Tri-State Neighbor: South Dakota Farm Newspaper

Kinder to cattle and friendlier to the environment, a new state-of-the-art cattle feeding facility near Viborg, S.D., is an example of what could become more commonplace on the prairie landscape in years to come.

“These new confinements are probably the wave of the future,” said Fran Ingalls, district manager of the state of South Dakota’s Turner Conservation District at Parker, S.D.

The project’s owners are Merlin Vannorsdel and his son, Scott, who operate a 1,700-head cattle operation and farm 1,600 acres northwest of Viborg.

The 770-foot-by-100-foot metal structure with a high, sloped roof is designed to house and feed up to 1,800 cattle.

“This was a bean field a year ago,” Vannorsdel said of the new site.

Previously, the Vannorsdels operated a typical open feedlot on land where the Turkey Ridge Creek passed through - and in the area which is the focus of the Conservation District’s Turkey Ridge Water Quality Project.

More than 50 years ago, Vannorsdel’s parents started the beef operation just east of where the new facility sits.

While the Vannorsdels weren’t required to take this step by any government agency, they knew they needed to do something or stay under 1,000 head, as required by state CAFO permitting regulations.

“We could have played the numbers game and kept the cattle under 1,000,” Vannorsdel said.

But since they were not in compliance with Department of Natural Resources standards, if anyone had complained, they could have been forced to make changes. In looking at other options, Vannorsdel didn’t want the upkeep of an animal waste lagoon.

“We were trying to be proactive rather than reactive,” Vannorsdel said. “We did a lot of research before we took this step,” which included looking at 17 similar facilities in South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.

Agricultural engineering firm Eisenbraun and Associates of Yankton, S.D., designed the project.

Todd Van Maanen, vice president at Eisenbraun and Associates, said rainwater never reaches manure under the high, sloped roof. Excess moisture is absorbed by bedding materials, such as straw or cornstalks.

The building’s foundation is a six-inch concrete floor, reinforced with rebar and sealed at every seam. Six-foot concrete walls surround three sides of the structure with a concrete feeding trough on the south side.

Once a week, bedding and manure are removed with a loader and placed in a bunker on the south side of the facility. Any rainfall that falls into the bunker is collected in a concrete basin.

Open walls on the north and south provide ventilation to keep cattle cool in the summer and evaporate excess moisture and condensation.

A curtain wall on the north side can be lowered by electric controls to protect cattle from north wind or driving snow or rain.

On the southern front side is a 50-foot working bay equipped with a squeeze chute, loading dock and sick pen.

As part of the Vannorsdels’ approved nutrient management plan, the manure and bedding mixture cleaned from the pens each week will be recycled into the land to fertilize the fields.

The structure’s roof is designed at an angle to shade cattle at all times during the hot summer days. And, its orientation to the south maximizes the use of the sun in the winter to keep animals warm and dry.

Shade, ventilation and dryness combine to provide a healthier environment for animals.

“The claim is that they will see a pound better gain from animals in the environment,” which helps pay for the investment, Van Maanen said. Such structures are more expensive than a traditional open feedlot.

“The payoff comes in improved gain,” Van Maanen said.

Vannorsdel said the investment was significant, so he hopes the facility has a long useful life.

Ingalls said some grant money was available for engineering, but the Vannorsdels covered construction costs without any government funding.

As part of their involvement in the project, Eisenbraun and Associates oversaw the zoning and approval process.

“Zoning is always the most difficult issue with any feedlot or animal project. In this case, Merlin had been there a long time. The neighbors knew him and it was a fairly painless process to get through,” Van Maanen said.

Vannorsdel talked with his neighbors about his plans prior to the zoning process.

“There was zero opposition,” he said.

Also, this is a system the South Dakota Department of Natural Resources is comfortable with, making that approval process painless as well, Van Maanen said.

There are significant economic benefits for the state in adding livestock production, Van Maanen said, and he sees environmentally-friendly plans like this as a way to develop the cattle industry.

“Sites like this do an exceptionally good job of protecting the environment,” he said.

Construction began in April and was completed in October.

The biggest change in the operation is cleaning the manure and bedding out once a week and re-bedding the pens, Vannorsdel said.

While the new system will be easier to maintain during the winter and spring, it will probably require more work during the summer months, he said.

The Vannorsdels are hoping to see better feed efficiency and higher yields.

They’ll also gain from the nutrient-rich manure and bedding mix placed on their land.

“We have our own fertilizer factory here,” Vannorsdel said.

With more consistency and higher efficiency, “the betterment is yet to come this winter and spring,” said Scott Vannorsdel.

Comments »

Tara wrote on Mar 11, 2008 8:02 PM:

" "Kinder to cattle"?? Only to those people who have never seen pasture raised cattle feeding on natural vegetation, with room to move and interact. Kinder than typical confinement operations, potentially, but a lesser of two evils. Please don't sugar-coat this type of farming, Van Maanen said it himself, "The payoff comes in improved gain."
Support local farmers and hope "these new confinements (will not be) the wave of the future". "

andy wolfinger wrote on Feb 7, 2008 7:10 PM:

" I really like the idea of feeding cattle this way.I am from ohio and we have veary wet weather.we feed out 450 head of cattle and i would like to expand.Is there any way I would be able contact you.I would like to know how much something of invesment to build a feedlot like this.thank you for your time.my email LJU_2000@msn.com "

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