

Dan installed the equipment with the help of friends and family. “Farmweld’s blueprints were easy to follow – all the posts had numbers and were labeled,” he says. “It all went together so easy and fast.”

Dan also gives Farmweld kudos for outstanding service. “Even after the sale, they kept in close touch with us to make sure everything was going in well and working according to the plan,” he says.