by Jason Hasert

        Welcome to the first 2004  Down on the Model Farm.   For the next few months we are going to tour collectors model farms.  These guest columns will tell you why they made their displays why they use certain equipment and talk about other interesting pieces of their displays.  This month we look at Bill Eberle's dairy display.  In February we will look at an all classic AGCO farm and in March we will tour Tim Grube's Seed Corn Farm.

Syrinx Dairy

by Bill Eberle

Though Syrinx Dairy is fictional, its based as if it were our company’s "next" farm.  I'm part of a company called Milk Source.  We encompass three large dairies and one very large calf raising operation in eastern Wisconsin.  I work as the GM of one of our dairies, Omro Dairy.

I've been building displays for 20 years.  I started when I was 8 years old, using shoe boxes as barns and tennis ball cans as silos.  Over time, my displays got better, due in large part to the fact that I was involved day in and day out in farming, and was able to put that to life on my displays.

Syrinx Dairy was a culmination of 20 years of display building.  It was 44 feet long and 12 feet wide in some parts.  It models a 3000 cow dairy that was built in conjunction with a 3500 acre cash crop farm.  It's based in Ripon Wisconsin. I chose Ripon because of its rich black soil that mimics that of central Illinois. Strangely enough, Ripon is 15 miles from our dairy in Omro, and Omro's soil is low red clay, that couldn't grow two consistent crops two years in a row.

The Dairy:

The dairy is made up of two 10' long freestall barns. These barns would hold about 1350 cows each.  They're four-row barns with 4 pens in each barn. They would be bedded with sand and scraped three times a day with a New Holland skid steer.  The parlor is a 72-stall Bou-Matic rotary built inside a brick building. It is mechanically ventilated and heated in the winter. Cows are milked 3 times a day, and the parlor runs 24 hours a day 7 days a week.  The parlor would have a crew of 5 milkers. One person dipping cows' teats with iodine, one person wiping teats, one person attaching, one person post-dipping before the cows get off the carousel and one "runner". The dry cows and special needs cows are kept in the old dairy barns that have been remodeled from their former days as a stanchion barn.

The Equipment:

The equipment used on this farm would be for Syrinx Dairy's 3500 acres as well as Omro Dairy's 2700 acres.  The 10 semis however would haul the manure at all four dairies, as well as do allot of the hauling of forages and commodities. The fleet of tractors consists of 6 main tractors. Two 9400's, two MX270's, and two 8310's.  There's also an 8850 that pulls an earth mover almost year round for construction wherever the next building is going up and helps out packing forage. There's a 4020 that stays on the bedding shooter year round. Another 4020 stays on a Knight spreader, while two 4430's handle the mergers in summer and manure pumps whenever needed.

Spring:

The 9400's pull quad five field cultivators, the 270's pull 2200 JD soil finishers, and the 8310's each pull a 12-row Kinze. Starter fertilizer and seed is tendered with a pair of old ford daycabs.

Summer:

The saddle tanks stay on the 8310's after planting so they can put down 28% while they cultivate. The 270's pack forage, and the 9400's prep ground for summer seeding alfalfa and double cropped canning crops. Three self-propelled windrows fight to stay ahead of a 6950 JD forage harvester as well as an 890 Claas. The 4430's each pull a merger.

Fall:(aka "go time")

The 9400's pull 7 shank deep tillers almost 24hrs. a day. The 270's pull 5 shank subsoilers, power the tub grinder for filling the high moisture corn bunker and pack silage piles and the high-moisture corn bunker. One of the 8310's pulls a Brent 674 grain cart, the other is almost always on a manure pump. One of the 4430 stays on a Byron dump cart, the other pulls a 14' disc incorporating manure behind the semis.  Combining duties are covered by a 9500 and a 9750 JD.

In a wet fall, things get really crazy.  The 9400's pull manure tankers in the field that are nursed by the semis that stay on the road.  Four Byron dumpcarts are used when its to muddy for the semis to get in the field.

Winter:

In winter things slow down, except when it snows.  Our calf farm has 3,250 calf hutches that sit on 15 acres of concrete. All the snow has to be moved by 5:30AM for the calf crew.  All the packing tractors and two dump carts stay there all winter to handle the massive snow removal duties.

Syrinx Dairy has been a great escape from the real world stresses of farming.  I'm often asked why I don't set up a scene with a truck with a flat tire or an overturned spreader. The answer is simple.  This is my perfect little world.  Trucks don't get flat tires, employees always show up on time, milk is always $17.84/cwt and our hay never gets rained on.

Your 4wd Source in 1/64 Scale