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A22-L«nc»«tef Farming, Saturday. October 26, 1996
University Of Pennsylvania Dedicates Greenhouse Dairy Barn
(ConUniwd from Pago A 1)
dally as to Marshak’s vision of
where human needs for veterinary
science was headed, and how he
helped the university chart its
course for leading the field of
medicine in maintaining its rele
vancy in conducting research and
preparing new veterinarians for
modem field experiences.
The dedication ceremony was
overseen by Dean Kelly, and was
attended by several hundred peo
ple, including Judith Rodin, presi
dent of the university, university
trustees, vJce presidents and all
university school deans, state legi
slators and agricultural organiza
tion leaders, state Secretary of
Agriculture Charles Brosius, rep
resentatives from other schools of
veterinary medicine in the United
States and Canada, the School of
Veterinary Medicine’s board of
overseers, and faculty and staff
from both campuses.
The new greenhouse bam is
believed to be the first full-sized
dairy cow bam constructed in the
greenhouse style in Pennsylvania.
The technology incorporated in
the Marshak facility represents a
cross-section of almost every mod
em dairying technique employeed
in the industry.
ly
Facility, part of the University of Pennsylvania School of
Veterinary Medicine’s Center for Animal Health and Produc
tivity in New Bolton, addresses an audience of seven*!
hundred at the dedication of the facility. Seated directly
behind Marshak Is dean of the vet school Alan Kelly, while
seated to the right is Judith Rodin, president of the
university.
~ veu _ of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medi
cine, gestures with outstretched arm for Dr. Robert Marshak, dean emeritus of the
school, to lead the first cow Into the University’s 200-cow greenhouse-style research
barn, named in honor of Marshak. With about 35,000-square feet of space, Including a
double-10 milking parlor, the freestall, cow mattressed facility was designed with
many of the most modem features, such as the see-through solar blocking netting
Incorporated as part of the sidewall Curtain system that Is visible behind Kelly and
Marshak.
For example, the facility uses a
water-flushing system to clean its
free-stall aisles of manure. The
flushed material is then separated
and the liquid recycled and eventu
ally the manure is stored in a
lagoon and used to fertilize fields.
The same feature exists near
State College at the huge Everg
reen Farms water-flush freestall
facility with a 1,700-cow herd,
owned by Wayne Harpster.
The greenhouse design repre
sents the newest,and perhaps most
affordable type of large housing, a
fact not lost on the vet school.
According' to facts provided
during the ceremony, the bam roof
is constructed with 111,600-squa
re feet of 6-mil thick, semi
transparent polyethylene plastic
stretched on a framework made
from six miles of structural piping.
It rained during the ceremony,
but with the white plastic, the
arches and braces made by the pip
ing, and the architectural design,
the facility had an unusual bright
ness, sort of like a spiderweb in a
fog.
The additional light may prove
to be beneficial to the health of the
cow.
The curtained sidewalls of the
facility were also striking because
of the solar screening and
Six miles of structural piping was used to erect the new greenhouse-style Marshak
Dairy Facility at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine’s Cen
ter for Animal Health and Productivity in New Bolton. This crowd of people is actually
seated in a center aisle In the 200-cow freestall facility, beneath an 18- to 21-foot high
white- elastic roof that uses 11,600 square feet of 6-mll polyethylene.e
The Marshak Dairy Facility with the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary
Medicine’s Center for Animal Health and Productivity is built with an alley water-flush
manure cleaning system. Here attendants at the dedication of the facility watch the
first public demonstration of the flush system. The loudspeaker on the cow mattress
Is only a temporary fixture.
windscreening the sides of the
facility appear as tinted glass at
once visible and solid looking, but
at the same time allowing a com
plete view of the outside.
The solar netting is capable of
blocking 98 percent of the sun, and
the weather netting can restrict 80
percent of the wind and water. For
additional ventilation there are 18
fans.
* -
' ? ~
A double-10 herringbone com
puterized milking parlor with a
rapid-exit gate, automatic take
offs, and teat rinse dispensers has a
..ng ,
Marshak Dairy Facility.
•J
"Hu.
solid roof.
It too is similar in design to the
Evergreen parlor, with solid
sidewalls that are mostly able to be
slid open for a breeze, or closed
when too inclimate.
The actual front of the facility
consists of an administrative area,
then a room overlooking the
parlor.
From the parlor, the cows actu
ally can be segregated into two
separate milking herds, which was
a function the School of Veterinary
(Turn to Page A 23)
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