Cover-All - Building Choice of Beef Producers
Kevin and Kork Frieburger are the third generation to call Sandyridge Ranch home. Sandyridge Ranch is located near Walkerton, Ontario, where they must deal with weather that ranges from very hot and humid summers to very cold and wet winters. The Frieburgers run about 500 beef cattle and finish those calves each year.

Prior to the upgrade, the Frieburgers had a fenceline feeder in an open feedlot which made it harder to keep feed fresh on rainy and snowy days. "In the fall, rain falling on the feed is a real problem. We try to keep the bunks as fresh as possible so the calves will stay at the bunks eating," says Kevin. To help preserve their feed quality, the Frieburgers decided to cover their manger with a 40' wide x 228' long (12.1m x 69.4m) Legend® building.

"We have a number of metal clad buildings," says Kevin, "but we chose this Cover-All for two reasons. We really like that the building is bright, even without the lights on, and the extra height of the building helps to keep it fresher." The Frieburgers had originally constructed the building to deal with the fall and winter weather conditions but they have found additional benefits during the summer as well. "We have had some real hot days this summer," says Kevin, "but we have found that it is a lot cooler in the Cover-All. Before on really hot days, we would have cattle not eating during the heat of the day. We were pleased to notice that during hot days the calves didnt want to leave the Cover-All, and they were still lined up at the manger eating."

Kevin was impressed with the Cover-All® building and was able to design a building to meet the needs of their operation. The building has been installed on I-beams allowing them to keep one side of the building completely open for the cattle to freely move in and out of the building. The I-beams have been placed so that they do not interfere with any doors or gates that previously existed in the yard. The width between the poles varies with the maximum distance being 32' (9.7m). This type of construction minimized the number of poles that would have to be cleaned around in the yard.

In addition to constructing the building on I-beams, Kevin added other customizations to meet his needs. An overhead door was installed on the west end of the building so that the tractor and mixing wagon could drive down the feed alley and right out of the building. A square 2' (0.6m) opening was placed near the peak of the building on the west side to increase air flow through that side of the building. "The prevailing winds are from the west in this area, so we wanted to be able to close the entire west side of the building on windy days," says Kevin. "So far we are pleased with our Cover-All. We just bought another farm site that has a competitors building on it, but I've noticed that it is not built quite as heavy as my Cover-All."