To build or not to build

There is nothing that I love more than working cattle. Growing up, I was Dad’s little helper. I barely remember learning to walk, but I do remember riding in the truck to “help” Dad move heifers to and from pasture and sitting in the bunk while he grained them. Those are some of the earliest memories that helped spark what I love doing the most.

When Dad and I sort cattle together, it is like a rhythmic dance we have been practicing for years. It’s effortless, peaceful and stress free (most of the time). As long as we are working together, there isn’t a pen we can’t walk into or an animal we can’t get out. We know how each other thinks, and move without saying much at all.

Over the last year, we have pondered many ideas for improving the farm. One that kept resurfacing was building a new heifer shed. We have spent hours talking about where we’d put it, how we could improve our facilities and how we’d reorganize the heifers. It even went as far as looking at other people’s newer sheds to get some inspiration and ideas. But, the more we talked about it, the further away we got from the idea.

At first, all we could see were the advantages. A new building would make us more efficient and would be more convenient. We could improve our workflow and have most of the heifers in one location. I can picture hauling far fewer buckets of grain, hooking up the trailer less often and having everything under one roof. In my mind, it sounded almost luxurious. Still, something didn’t feel right about it.

Questions started flooding my mind. How much will this cost? Does it really make sense? How many years of use will we get from it? How long are we going to be in the dairy business? What purpose will these buildings serve if we eventually stop milking cows?

I am a lot of things, but flashy, unrealistic and impractical aren’t among them. I don’t need the newest equipment or the fanciest facilities to be proud of what we do. That’s not to say our farm is outdated. It is quite the opposite. My parents worked incredibly hard to build facilities that fit the flow of our operation, and they have served us well. There’s also a certain satisfaction in figuring out how to make what you already have work exactly the way you need it to.

When it’s time to move heifers or shift groups, we have a plan. Our system works. It gives us the flexibility we need to care for our animals well, and it allows us to manage each group effectively. Better yet, it gives Dad and I more opportunities to work side by side, practicing the dance I’ve loved for as long as I can remember.

Sure, we hook up the trailer more often than we would with a brand-new barn. Most of the time, I’m the one doing it anyway. What we have is quick and familiar, and at the end of the day, the same job gets done. It just happens differently.

Over the years, our buildings have housed more heifers than I can count. They’re easy to feed in, scrape and move through, and they make handling cattle straightforward. Most importantly, they’ve allowed us to provide excellent care for every animal that has lived in them. If the system works well, why change it?

Instead of pouring everything into something new, we’ve shifted our focus to making what we already have even better. We’ve been fixing up our existing heifer sheds and looking for ways to improve comfort in those pens. Adding our gap group has already been a tremendous improvement, easing the pressure on the rest of the system. We’ve also added more calf huts and are planning to remodel our weaning barn to make it more user-friendly and efficient.

None of those projects are flashy. They won’t stop traffic or earn bragging rights, but they’ll make our cattle more comfortable. They’ll make our work a little easier. They’ll strengthen a system that has served us well for years, and perhaps most importantly, they’ll give Dad and me plenty more chances to work cattle together — one familiar step at a time.

Abby Fairbanks is the third-generation on her family’s farm. She works full-time with her parents, Doug and Jody, where they milk 400 cows  near Anamosa, Iowa.