Manure Handling Systems Success Story
What Goes In Must Come Out.
Legacy Farms Trusts Patz to Handle It All
Rodney and Brenda Schloneger established Legacy Farms in Shell Lake, Wisconsin, in 1976 with 30 cows. Their first piece of Patz equipment was a Model 400 Barn Cleaner that is still in use. Expansion of their farm began in the 1990s when they grew from 45 cows to a 110 cow dairy. In 1997, the Schlonegers began TMR feeding with a Patz Model 9300 and installed two Model 8916 Conveyors for feed handling.
A new barn was built in 2001 for 400 cows and a new addition was added in summer of 2005. Total herd size, from calves to milking cows, is approximately 1,000.
"Total adult herd size is 515 cows and we're milking about 417 cows," says son Josh. "We'll be milking 500 cows by early next year."
A farm this size takes a lot of work and the Schlonegers have a workforce of seven children and two daughters-in-law to help keep operations running smoothly.
Legacy Farms is truly a family business! In addition to handling management duties, Rodney plants and harvests crops on 1,650 acres. Brenda performs farm office work and is in charge of calf chores.
"It's common for us to have 60+ calves on milk," says Brenda, adding, "There have been days when we've had seven or eight calves born!"
Their son Josh is responsible for feeding, fieldwork and equipment maintenance, while his wife Sherena handles all of the accounts receivable/payable and helps with the calves. Their son Reuben is herdsman and in charge of dairy herd management. Reuben's wife Emma is his helper and also assists with calf chores.
Five Schloneger children - Faith, 20; Jewel, 18; John, 14; Noah, 12; and Olivia, 7 - are living at home and help out wherever they are needed. In addition, ten hired employees at Legacy Farms help with milking and feeding.
"Even our 2-year-old grandchild comes to 'help' with chores," says Brenda. "This is still definitely a family farm."
According to Josh, Legacy Farms mixes 10 loads of TMR in their Patz Model 9300 four-auger mixer each day to feed approximately 830 animals. The ingredients vary for different groups, but they are able to mix a variety of feed including wheat straw, big square bales, alfalfa haylage, corn silage, soybean meal and cotton seed.
'What goes in must come out' - so Legacy Farms installed two Patz Model 1000 Alley Scrapers in the new barn built in 2001 to cut down on labor and keep their cows clean. The scraper has a shuttle system with two blades in each alley to cover the 380 feet length of the barn. With the shuttle system, one scraper blade pulls the manure to a specific point where it is then picked up by a second scraper blade and shoved into a grate-covered gravity flow system. The manure exits the barn by gravity flow about 440 feet to a manure pit.
"The alley scraper runs almost continuously - about every hour," says Josh, adding "we like how the scrapers perform."
They also like their Patz dealer, Dan Harding of Hwy 48 Farm Service, Inc., in Rice Lake. "We've been working together since 1991," states Josh. "Dan is always helpful in finding a solution to our needs."
From feed handling to manure handling, Patz has a solution to suit the needs of small to large dairy operations. Contact your local Patz dealer for more information.