Marshall County Journal, SD

Marshall County Journal, SD 07-11-07

New Sunset Barn High Tech

Editor's Note: This article is re-printed with permission from the July Lake Region Electric Cooperative Connections magazine.

The normally shy, quiet children of Sunset Colony are excited. Perhaps it is because a crowd of more than 100 neighbors, curious community members, and business leaders are wandering the halls of the colony's newly finished hog finishing barn, before the 6,000 animals it can hold have settled in. Or it may be the chance to win one of a table full of door prizes that suppliers have donated for this open house. More likely it is the effects of caffeinated beverages surging through their system.

One of the 12 finishing rooms in the new barn has been temporarily modified to accommodate a rare feast. The sweet smell of perfectly grilled pork loin draws in the adults, but the children have their eyes on serving tables piled with bags of potato chips and coolers filled with chilled pop-a rare treat for a group that typically makes everything they eat and drink from scratch.

"This is a wonderful day that these folks have worked long and hard for," beams Ron Friesen Vice President of Eastman Feeds.

The company provides the premix for the 120 tons of feed the colony will use every week as they grow thousands of hogs from 50 to 260 pounds in about two and a half months. To control costs, members grow and grind their own feed and a computer controlled hopper above each room mixes the perfect combination.

"This facility is so clean and new, it's almost a shame you have to put pigs in here," Friesen added. "Once they are up and running, I'm confident this will be a good investment."

The new facility was not cheap. It features some of the most advanced finishing equipment available on the market.

"Its mind boggling," confessed colony resident and electrician Jack Waldner. "The ventilation system, the feeding system, temperature control, even the cleaning system is all computerized. We can do it manually if we need to, but practically the only thing we have to do by hand is pull the plug on the manure pit."

Such technological advances produce an odd dichotomy to the outside world. The 140 residents of Sunset Colony live according to old country traditions. Colony members live and work together in a self-sustaining, frugal community. Everyone has a job to do and the fruits of those labors are pooled together. Men tend to the daily work of the 8,000-acre farming operation while the women cook, clean, sew much of the members clothes and line the colony pantries with hundreds of jars of pickles, tomatoes and other canned goods. Despite this thrifty approach, the colony is more than willing to spend money on machinery and technology that will boost its agricultural productivity. The new hog barn is a perfect example.

This is actually the second hog barn the colony has constructed. The first, completed three years ago, had similar computer controls but the new barn uses the latest advances in hog finishing equipment. One key new feature to help make all this bacon: the GEN II PLC Sorting System. The colony tried these scales in two rooms of the first barn and from that experience they outfitted every room with the units in the new facility.

"This is the ultimate sorting system," boasted Mike Berand General Manager of Sierens Equipment-the scale supplier. "Each hog is weighed before every feeding, about four times a day. From that information, these scales automatically sort the hogs and dictate what feed mix they should receive in order to achieve maximum finishing weight while controlling feed costs. The colony mixes two types (high protein and low protein) and the unit automatically selects which batch they will receive. It's also very durable. Each scale-there are 12 of them in this new barn-will operate about 2,000 times a day."

Waldner reported they have also taken steps to ensure diseases don't wipe out their profits. "To ensure biosecuirty, each room is independently maintained and has its own air controls. There's no transference and plexiglass windows mean we don't even have to enter the room to check on the hogs. In addition to space for an office, we also have showers for the workers. Every time a batch of hogs is removed and sent to market, the room will be sanitized to like-new condition."

There's little or no danger to contaminating the outside water table, either. During clean-up, all of the waste products are piped to a holding lagoon and then injected directly into area farm lands. Experts say the process is actually better than older hog finishing operations.

"When things are done correctly, putting hogs in confinement probably is actually improving water quality as opposed to the open, outside lots that we had in the past that were exposed to rainfall and runoff," says Greg Brenneman, agricultural engineer for Iowa State University Extension. "All the manure is contained. Essentially, it's a nutrient source."

Sunset Colony may have embraced 21st century technology in their efforts to boost productivity, however they still take a cost-concious approach. Members saved a great deal of expense completing the construction and electrical work themselves. Visitors could barely contain their amazement as they walked through the rooms of this flawless barn inspecting the results of the colony's dedicated labors.

"That's some pretty impressive wiring," offered Don Symens a Lake Region Electric member from Claremont. "They do good work, that's for sure."

Symens should know, he's an electrician. He's been friends with Jack and other members of Sunset Colony for many years. As he admired the new barn's state- of-the-art wiring system, he marvelled about the Hutterites' strength of character and tenacity. "Colony folks are really good people; from sun up to sun down, they're hard workers, but they are always ready to help or talk with a friend and they're very generous, too."

Hutterites are not an uncommon sight in South Dakota, where more than 6,000 Hutterites live in communes across the eastern half of the state. With their success in a number of farming practices and animal processing facilities, colony members have quickly become a powerful engine in the state's agriculture economy. Marshall County, where Sunset Colony is located, is the fifth largest for agricultural sales in the state.

The colony is also an impressive user of electricity.

"With all the computers and equipment, they are one of our co-op's top ten purchasers of electricity," noted Lake Region's Tim Mclntyre. "Sunset Colony is a great member. Their homes even have heat pumps."

Mclntyre says they also understand the importance of electric demand and supply constraints. "They voluntarily allow us to control their load during peak usage times. With such a critical need for uninterrupted power, we also worked with them to ensure adequate back-up generation in case of an outage."

Not counting this expansion, the South Dakota Pork Producers Council notes that the state's hog numbers have increased by nearly 500,000 in the past five years. With the ability to produce 6,000 hogs every three months, members of the Sunset Colony (located seven miles west of Britton) will no doubt move the numbers even higher.