Adult Cow Barn E

DESCRIPTION

Mystic Valley Dairy is home to Jenny-Lou Registered Holsteins, an excellent herd of 400 cows with a BAA of 105.2%. Owner Mitch Breunig believes herds should not need to breed for smaller stature, rather our barns need to be built to better accommodate the cows.

In April 2010, the classic 12″ brisket board and concrete in front of the stalls was removed to lengthen the resting space of the stall bed in the two mature cow groups. Stall length was very short at 8′ long along the sidewall and 14.5′ on the head-to-head platform. Old freestall dividers were replaced with Norbco Megabend 36″ exterior diameter dividers and single-beam mounting system throughout the barn. Stalls were widened from 48″ to 51″ wide for the mature cow groups, however stalls were still being bent and wrecked by the large size of the cows lying diagonally due to overall short stalls and inadequate lunge space.

In August 2011, an 18″ extension was added to the sidewalls of the west half of the barn for the two mature cow groups to allow cows to lie straight in the stall and have adequate lunge space for rising and lying down.