Helmer Dairy -- Sherman, SD

Built in 2007, Helmer Dairy consists of a conventional 6-row 110- x 700-foot freestall barn and a 1,500-cow 255- x 695-foot cross ventilated barn. A second 1,500-cow cross ventilated barn is under construction. The parlor is a BouMatic double 40 parallel. Cows are bedded with sand and the dairy uses a mechanical sand separator system to reclaim bedding. Other facilities include a commodity shed with a drive through feed alley. Partners in the dairy include Scott and Tammy Helmer -- who relocated from the Black Hills after a processing plant there closed -- and brothers Lynn and Kent Boadwine and landowner and farmer Mark Rogen.

Pictures from the tour below. Click on Each picture to see a larger view.