Livestock Buildings

Consumers have become hyperconscious about the contents of their food. Overly processed, non-organic foods that contain additives such as GMOs are off limits for a rapidly growing U.S. market segment; a lifestyle trend that has the agriculture industry scrambling to adjust. A Midwest company believes that free-range enclosures are quickly becoming the future of American agriculture. One potential solution? Cage-free chicken facilities. Not only do these enclosures increase food quality and public sentiment, they protect farmers from ever-changing caging requirements, saving them both time and money. Furthermore, research shows that consumers are willing to spend nearly twice as much for free-range eggs as compared to the traditional product.  

I found out about a company named Summit Livestock that is working on such a project so I picked up the phone. I got employee Ben Gerber and he told me about a building that would be of great interest to beef producers. "We put up livestock monoslopes, we are starting to do some chicken barns. If you have a barn you have a slope building and the roof sheets go up to a peak. A monoslope only has one side so it just goes up. There is no peak in the middle. The idea behind the monoslope is that you can house your cattle indoors and in the winter there is maximum sun and minimum wind and in the summer because of the different solstice it is maximum wind for cooling and minimum sun."