Farm Tour to Feature Various Milking Parlor
Options May 7 Near Long Prairie

CONTACT: Nick Olson, LSP, 320-269-2105; nicko@landstewardshipproject.org

4/21/09
LONG PRAIRIE, Minn. — Three alternatives to constructing and operating efficient milking parlors will be featured during a special dairy farm tour in the Long Prairie area Thursday, May 7, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. This event is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. To sign up, contact the Land Stewardship Project’s Nick Olson at 320-269-2105 or nicko@landstewardshipproject.org.

Featured during this tour will be the dairy operations of Hans Kroll, Jeff Rinde and Nolan Lenzen:

• Using mostly their own labor, the Kroll family has installed a low-cost swing-six parlor in an existing building attached to their original stall barn.

• Jeff Rinde, along with his father and two siblings, recently concluded an expansion of their operation, which included the addition of a parlor. The Rinde farm features a parlor that is attached to their existing tie-stall barn and it consists of equipment purchased and installed with the assistance of a local company.

• The final stop of the tour will be the Lenzen farm, where a new parlor has recently been installed at one end of an existing tie-stall barn. Lenzen operates a seasonal dairy farm and he used the Trans Iowa Parlor Design, an online parlor construction resource, to design and construct his low-cost parlor. Lenzen began construction of this parlor in February of 2008 and was milking cows in it by mid-April of that same year. 

This tour is sponsored by the Land Stewardship Project’s Farm Beginnings program, which for the past 12 years has offered training in innovative farm management, marketing, planning and decision-making. For more information on upcoming Farm Beginnings classes and field days, contact Olson or visit www.farmbeginnings.org.  

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