New Dairy

[pilot-werx]

How many cows/freestalls? What are you doing for manure storage and feed?

As of this morning we are starting with 25 Normande Cattle as they produce a desirable milk for making cheese and everything will be a free stall. If I can make it work, I am going to try robotic milking machines and a robotic manure scraper.

I am not sure what we will end up doing for manure or feed at this point.

 

[boxygen]

Our family business is Kate's Homemade Butter (Official Website of Kate's Homemade Butter). We will never be able to care for the head of cattle that we would need to supply our cream needs, but we will have a small herd of cattle to supply our R&D lab. Going in shortly after the main building is finished will be the milking parlor and cattle barn. We will then be able to bring raw milk into the plant and run it through our HTST pasteurizer.

I was able to use the SIPs, Marvin's, and Hardie Plank as I was the one who did most of the engineering to prove it would work. The cold reality is that where I am the GC/engineer the cost per foot to do the building is similar as going with someone like Butler and buying their wall and roof system. The hardest part was finding a contractor that was willing to try building it. There were many nights I sat running numbers and simulations to verify that it would work... I have had a lot of interest from others so I am hoping when I am done with this one, I can share my design with folks who would like to do something similar.

For residential, you can use the same spray foam that you put in the walls for the floor. You do not need any specialized density foam or have to spend $40 per sheet for the 4'x8'x2" blue board. Just spray the foam and staple the PEX (RHT Foam Stapler and Staples). Once stapled, pour the concrete...

It is great to finally some time to breath and to share with everyone. thank you for looking!

Ah ha! I knew there had to be more to the story. Looks like a retail/showroom/working dairy. I can see why you went with the higher end building products for that. I've installed a ton of Marvin windows and even been to the Marvin window Factory in Minnesota but Ive never seen them in a barn. It makes more sense now.
We dont use a lot of real butter in our household but when we do it is Kate's. Nothing better with lobster Someone was just telling me about the company and how they essentially make all their product in a house in Old Orchard. Interesting to put all these pieces together. When will you be open for tours???:licking: I'll bring some freshly baked bread.:thumbsup:
Ive done staple up radiant, quick track radiant, warm board radiant, radiant with crete hete, radiant tied to wire mesh, and electric radiant. I see what you are saying with spray foam and Im sure it works well, I just dont seem how the ecomomics works out in favor. We typically figure that the cost of installed ridid insulation is around $.90-1.00/SF and that is 2" thick. Spray foam is around 1.00/BF and you will need at least two inches. So that works out to twice the cost of spray foam. You would have some slight savings because you probably dont need a separate vapor barrier. Also the irregularity of the surface of spray foam would make it difficult to figure concrete quantity accurately. I dont doubt it works well and If you like it thats all that matters.
I'm guessing you are a mechanical engineer? Did you model the building to get an energy load?

 

[pilot-werx]

Ah ha! I knew there had to be more to the story. Looks like a retail/showroom/working dairy. I can see why you went with the higher end building products for that. I've installed a ton of Marvin windows and even been to the Marvin window Factory in Minnesota but Ive never seen them in a barn. It makes more sense now.
We dont use a lot of real butter in our household but when we do it is Kate's. Nothing better with lobster Someone was just telling me about the company and how they essentially make all their product in a house in Old Orchard. Interesting to put all these pieces together. When will you be open for tours???:licking: I'll bring some freshly baked bread.:thumbsup:
Ive done staple up radiant, quick track radiant, warm board radiant, radiant with crete hete, radiant tied to wire mesh, and electric radiant. I see what you are saying with spray foam and Im sure it works well, I just dont seem how the ecomomics works out in favor. We typically figure that the cost of installed ridid insulation is around $.90-1.00/SF and that is 2" thick. Spray foam is around 1.00/BF and you will need at least two inches. So that works out to twice the cost of spray foam. You would have some slight savings because you probably dont need a separate vapor barrier. Also the irregularity of the surface of spray foam would make it difficult to figure concrete quantity accurately. I dont doubt it works well and If you like it thats all that matters.
I'm guessing you are a mechanical engineer? Did you model the building to get an energy load?

Indeed, the product is made in the house we grew up in. We are very proud of the products we have created and take great pride that all of our products have won top honors at the World Dairy Expo. We keep thinking about doing a retail building in the front. I originally designed that first as it was going to be attached to the manufacturing facility. What makes this whole project tough is that I have to keep the FDA and USDA happy.

For me, the cost of the radiant with foam is that I have about 18,000 sqft to cover. Crete heat was never an option as it does not meet the new energy code for our area. With me doing the design and writing the code for the machine that makes the foam panels, I can basically order them in any thickness and any length which will make the install much faster.

I am hoping to be up and running this fall and you are more than welcome to come check it out. Just send me a message on here. I am also there nearly everyday so if you want to see where I am at in construction I would love to show you the building. Where are you located?

I am a mechanical engineer by education with a strong background in structural. Before coming back into the family business I spent many years designing pharmaceutical, beverage and dairy plants. It has been fun to be able to finally incorporate everything that I have liked from every other plant into our plant.

I have not done the energy load yet but I do not expect it to be much... I hope! It is going to be interesting as inside the rooms will be completely wide open. There are no false ceilings...

 

[whitedogone]

How do you install the ground plane on top of foam sprayed on dirt?

 

[boxygen]

So the entire frame is custom? Who did you have fab it?
Im in the Freeport area, where is this construction taking place?
Do you ever plan on having this open to the public kinda like Smiling Hill Farm does?

 

[atgreene]

Nice job! I'd love a tour. I'm assuming that the barn isn't in OOB? My wife is from Saco, when she saw the pics she laughed and said "no way thats in OOB".

It's nice to see a small Maine company compete, good luck!

 

[pilot-werx]

How do you install the ground plane on top of foam sprayed on dirt?

I am not sure I understand what you are asking? Once all of the drain lines and underground utilities are in place, I will get the final grade established then spray right over the dirt. The closed cell foam will form the vapor barrier and provide the insulation in one process.

 

[pilot-werx]

Nice job! I'd love a tour. I'm assuming that the barn isn't in OOB? My wife is from Saco, when she saw the pics she laughed and said "no way thats in OOB".

It's nice to see a small Maine company compete, good luck!

The new building is not located in OOB and honestly I do not think it would fit the character of the town. It is located on RT111 in Arundel just down the road from the Biddeford shopping center.

 

[whitedogone]

I am not sure I understand what you are asking? Once all of the drain lines and underground utilities are in place, I will get the final grade established then spray right over the dirt. The closed cell foam will form the vapor barrier and provide the insulation in one process.

So you just lay the ground plane on top of the sprayed foam? The foam jobs i've seen are a little rough. It seems like the plane wouldn't lay very flat.

 

[pilot-werx]

So the entire frame is custom? Who did you have fab it?
Im in the Freeport area, where is this construction taking place?
Do you ever plan on having this open to the public kinda like Smiling Hill Farm does?

The entire steel frame is custom. After we settled on how we wanted the building to look conceptually and where we wanted the frames to land, it was sent to steel and wood companies. I initially was going to try to do it as a timber frame but trying to span 80' without a column was too much. I then tried the glue laminated arch route and that did not work well either. I then left it in the hands of the steel company to do the final engineering given our climate and wind conditions. The company that ended up supplying the steel was Varco Pruden. Great company and great quality.

It will indeed be open to the public. We are also excited that we will have the opportunity to bring the local school kids in to teach them a little bit of what we do. Plus it is a great excuse to fire up the ice cream machine to make a true buttermilk based dessert! Since our customers are the ones who have allowed us to grow, the least we can do is to show our customers our new home.