Knees, hips and back hurt from milking cows in the tie stall barn? A growing number of Western Wisconsin dairy producers have developed a new enthusiasm for milking cows by building a lower cost parlor and freestall. No longer do their bodies hurt. Many dairy families have seen a reduction in their labor requirements for feeding and milking, and improved milk production without having to build a large dairy expansion. They have also seen increased cow comfort by moving cows to a freestall barn. The concept of lower cost parlors and different dairy housing systems will be illustrated at the Dunn/ St. Croix Spring Dairy Tour, Tuesday, April 7, 2009 from 1:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. The tour hosts will be Steve Olson east of Connorsville and the Tellijohn Dairy east of Forest. The tour will start at the Olson farm at 1:00 p.m. The Olson’s have installed a swing 6 Schlueter straight rail parlor in their dairy barn. They also have a compost barn with 45 cows. The tour continues at 2:15 p.m. at the Mark and Lee Tellijohn farm. They have installed a used double 10 milking parlor with automatic takeoffs in a new building.  Interestingly, they have built a 120-cow sand bedded freestall and an 85-cow compost barn.  This will be an excellent opportunity to compare sand bedded freestall and compost barns. David Kammel, UW-Extension Ag Engineer, specializing in low-cost parlors and dairy housing facilities will also be present to discuss important features of modernizing dairy facilities. The Olson farm is located 1.5 miles east of Connorsville on Hwy 64, turn North on 190^th St, farm is ¼ mile on the right. The fire number is N12588. The Tellijohn farm is located 1 mile east of Forest on Hwy 64, turn north on 280^th St., farm is 1¼  miles north on 280^th St. on the left. The fire number is 2030.

For more information contact the St. Croix UW-Extension Office at 715-684-3301, ext 5 or the Dunn County UW-Extension Office at 715-232-1636.