April 2, 1998

Plan ahead before fixing tornado-damaged livestock buildings

The recent tornadoes and high winds in southwest and south- central Minnesota not only destroyed community and residential buildings, but also damaged many livestock housing facilities.

After the initial shock, livestock and poultry producers are now facing major decisions concerning those partially- or totally- destroyed barns, says Larry Jacobson, an engineer with the University of Minnesota's Extension Service. Instead of simply fixing up the damaged facility or rebuilding a new unit on the same site, Jacobson suggests asking yourself several questions.

For example:

• Do I (and others in the operation) want to continue raising livestock on this farmstead?
• How much will it cost to repair the damage to the existing building?
• If building new, should the unit be located where the old barn stood? ú
• What about manure handling? Is there room to construct a larger barn? Is this farmstead too small for more buildings?

All of these questions and more have probably crossed your mind if you were one of the unlucky people who had storm damage. Although the storm was tragic, try to look at it as an opportunity to improve your facilities. This may be a way to streamline a pig flow problem, consolidate your manure handling, expand a dairy operation, or relocate a facility to a more desirable site.

Answers to many of these questions are difficult, Jacobson says, but you need to make them with as much information as possible during the time period you set. Decisions about staying in the livestock business may be the easiest to make. Deciding to build new or fix the old unit should be made after getting some solid bids on renovating costs.

It's probably better to start from scratch if the repair costs are more that two-thirds the cost of a new barn, Jacobson says. The other questions fall under general farmstead planning and design concepts for facilities. A good source for this type of information is the MidWest Plan Service (MWPS). A You can get a catalog of MWPS publications from the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Department, University of Minnesota, 1390 Eckles Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, phone (612) 625-9733.

It's unfortunate, but most of the information you need at this critical time is going to be specific to your situation. The general guidelines that are outlined in publications (MWPS and others) are only that: guidelines. Don't be afraid to seek outside opinions plus consultants' input. Jacobson says a $500 to $1,000 investment for planning services probably will save you thousands of dollars if the building "system" is not put together properly.

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Source: Larry Jacobson ,(612) 625-8288
Writer: Jack Sperbeck, EDS, (612) 625-1794, jsperbeck@extension.umn.edu

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