BMenceeter Farming, Saturday, December 17,1994
Gathered around the payloader used to fill the wagon from the new double
wide bunker feed storage system are from left Marshall and Cindy Meador with
Family Togetherness Thrives At Brubaker Farms
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
MOUNT JOY (Lancaster Co.)
—More than 600 people from sev
eral states recently toured Brubak
er Farms in Mount Joy.
Awed by the size, the conveni
ence, and the latest in technology,
the crowd often expressed that the
complex is a farmer’s dream.
It is the dream of not one but
three farmers, Luke Brubaker and
his two sons, Mike and Tony, who
worked together to design a build
ing expansion that would be eco
nomical and support .three
families.
The Brubakers researched ideas
by touring a lot of farms.
“We’d talk to anybody who’d
talk with us,” Mike said. “The nice
Homestead
Notes
More than 600 people attended the open house at Bru
baker Farms on November is.
thing about farmers is that they are
open to giving their opinions and
ideas on what works and what
doesn’t. It isn’t like other busines
ses where the owner tries to keep
everything secret.”
The Brubakers took what they
thought was the best bits and
pieces from each one and from that
designed their own plan.
“We tried to build something
economical and labor efficient
while keeping animal health and
comfort a priority,” Mike said of
the diversified operation, which
includes 300 cows, 48,000 broil
ers, and 1,200 hogs.
The father and sons said that
they work together well because
none of them are scared to
compromise.
son Lucas; Luke and Barb Brubaker with granddaughter Molly; Tony Brubak*
er holding Zachary Marshall; and Mike and Lisa Brubaker.
“We all those had ideas in build
ing that we needed to convince the
other two to agree,” Luke said.
“Sometimes one gets a dream
and another one seems too conser
vative to even consider that dream,
but the third one will be the media
tor to balance things out.
“We didn’t even have an actual
blueprint,” Luke said. “We’d just
tell the builder what we wanted to
do and he did it”
The complex includes a new
dairy facility with a 400-cow
capacity free-stall bam and a Surge
Double Ten Parallel parlor with
individual release feature and par
lor manager computer. A com
modity building was erected to
hold the bulk feed since commodi
ties are purchased by the tractor
trailer load. A trench silo for for-
(Turn to Pago B 4)
Barb Brubaker watches as her sons, Mika, center, and Tony cheek the computer
screens to determined what’s happening In the bam.
son of Luke and Bait) and son of daughter Cindy and her
husband Marshall Meador, who live on the farm homestead.
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