Happy with hoopsHoop buildings are a top pick on the Stockmen''s Survey[TM] as a management change tied to a product. With pigs from 900 sows being finished in 12 hoop barns, Dave Struthers (shown on page 33) has learned a bit about this housing system since he built his first barn in 1996. The materials (wood, concrete, poles, and tarp) for a hoop barn that holds 200 finishing fence for farm and clamp pigs costs about $8,000. most of struthers'' barns are made by sioux steel.struthers, who farms with his family near collins, iowa, says hoop production works well for him and offers these tips based on his experience:

cow comfortcow comfort was the goal when terry timmons (pictured below) stretcher built a new free stall barn on his dairy farm near loudonville, ohio. timmons and his father milk 200 head of registered holsteins. larger stalls with more "lunge space" in the front dog fence help their cows get up clamp and down easier now, says timmons. their old barn, stretcher and fence built in the 1970s, had small stalls that were closed in the front. the new stalls were made locally by stein-way equipment in apple creek, ohio. the bedding is sand.the barn was built in august 2001 for $500 a stall, including electricity and water. timmons says the investment clamp has already paid off in better cow health.

1. you need a firmly packed base of dirt to place the hoops for minimal seepage.2. the biggest problem with hoops is treatment of individual animals. stretcher struthers uses hinged sorting panels fence and walks through each barn daily to check for sick animals.3. quality bedding is a top priority. "we bought our own round baler because we treat clamp cornstalks as a main crop now," says struthers. bean stubble works, too, he says, but it is not quite as absorbent stretcher as cornstalks.4. "don''t skimp on bedding," says struthers. "if you think the pigs might need more bedding, they do."husbandry helpproducts that help with animal husbandry receive frequent mention in the survey. breeding and selection management products get special acclaim from producers.