Farmweld

Shane and Kristine Christensen’s wean-to-finish building shell was ripped apart and most of the walls and roof were blown away. “You can’t pout about it forever. You have to move on and get over it,” says Shane Christensen.

After an F4 tornado leveled Shane Christensen’s two year old, 2,400-head, wean-to-finish barn last summer, he knew right away what he wanted to do in the aftermath.

“The first thing on my mind was getting everything organized to rebuild and keep going,” says Christensen, who raises pigs for the Lukes Brothers operation near Alden, MN.

“The whole barn was gone, and there was nothing inside (equipment-wise) to save,” says Christensen.

About 350 pigs, weighing approximately 150# (68.04 kg) died as a result of the trauma, and it took nearly 100 friends and neighbors, working through the night, to load and transport the surviving pigs to two empty, neighboring facilities. “It was quite a night,” Christensen says solemnly.

The original curtain-sided facility was configured with Farmweld 3-in-1 Gating system and Farmweld Jumbo Feeders. Knowing how well this system worked, Christensen wanted to rebuild with the same layout and equipment. “I told my builder that I wouldn’t switch from Farmweld,” he says. Tedd Grunzke with Shed and Shinola LLC was the contractor for the original and rebuilding projects.

This 3-in-1 Gating configuration allows Christensen to start 32 pigs in small, 11’ x 12’ (3.35 x 3.66 meters (M)) pens. Once pigs reach 20# (9.07 kg), back gates are opened to create bigger, 11’ x 24’ (3.35 x 7.32 M) pens. Gates remain in that position until pigs weigh 80# to 100# (36.3 kg to 45.4 kg). After that, Christensen can open sections of gates nearest to the curtains to allow pigs in two or three pens to circulate in a group of approximately 100 pigs.

“The way the feeders flip is the best thing for washing,” Christensen says of the Farmweld Flip-to-Clean™ option. “Some guys came to look at my barn as I was rebuilding, and I told them that feature is the number one back saver and slat saver.

“The feeders don’t get ripped off the gates, and you don’t bust holes in the slats because you aren’t moving the feeders around,” Christensen explains.

Christensen did make a slight change when he ordered gating: he opted for the Flip-latch option versus pull-rod type gates. He also switched to a radiant heating system in the new facility, versus the brooder heaters installed in the original facility.

Three months after the facility was rebuilt, Christensen and his wife, Kristine, opted to build a second facility that’s identical to the “tornado barn.” The Christensens also rent space at one of the farms where pigs were housed after the tornado.

“Right now, we are raising approximately 6,200-6,500 pigs,” says Christensen, who recently quit an off-farm job to concentrate full time on hog production. “This is what I’ve always wanted to do,” he says.

Minnesota Customer Rebuilds After Tornado